RRosternomics
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Pirates PIT

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GM: Dave Littlefield

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.45× league · TAB -0.8
-0.8TAB — talent above budget21st/30
+0.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)17th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars20th/30
-7.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/30
27%dead money %16th/30
0.447win %20th/30
23.5roster fWAR25th/30
+9surplus $M (value vs cost)7th/30
$30Mpayroll $M28th/30

Roster

CFTike Redman 147GRob Mackowiak 19GJason Bay 5G
LFJason Bay 117GRob Mackowiak 25GCraig Wilson 19G
RFCraig Wilson 89GRob Mackowiak 79GJosé Bautista 19G
SSJack Wilson 156GAbraham O. Nunez 13GFreddy Sanchez 4G
2BJose Castillo 123GBobby Hill 40GAbraham O. Nunez 32G
3BTy Wigginton 122GChris Stynes 71GRob Mackowiak 55G
1BDaryle Ward 71GCraig Wilson 65GCarlos Rivera 7G
STARTERSOliver Pérez 4.8WARKip Wells 2.2WARJosh Fogg 1.2WARDave Williams 0.5WARRyan Vogelsong 0.5WAR
CJason Kendall 146GHumberto Cota 24GCraig Wilson 4G
DHCraig Wilson 2G
BULLPEN★ Jose Mesa 43svSalomon Torres 30hBrian Meadows 13hMichael Gonzalez 13hJohn Grabow 11hMike Johnston 4hMark Corey 2hBrian Boehringer 1h
CJason Kendall 146 · Humberto Cota 24 · Craig Wilson 4
1BDaryle Ward 71 · Craig Wilson 65 · Carlos Rivera 7
2BJose Castillo 123 · Bobby Hill 40 · Abraham O. Nunez 32
3BTy Wigginton 122 · Chris Stynes 71 · Rob Mackowiak 55
SSJack Wilson 156 · Abraham O. Nunez 13 · Freddy Sanchez 4
LFJason Bay 117 · Rob Mackowiak 25 · Craig Wilson 19
CFTike Redman 147 · Rob Mackowiak 19 · Jason Bay 5
RFCraig Wilson 89 · Rob Mackowiak 79 · José Bautista 19
DHCraig Wilson 2
SPOliver Pérez 4.8 · Kip Wells 2.2 · Josh Fogg 1.2 · Dave Williams 0.5 · Ryan Vogelsong 0.5
BP★ Jose Mesa 43 · Salomon Torres 30 · Brian Meadows 13 · Michael Gonzalez 13 · John Grabow 11 · Mike Johnston 4 · Mark Corey 2 · Brian Boehringer 1

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.

2004 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Oliver Pérez 22 pre-arb 314.8 0.3 +7.9
Jason Kendall 30 FA-elig 1474.5 8.6 -0.8
Jack Wilson 26 arb 1574.3 1.9 +5.6
Kris Benson↔ NYM 29 arb 202.9 4.0 +1.0
Kip Wells 27 arb 252.2 2.6 +1.2
Jason Bay 25 pre-arb 1201.8 0.3 +2.8
Michael Gonzalez 26 – 471.7 – –
Salomon Torres 32 FA-elig 841.3 0.8 +1.5
Rob Mackowiak 28 arb 1551.2 0.3 +1.7
Josh Fogg 27 arb 321.2 0.3 +1.7
Craig Wilson 27 arb 1551.1 1.1 +0.7
Tike Redman 27 arb 1551.0 0.3 +1.4
Brian Meadows 28 FA-elig 680.8 0.6 +0.7
Jose Mesa 38 FA-elig 700.6 0.8 +0.2
Dave Williams 25 – 100.5 – –
Ryan Vogelsong 26 arb 330.5 0.3 +0.5
John Grabow 25 pre-arb 680.3 0.3 +0.3
Humberto Cota 25 arb 360.3 0.3 +0.2
Raul Mondesi↔ ANA 33 FA-elig 260.2 0.9 -0.6
John Van Benschoten 24 – 60.1 – –
Mark Corey 29 – 310.0 – –
Sean Burnett 21 – 130.0 – –
Willis Roberts 29 – 9-0.0 – –
Brian Boehringer 35 FA-elig 21-0.0 2.0 -2.1
Mike Johnston 25 pre-arb 24-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Ruben Mateo↔ KCR 26 – 19-0.1 – –
Ian Snell 22 – 3-0.1 – –
J.R. House 24 – 5-0.1 – –
Tony Alvarez 26 – 24-0.1 – –
Chris Stynes 31 FA-elig 74-0.2 0.8 -1.0
Nelson Figueroa 30 – 10-0.2 – –
Bobby Hill 26 pre-arb 126-0.2 0.3 -0.6
Frank Brooks 25 – 11-0.2 – –
Carlos Rivera 26 – 7-0.2 – –
Freddy Sanchez 26 pre-arb 9-0.3 0.3 -0.8
Ty Wigginton↔ NYM 26 pre-arb 58-0.3 0.1 -0.7
Jason Boyd 31 arb 12-0.4 0.3 -1.0
Daryle Ward 29 – 79-0.4 – –
J.J. Davis 25 pre-arb 25-0.4 0.3 -1.0
José Bautista↔ BAL 23 pre-arb 23-0.5 0.1 -1.0
Abraham O. Nunez 28 FA-elig 112-0.9 0.6 -2.2
Jose Castillo 23 pre-arb 129-1.0 0.3 -2.0
Randall Simon↔ TBR 29 FA-elig 61-2.0 0.7 -4.1

Key additions (new vs 2003)

PlayerfWAR
Jose Mesa0.6
Dave Williams0.5
Raul Mondesi0.2
John Van Benschoten0.1
Sean Burnett0.0
Willis Roberts-0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 2003)

Player2003 fWAR
Brian Giles3.4
Jeff Suppan3.2
Reggie Sanders3.0
Jeff D'Amico2.3
Matt Stairs1.8
Kenny Lofton1.8

Current & Historical Payroll

2004 payroll
$29.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 2004, 2004–2010. 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 (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Jason Kendall308.000$8.6MFREE AGENT
Brian Boehringer359.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Raul Mondesi3311.000$879kFREE AGENT
Jose Mesa3817.000$800k$2.0MFREE AGENT
Salomon Torres3211.000$775k$1.1M$1.5M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Chris Stynes319.000$750kFREE AGENT
Randall Simon297.000$707kFREE AGENT
Abraham O. Nunez287.000$625kFREE AGENT
Brian Meadows286.000$625k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Daryle Ward296.000—$950kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Kris Benson295.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Kip Wells275.000$2.6MFREE AGENT
Jack Wilson263.000$1.9MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Wilson273.000$1.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Boyd315.000$350kFREE AGENT
Josh Fogg273.000$342kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Mackowiak283.000$335kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tike Redman274.000$321kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Vogelsong264.000$312kARB 3FREE AGENT
Humberto Cota253.000$303kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nelson Figueroa304.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Willis Roberts295.000—FREE AGENT
Ruben Mateo265.000—FREE AGENT
Dave Williams253.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (19)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Oliver Pérez222.000$321kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Hill262.000$315kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Bay251.000$305kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Freddy Sanchez262.000$303kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.J. Davis252.000$300kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Grabow251.000$300kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Johnston250.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Castillo230.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ty Wigginton262.000$127kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
José Bautista230.000$108kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Gonzalez261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.R. House24–—
Mark Corey29–—
Tony Alvarez26–—
Carlos Rivera26–—
Frank Brooks25–—
John Van Benschoten24–—
Sean Burnett210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ian Snell220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 2004; 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.