RRosternomics
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Pirates PIT

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GM: Neal Huntington

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.66× league · TAB +4.7
+4.7TAB — talent above budget10th/30
+5.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)12th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars12th/30
-4.6dead WAR — sub-replacement drag14th/30
32%dead money %14th/30
0.509win %14th/30
33.7roster fWAR14th/30
+28surplus $M (value vs cost)6th/30
$87Mpayroll $M25th/30

Roster

CFStarling Marte 139GAustin Meadows 15GAdam Frazier 9G
LFCorey Dickerson 124GJordan Luplow 16GAdam Frazier 14G
RFGregory Polanco 124GAdam Frazier 13GJordan Luplow 11G
SSJordy Mercer 117GKevin Newman 24GSean Rodríguez 16G
2BJosh Harrison 87GAdam Frazier 55GSean Rodríguez 26G
3BColin Moran 116GJosé Osuna 7GKevin Kramer 7G
1BJosh Bell 137GJosé Osuna 12GFrancisco Cervelli 5G
STARTERSJameson Taillon 3.6WARTrevor Williams 2.7WARJoe Musgrove 2.3WARChris Archer 0.8WARIván Nova 0.7WAR
CFrancisco Cervelli 94GElias Díaz 70GJacob Stallings 13G
DHColin Moran 3GAdam Frazier 2GJosh Bell 1G
BULLPEN★ Felipe Vázquez 37svEdgar Santana 20hKyle Crick 16hRichard Rodríguez 15hMichael Feliz 12hKeone Kela 4hDovydas Neverauskas 2hClay Holmes 0h
CFrancisco Cervelli 94 · Elias Díaz 70 · Jacob Stallings 13
1BJosh Bell 137 · José Osuna 12 · Francisco Cervelli 5
2BJosh Harrison 87 · Adam Frazier 55 · Sean Rodríguez 26
3BColin Moran 116 · José Osuna 7 · Kevin Kramer 7
SSJordy Mercer 117 · Kevin Newman 24 · Sean Rodríguez 16
LFCorey Dickerson 124 · Jordan Luplow 16 · Adam Frazier 14
CFStarling Marte 139 · Austin Meadows 15 · Adam Frazier 9
RFGregory Polanco 124 · Adam Frazier 13 · Jordan Luplow 11
DHColin Moran 3 · Adam Frazier 2 · Josh Bell 1
SPJameson Taillon 3.6 · Trevor Williams 2.7 · Joe Musgrove 2.3 · Chris Archer 0.8 · Iván Nova 0.7
BP★ Felipe Vázquez 37 · Edgar Santana 20 · Kyle Crick 16 · Richard Rodríguez 15 · Michael Feliz 12 · Keone Kela 4 · Dovydas Neverauskas 2 · Clay Holmes 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.

