RRosternomics
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Pirates PIT

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GM: Cam Bonifay

Overview

WINDOW → steady
cheap & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.49× league · TAB +3.7
+3.7TAB — talent above budget12th/30
+5.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)11th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/30
-7.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag22nd/30
52%dead money %28th/30
0.484win %14th/30
28.9roster fWAR18th/30
+14surplus $M (value vs cost)4th/30
$24Mpayroll $M26th/30

Roster

CFBrian Giles 108GAdrian Brown 29GBrant Brown 23G
LFAl Martin 133GJohn Wehner 12GBrian Giles 8G
RFAdrian Brown 66GBrant Brown 59GBrian Giles 25G
SSMike Benjamin 93GAbraham O. Nunez 65GPat Meares 21G
2BWarren Morris 144GAbraham O. Nunez 14GMike Benjamin 12G
3BEd Sprague Jr. 134GAramis Ramirez 17GDale Sveum 12G
1BKevin Young 155GBrant Brown 7GDale Sveum 4G
STARTERSKris Benson 3.4WARTodd Ritchie 2.8WARJason Schmidt 2.6WARFrancisco Cordova 2.3WARJose Silva 1.2WAR
CJason Kendall 75GKeith Osik 50GJoe Oliver 44G
DHBrant Brown 4GBrian Giles 3GFreddy Garcia 2G
BULLPEN★ Mike Williams 23svScott Sauerbeck 10hBrad Clontz 9hMarc Wilkins 8hJeff Wallace 7hJason Christiansen 7hGreg Hansell 4hJimmy Anderson 0h
CJason Kendall 75 · Keith Osik 50 · Joe Oliver 44
1BKevin Young 155 · Brant Brown 7 · Dale Sveum 4
2BWarren Morris 144 · Abraham O. Nunez 14 · Mike Benjamin 12
3BEd Sprague Jr. 134 · Aramis Ramirez 17 · Dale Sveum 12
SSMike Benjamin 93 · Abraham O. Nunez 65 · Pat Meares 21
LFAl Martin 133 · John Wehner 12 · Brian Giles 8
CFBrian Giles 108 · Adrian Brown 29 · Brant Brown 23
RFAdrian Brown 66 · Brant Brown 59 · Brian Giles 25
DHBrant Brown 4 · Brian Giles 3 · Freddy Garcia 2
SPKris Benson 3.4 · Todd Ritchie 2.8 · Jason Schmidt 2.6 · Francisco Cordova 2.3 · Jose Silva 1.2
BP★ Mike Williams 23 · Scott Sauerbeck 10 · Brad Clontz 9 · Marc Wilkins 8 · Jeff Wallace 7 · Jason Christiansen 7 · Greg Hansell 4 · Jimmy Anderson 0

Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

1999 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Brian Giles 28 arb 1416.7 1.1 +7.3
Kevin Young 30 FA-elig 1565.3 2.1 +4.5
Jason Kendall 25 arb 783.9 1.2 +3.6
Kris Benson 24 pre-arb 313.4 0.2 +4.1
Todd Ritchie 27 pre-arb 292.8 0.2 +3.3
Jason Schmidt 26 arb 332.6 1.4 +1.9
Francisco Cordova 27 arb 272.3 1.2 +1.7
Warren Morris 25 pre-arb 1471.9 0.2 +2.2
Al Martin 31 FA-elig 1431.9 2.7 -0.3
Mike Benjamin 33 FA-elig 1101.2 0.7 +0.8
Jose Silva 25 arb 341.2 0.3 +1.3
Marc Wilkins 28 arb 460.5 0.7 -0.1
Jason Christiansen 29 arb 400.4 0.7 -0.2
Ed Sprague Jr. 31 FA-elig 1370.4 1.3 -0.8
Jimmy Anderson 23 pre-arb 130.3 0.2 +0.2
Greg Hansell 28 arb 330.3 0.2 +0.1
Mike Williams 30 FA-elig 580.3 0.7 -0.3
Scott Sauerbeck 27 pre-arb 650.2 0.2 +0.1
Pat Meares 30 FA-elig 210.2 1.5 -1.3
Jeff Wallace 23 pre-arb 410.1 0.2 -0.0
Pete Schourek 30 FA-elig 300.1 2.0 -1.8
Ivan Cruz 31 pre-arb 50.1 0.2 -0.1
Mike Garcia 31 – 70.1 – –
Jason Boyd 26 – 40.1 – –
Dale Sveum 35 FA-elig 490.0 0.2 -0.1
Brad Clontz 28 arb 560.0 0.3 -0.3
Tim Laker 29 – 6-0.0 – –
Jim Dougherty 31 – 2-0.0 – –
Yamid Haad 21 – 1-0.0 – –
Rich Loiselle 27 arb 13-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Emil Brown 24 – 6-0.1 – –
Turner Ward↔ ARI 34 FA-elig 49-0.2 0.7 -0.9
Aramis Ramirez 21 – 18-0.2 – –
Chris Tremie 29 – 9-0.2 – –
Jason Phillips 25 pre-arb 6-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Chris Peters 27 arb 19-0.2 0.3 -0.6
Chad Hermansen 21 – 19-0.2 – –
Abraham O. Nunez 23 pre-arb 90-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Adrian Brown 25 pre-arb 116-0.5 0.2 -0.8
Joe Oliver 33 FA-elig 45-0.6 0.3 -1.1
Freddy Garcia↔ ATL 26 arb 55-0.7 0.3 -1.1
Jose Guillen↔ TBR 23 pre-arb 40-0.7 0.2 -1.1
John Wehner 32 FA-elig 39-0.8 0.2 -1.3
Keith Osik 30 arb 66-0.9 0.3 -1.5
Brant Brown 28 arb 130-1.5 0.3 -2.2

