RRosternomics
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Cardinals STL

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GM: Walt Jocketty

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.17× league · TAB +7.1
+7.1TAB — talent above budget7th/30
+9.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)5th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars8th/30
-5.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag20th/30
29%dead money %16th/30
0.574win %4th/30
43.3roster fWAR7th/30
-6surplus $M (value vs cost)11th/30
$73Mpayroll $M9th/30

2001: made playoffs · 93–69. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFJim Edmonds 147GKerry Robinson 22GJ.D. Drew 20G
LFKerry Robinson 42GAlbert Pujols 39GCraig Paquette 32G
RFJ.D. Drew 97GAlbert Pujols 39GCraig Paquette 26G
SSEdgar Renteria 137GPlacido Polanco 42GMiguel Cairo 2G
2BFernando Viña 151GMiguel Cairo 16GPlacido Polanco 15G
3BPlacido Polanco 103GAlbert Pujols 55GMiguel Cairo 43G
1BMark McGwire 90GAlbert Pujols 42GBobby Bonilla 33G
STARTERSMatt Morris 6.0WARDarryl Kile 4.6WARWoody Williams 1.7WARBud Smith 1.0WARMike Matthews 0.7WAR
CMike Matheny 121GEli Marrero 65GKeith McDonald 2G
DHBobby Bonilla 2GAlbert Pujols 2GPlacido Polanco 1G
BULLPEN★ Dave Veres 15svSteve Kline 17hGene Stechschulte 13hMike Timlin 12hLuther Hackman 5hT.J. Mathews 5hMike James 4hAlan Benes 0h
CMike Matheny 121 · Eli Marrero 65 · Keith McDonald 2
1BMark McGwire 90 · Albert Pujols 42 · Bobby Bonilla 33
2BFernando Viña 151 · Miguel Cairo 16 · Placido Polanco 15
3BPlacido Polanco 103 · Albert Pujols 55 · Miguel Cairo 43
SSEdgar Renteria 137 · Placido Polanco 42 · Miguel Cairo 2
LFKerry Robinson 42 · Albert Pujols 39 · Craig Paquette 32
CFJim Edmonds 147 · Kerry Robinson 22 · J.D. Drew 20
RFJ.D. Drew 97 · Albert Pujols 39 · Craig Paquette 26
DHBobby Bonilla 2 · Albert Pujols 2 · Placido Polanco 1
SPMatt Morris 6.0 · Darryl Kile 4.6 · Woody Williams 1.7 · Bud Smith 1.0 · Mike Matthews 0.7
BP★ Dave Veres 15 · Steve Kline 17 · Gene Stechschulte 13 · Mike Timlin 12 · Luther Hackman 5 · T.J. Mathews 5 · Mike James 4 · Alan Benes 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.