2018 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Starling Marte 29 FA-elig 1454.1 7.8 +6.0
Jameson Taillon 26 pre-arb 323.6 0.6 +11.7
Corey Dickerson 29 arb 1352.9 6.0 +4.0
Gregory Polanco 26 arb 1302.8 4.1 +5.5
Trevor Williams 26 pre-arb 312.7 0.6 +8.5
Joe Musgrove 25 pre-arb 202.3 0.6 +7.2
Felipe Vázquez 26 arb 702.1 3.0 +4.1
Francisco Cervelli 32 FA-elig 1042.0 10.5 -3.8
Jordy Mercer 31 FA-elig 1171.9 6.8 -0.2
Adam Frazier 26 pre-arb 1131.8 0.6 +5.7
Elias Díaz 27 arb 821.7 0.6 +5.2
Josh Bell 25 pre-arb 1481.5 0.6 +4.6
Richard Rodríguez 28 pre-arb 631.3 0.5 +3.9
Kyle Crick 25 pre-arb 641.0 0.5 +2.9
David Freese↔ LAD 35 FA-elig 940.9 3.5 -0.4
Chris Archer↔ TBR 29 FA-elig 100.8 2.4 +0.2
Pablo Reyes 24 – 180.7 0.1 +2.4
Edgar Santana 26 pre-arb 690.7 0.6 +1.7
Iván Nova 31 FA-elig 290.7 9.2 -6.9
Colin Moran 25 pre-arb 1440.5 0.6 +1.3
Chad Kuhl 25 pre-arb 180.5 0.6 +1.1
Austin Meadows↔ TBR 23 – 490.5 0.1 +1.4
Jordan Luplow 24 pre-arb 370.3 0.1 +0.9
Keone Kela↔ TEX 25 arb 160.3 0.4 +0.6
Tyler Glasnow↔ TBR 24 pre-arb 340.2 0.4 +0.4
Ryan Lavarnway 30 pre-arb 60.2 0.1 +0.5
Michael Feliz 25 arb 470.2 0.6 -0.0
Enny Romero↔ KCR 27 arb 20.1 0.1 +0.3
Josh Harrison 30 FA-elig 970.1 10.2 -9.8
Jung Ho Kang 31 arb 30.0 3.0 -3.0
Adeiny Hechavarría↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 15-0.0 0.9 -1.0
Casey Sadler 27 – 2-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Alex McRae 25 – 2-0.0 0.0 -0.2
Christopher Bostick↔ MIA 25 – 2-0.0 – –
Max Moroff 25 pre-arb 26-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Nick Burdi 25 – 2-0.1 0.5 -0.8
Jacob Stallings 28 pre-arb 14-0.2 0.2 -0.7
Tanner Anderson 25 – 6-0.2 0.1 -0.6
Clay Holmes 25 – 11-0.2 0.2 -0.9
José Osuna 25 pre-arb 51-0.2 0.2 -0.9
Steven Brault 26 pre-arb 46-0.2 0.6 -1.3
Josh Smoker↔ DET 29 pre-arb 7-0.3 0.5 -1.4
Nick Kingham 26 pre-arb 18-0.3 0.3 -1.2
Sean Rodríguez 33 FA-elig 66-0.3 5.8 -6.8
George Kontos↔ CLE 33 FA-elig 21-0.5 2.0 -3.7
Kevin Kramer 24 pre-arb 21-0.6 0.1 -2.0
Dovydas Neverauskas 25 pre-arb 25-0.6 0.6 -2.5
Kevin Newman 24 – 31-0.9 0.1 -3.3

Key additions (new vs 2017)

PlayerfWAR
Corey Dickerson2.9
Joe Musgrove2.3
Richard Rodríguez1.3
Kyle Crick1.0
Chris Archer0.8
Pablo Reyes0.7

Key subtractions (gone from 2017)

Player2017 fWAR
Gerrit Cole3.6
Juan Nicasio1.3
John Jaso0.3
Josh Lindblom0.2
Jack Leathersich0.1
Gift Ngoepe0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2018 payroll
$86.8M
2019 guaranteed
$0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2018, 2018–2024. Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2018; arbitration & free-agent years are projected from service time. Hover a figure for its luxury-tax (CBT) & actual-cash values.

current $ guaranteed $ arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent club option player option mutual option vesting option

Guaranteed / signed (5)

PlayerAgeSvc2018201920202021202220232024
Francisco Cervelli327.146$10.5MFREE AGENT
Josh Harrison306.033$10.2MFREE AGENT
Iván Nova317.024$9.2MFREE AGENT
Sean Rodríguez3310.000$5.8MFREE AGENT
David Freese358.028$3.5MFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2018201920202021202220232024
Starling Marte294.162$7.8MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jordy Mercer315.095$6.8MFREE AGENT
Corey Dickerson294.101$6.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Gregory Polanco263.103$4.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jung Ho Kang313.000$3.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Archer294.156$2.4MARB 3FREE AGENT
George Kontos334.171$2.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Adeiny Hechavarría295.060$941kFREE AGENT
Keone Kela253.000$356kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Enny Romero275.000$141kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (33)

PlayerAgeSvc2018201920202021202220232024
Felipe Vázquez262.162$3.0MARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Feliz252.038$576kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Bell251.053$572kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jameson Taillon261.110$571kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Musgrove251.063$571kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Frazier261.100$571kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Kuhl251.079$570kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Trevor Williams261.027$570kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Elias Díaz271.088$559kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dovydas Neverauskas250.051$558kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steven Brault260.085$557kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Edgar Santana260.048$556kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Colin Moran250.107$550kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Burdi250.000$545kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Crick250.104$501kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Richard Rodríguez280.016$501kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Smoker292.000$499kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Glasnow240.158$420kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Kingham260.092$264kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
José Osuna250.167$217kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jacob Stallings280.075$208kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clay Holmes250.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Max Moroff250.121$167kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Austin Meadows230.000$148kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Newman240.000$135kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tanner Anderson250.000$117kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jordan Luplow240.041$117kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pablo Reyes240.000$88kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Lavarnway302.146$79kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Kramer240.060$79kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Casey Sadler270.000$56kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex McRae250.000$35kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Christopher Bostick25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 2018; 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.