RRosternomics
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Pirates PIT

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GM: Dave Littlefield

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.57× league · TAB -6.9
-6.9TAB — talent above budget21st/30
-2.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)18th/30
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars23rd/30
-5.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag20th/30
40%dead money %22nd/30
0.447win %22nd/30
20.1roster fWAR25th/30
-5surplus $M (value vs cost)12th/30
$37Mpayroll $M29th/30

Roster

CFAdrian Brown 64GRob Mackowiak 42GAdam Hyzdu 36G
LFBrian Giles 151GArmando Rios 11GAdam Hyzdu 10G
RFRob Mackowiak 76GCraig Wilson 74GArmando Rios 47G
SSJack Wilson 143GAbraham O. Nunez 24GMike Benjamin 15G
2BPokey Reese 117GAbraham O. Nunez 46GMike Benjamin 11G
3BAramis Ramirez 131GMike Benjamin 62GRob Mackowiak 26G
1BKevin Young 144GCraig Wilson 42GKeith Osik 3G
STARTERSKip Wells 2.5WARKris Benson 0.8WARRon Villone 0.6WARJosh Fogg 0.6WARBrian Meadows 0.4WAR
CJason Kendall 143GKeith Osik 27GHumberto Cota 7G
DHAramis Ramirez 3GCraig Wilson 3G
BULLPEN★ Mike Williams 46svScott Sauerbeck 28hBrian Boehringer 28hMike Lincoln 11hAl Reyes 3hBronson Arroyo 1hDuaner Sanchez 1hJosias Manzanillo 0h
CJason Kendall 143 · Keith Osik 27 · Humberto Cota 7
1BKevin Young 144 · Craig Wilson 42 · Keith Osik 3
2BPokey Reese 117 · Abraham O. Nunez 46 · Mike Benjamin 11
3BAramis Ramirez 131 · Mike Benjamin 62 · Rob Mackowiak 26
SSJack Wilson 143 · Abraham O. Nunez 24 · Mike Benjamin 15
LFBrian Giles 151 · Armando Rios 11 · Adam Hyzdu 10
CFAdrian Brown 64 · Rob Mackowiak 42 · Adam Hyzdu 36
RFRob Mackowiak 76 · Craig Wilson 74 · Armando Rios 47
DHAramis Ramirez 3 · Craig Wilson 3
SPKip Wells 2.5 · Kris Benson 0.8 · Ron Villone 0.6 · Josh Fogg 0.6 · Brian Meadows 0.4
BP★ Mike Williams 46 · Scott Sauerbeck 28 · Brian Boehringer 28 · Mike Lincoln 11 · Al Reyes 3 · Bronson Arroyo 1 · Duaner Sanchez 1 · Josias Manzanillo 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.

2002 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Brian Giles 31 FA-elig 1536.9 8.1 +3.8
Jason Kendall 28 FA-elig 1452.5 6.6 -2.3
Pokey Reese 29 arb 1192.5 1.8 +2.5
Kip Wells 25 arb 342.5 0.3 +4.0
Brian Boehringer 33 FA-elig 701.1 0.7 +1.2
Scott Sauerbeck 30 arb 791.1 0.8 +1.1
Adam Hyzdu 30 – 591.1 – –
Craig Wilson 25 pre-arb 1311.0 0.2 +1.6
Rob Mackowiak 26 pre-arb 1361.0 0.2 +1.5
Kris Benson 27 arb 270.8 2.7 -1.3
Ron Villone 32 FA-elig 450.6 0.9 +0.1
Josh Fogg 25 pre-arb 340.6 0.2 +0.8
Chad Hermansen↔ CHC 24 arb 650.5 0.1 +0.7
Kevin Young 33 FA-elig 1460.5 5.6 -4.8
Jack Wilson 24 pre-arb 1470.4 0.2 +0.5
Brian Meadows 26 – 110.4 – –
Mike Williams 33 FA-elig 590.4 2.0 -1.3
Bronson Arroyo 25 – 90.3 0.3 +0.2
Al Reyes 32 – 150.3 – –
Tony Alvarez 24 – 140.2 – –
Salomon Torres 30 – 50.2 – –
Humberto Cota 23 – 70.2 – –
Mike Lincoln 27 arb 550.1 0.3 -0.0
Joe Beimel 25 pre-arb 530.1 0.2 +0.0
Armando Rios 30 arb 760.0 0.9 -0.8
Mike Fetters↔ ARI 37 FA-elig 32-0.0 1.1 -1.1
Abraham O. Nunez 26 arb 112-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Mendy López 28 – 3-0.1 – –
Duaner Sanchez↔ ARI 22 – 3-0.1 – –
J.J. Davis 23 – 9-0.2 – –
Dave Williams 23 pre-arb 10-0.3 0.2 -0.8
Sean Lowe↔ COL 31 arb 43-0.3 0.8 -1.4
Josias Manzanillo 34 – 13-0.4 – –
Keith Osik 33 FA-elig 55-0.4 0.6 -1.4
Jimmy Anderson 26 arb 28-0.7 0.3 -1.5
Adrian Brown 28 arb 91-0.7 0.5 -1.6
Aramis Ramirez 24 arb 142-0.9 0.5 -2.0
Mike Benjamin 36 FA-elig 108-1.0 0.9 -2.7

Key additions (new vs 2001)

PlayerfWAR
Pokey Reese2.5
Kip Wells2.5
Brian Boehringer1.1
Kris Benson0.8
Ron Villone0.6
Josh Fogg0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 2001)

Player2001 fWAR
Todd Ritchie3.1
Jason Schmidt1.3
Gary Matthews Jr.0.5
Andy Barkett0.2
John Vander Wal0.2
Damaso Marte0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2002 payroll
$37.2M

What the front office was committed to as of 2002, 2002–2008. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Brian Giles317.000$8.1M$6.9MFREE AGENT
Jason Kendall286.000$6.6M$8.6M$8.6MFREE AGENT
Kevin Young3310.000$5.6M$6.6MFREE AGENT
Mike Williams3310.000$2.0M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Mike Fetters3713.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Mike Benjamin3613.000$925kFREE AGENT
Ron Villone327.000$900kFREE AGENT
Brian Boehringer337.000$675k$1.5M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Keith Osik336.000$625kFREE AGENT
Josias Manzanillo3411.000—FREE AGENT
Al Reyes327.000—FREE AGENT
Salomon Torres309.000—$325k$775k$1.1M$1.5M$2.7MFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Kris Benson273.000$2.7MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pokey Reese295.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Armando Rios304.000$925kARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Lowe315.000$801kFREE AGENT
Scott Sauerbeck303.000$767kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aramis Ramirez244.000$500kARB 3FREE AGENT
Adrian Brown285.000$450kFREE AGENT
Jimmy Anderson263.000$305kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kip Wells253.000$272kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Lincoln273.000$268kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Abraham O. Nunez265.000$200kFREE AGENT
Chad Hermansen243.000$145kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Meadows264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mendy López284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Bronson Arroyo252.000$300kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Williams231.000$234kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack Wilson241.000$232kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Wilson251.000$229kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Mackowiak261.000$227kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Beimel251.000$227kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Fogg251.000$203kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Humberto Cota231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Hyzdu302.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.J. Davis230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Duaner Sanchez220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Alvarez24–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 2002; 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.