2001 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Albert Pujols 21 pre-arb 1617.2 0.2 +11.4
Jim Edmonds 31 FA-elig 1506.2 6.3 +3.7
Matt Morris 26 arb 346.0 1.2 +8.5
J.D. Drew 25 arb 1095.6 2.8 +6.3
Darryl Kile 32 FA-elig 344.6 6.7 +0.8
Placido Polanco 25 arb 1444.0 0.3 +6.2
Fernando Viña 32 FA-elig 1542.9 4.3 +0.4
Edgar Renteria 24 arb 1411.7 4.5 -1.7
Woody Williams↔ SDP 34 FA-elig 111.7 1.5 +1.3
Steve Kline 28 arb 891.2 0.8 +1.2
Craig Paquette 32 FA-elig 1231.1 1.5 +0.3
Eli Marrero 27 arb 861.1 0.4 +1.3
Bud Smith 21 – 161.0 – –
Kerry Robinson 27 – 1141.0 – –
Mike Timlin 35 FA-elig 680.7 4.2 -3.1
Mike Matthews 27 pre-arb 520.7 0.2 +0.9
Ray Lankford↔ SDP 34 FA-elig 910.6 5.6 -4.6
Mark McGwire 37 FA-elig 970.6 11.0 -10.1
Miguel Cairo↔ CHC 27 – 270.3 – –
Mike Matheny 30 FA-elig 1210.1 0.9 -0.7
Dustin Hermanson 28 FA-elig 340.1 5.3 -5.1
T.J. Mathews↔ OAK 31 FA-elig 100.1 0.6 -0.4
Gene Stechschulte 27 pre-arb 690.0 0.2 -0.2
Luis Saturria 24 – 13-0.0 – –
Jeff Tabaka 37 FA-elig 8-0.0 0.4 -0.5
Keith McDonald 28 – 2-0.0 – –
Bill Ortega 25 – 5-0.0 – –
Stubby Clapp 28 – 23-0.1 – –
Jason Karnuth 25 – 4-0.2 – –
Jason Christiansen↔ SFG 31 FA-elig 30-0.2 0.9 -1.2
Mike James 33 FA-elig 40-0.2 1.5 -1.9
Alan Benes 29 – 9-0.3 – –
John Mabry↔ MIA 30 – 5-0.3 – –
Dave Veres 34 FA-elig 71-0.3 1.9 -2.4
Larry Sutton 31 arb 33-0.3 0.3 -0.9
Chad Hutchinson 24 pre-arb 3-0.4 1.2 -1.8
Luther Hackman 26 pre-arb 35-0.4 0.2 -0.9
Bobby Bonilla 38 FA-elig 93-0.7 0.9 -2.0
Rick Ankiel 21 pre-arb 6-0.7 0.4 -1.6
Andy Benes 33 FA-elig 27-1.4 6.7 -9.0

Key additions (new vs 2000)

PlayerfWAR
Albert Pujols7.2
Woody Williams1.7
Steve Kline1.2
Bud Smith1.0
Kerry Robinson1.0
Miguel Cairo0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 2000)

Player2000 fWAR
Will Clark2.2
Pat Hentgen2.1
Fernando Tatis1.8
Garrett Stephenson1.7
Eric Davis1.3
Britt Reames0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

2001 payroll
$73.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2001, 2001–2007. 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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Mark McGwire3715.000$11.0MFREE AGENT
Andy Benes3312.000$6.7M$6.4MFREE AGENT
Darryl Kile3210.000$6.7M$7.2MFREE AGENT
Jim Edmonds318.000$6.3M$7.3M$8.3M$9.3M$10.3M$12.1M$9.6M
Ray Lankford3411.000$5.6MFREE AGENT$650k
Dustin Hermanson286.000$5.3MFREE AGENT$647k
Fernando Viña328.000$4.3M$4.3M$5.3MFREE AGENT
Mike Timlin3510.000$4.2M$3.1MFREE AGENT
Dave Veres347.000$1.9M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Mike James336.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Woody Williams348.000$1.5M$7.3M$6.0M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Craig Paquette328.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Bobby Bonilla3815.000$900kFREE AGENT
Mike Matheny307.000$900k$2.5M$3.2M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Jason Christiansen316.000$873kFREE AGENT
T.J. Mathews316.000$633kFREE AGENT
Jeff Tabaka377.000$400kFREE AGENT
Alan Benes296.000—FREE AGENT
John Mabry307.000—FREE AGENT$725k

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Edgar Renteria245.000$4.5MFREE AGENT
J.D. Drew253.000$2.8MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Morris264.000$1.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Kline284.000$750kARB 3FREE AGENT
Eli Marrero274.000$375kARB 3FREE AGENT
Placido Polanco253.000$320kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Larry Sutton314.000$305kARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Cairo275.000—FREE AGENT
Kerry Robinson273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Chad Hutchinson240.000$1.2MPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Ankiel212.000$400kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Matthews271.000$225kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gene Stechschulte271.000$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luther Hackman262.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Albert Pujols210.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith McDonald28–—
Luis Saturria24–—
Bill Ortega25–—
Jason Karnuth25–—
Bud Smith21–—
Stubby Clapp28–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cardinals 2001; 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.