Key additions (new vs 1998)

PlayerfWAR
Brian Giles6.7
Kris Benson3.4
Todd Ritchie2.8
Warren Morris1.9
Mike Benjamin1.2
Ed Sprague Jr.0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1998)

Player1998 fWAR
Jon Lieber2.7
Jermaine Allensworth1.7
Todd Van Poppel0.7
Ricardo Rincon0.7
Tony Womack0.7
Esteban Loaiza0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

1999 payroll
$23.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1999, 1999–2005. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Al Martin317.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
Kevin Young307.000$2.1M$5.6M$6.1M$5.6M$6.6MFREE AGENT
Pete Schourek308.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Pat Meares306.000$1.5M$3.3M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Ed Sprague Jr.318.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Turner Ward349.000$706kFREE AGENT
Mike Benjamin3310.000$700k$700kFREE AGENT$925k
Mike Williams307.000$650k$1.0M$738k$2.0M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Joe Oliver3310.000$350kFREE AGENT
John Wehner328.000$250kFREE AGENT$375k
Dale Sveum3513.000$200kFREE AGENT
Tim Laker297.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Jason Schmidt264.000$1.4MARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Cordova273.000$1.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Kendall253.000$1.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Giles284.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Christiansen294.000$725kARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Wilkins283.000$660kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Loiselle273.000$400kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Peters273.000$350kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Osik303.000$350kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Clontz284.000$350kARB 3FREE AGENT
Brant Brown283.000$290kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Silva253.000$270kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Freddy Garcia264.000$256kARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Hansell284.000$230kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Dougherty314.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Tremie294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Todd Ritchie272.000$225kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adrian Brown252.000$220kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Abraham O. Nunez232.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Wallace232.000$206kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ivan Cruz312.000$205kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kris Benson240.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jimmy Anderson230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Phillips250.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Warren Morris250.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Sauerbeck270.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Guillen232.000$172kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Emil Brown242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aramis Ramirez211.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Boyd260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Yamid Haad21–—
Chad Hermansen210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Garcia31–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 1999; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.

What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985

RegimeSeasonsWin %Playoff %Pennant %WS %
WINDOW 28152.131.05.01.1
CONTEND 30056.964.719.710.3
FORCED-SPEND 25648.09.81.61.6
REBUILD 32143.31.20.30.3
Rosternomics — quantifying front-office skill, attribution-clean. Follow @rosternomics on X. Decision-makers on record back to 1933; resource-controlled metrics (WAR & payroll) cover 1985–2026.
Data: FanGraphs (WAR), Baseball-Reference & the Chadwick Bureau register (rosters, IDs), the Lahman Database, Baseball America prospect rankings (via The Baseball Cube), and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0); bios are original. Emoji graphics by OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0).
All figures are franchise-level outcomes credited to the decision-maker in the acquisition year — not solely attributable to one executive.