RRosternomics
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Cardinals STL

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GM: Walt Jocketty

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.24× league · TAB +4.8
+4.8TAB — talent above budget11th/30
+0.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)16th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars12th/30
-6.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag21st/30
27%dead money %12th/30
0.525win %14th/30
41.8roster fWAR10th/30
-14surplus $M (value vs cost)19th/30
$85Mpayroll $M7th/30

Roster

CFJim Edmonds 128GJ.D. Drew 26GKerry Robinson 20G
LFAlbert Pujols 113GOrlando Palmeiro 42GKerry Robinson 36G
RFEduardo Perez 64GOrlando Palmeiro 62GJ.D. Drew 53G
SSEdgar Renteria 156GMiguel Cairo 7GBo Hart 3G
2BBo Hart 69GFernando Viña 60GMiguel Cairo 40G
3BScott Rolen 153GMiguel Cairo 12GEduardo Perez 12G
1BTino Martinez 126GAlbert Pujols 62GEduardo Perez 5G
STARTERSWoody Williams 5.5WARMatt Morris 3.2WARBrett Tomko 1.7WARDan Haren 0.6WARGarrett Stephenson 0.4WAR
CMike Matheny 138GChris Widger 41GJoe Girardi 13G
DHTino Martinez 5GJim Edmonds 2GEduardo Perez 1G
BULLPEN★ Mike DeJean 19svSteve Kline 18hCal Eldred 11hRuss Springer 5hLance Painter 5hEsteban Yan 4hKiko Calero 1hJason Isringhausen 1h
CMike Matheny 138 · Chris Widger 41 · Joe Girardi 13
1BTino Martinez 126 · Albert Pujols 62 · Eduardo Perez 5
2BBo Hart 69 · Fernando Viña 60 · Miguel Cairo 40
3BScott Rolen 153 · Miguel Cairo 12 · Eduardo Perez 12
SSEdgar Renteria 156 · Miguel Cairo 7 · Bo Hart 3
LFAlbert Pujols 113 · Orlando Palmeiro 42 · Kerry Robinson 36
CFJim Edmonds 128 · J.D. Drew 26 · Kerry Robinson 20
RFEduardo Perez 64 · Orlando Palmeiro 62 · J.D. Drew 53
DHTino Martinez 5 · Jim Edmonds 2 · Eduardo Perez 1
SPWoody Williams 5.5 · Matt Morris 3.2 · Brett Tomko 1.7 · Dan Haren 0.6 · Garrett Stephenson 0.4
BP★ Mike DeJean 19 · Steve Kline 18 · Cal Eldred 11 · Russ Springer 5 · Lance Painter 5 · Esteban Yan 4 · Kiko Calero 1 · Jason Isringhausen 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.

2003 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Albert Pujols 23 pre-arb 1579.5 0.9 +16.0
Jim Edmonds 33 FA-elig 1376.3 8.3 +2.9
Edgar Renteria 26 FA-elig 1576.3 6.5 +4.7
Scott Rolen 28 FA-elig 1546.2 7.6 +3.5
Woody Williams 36 FA-elig 345.5 6.0 +3.7
Matt Morris 28 FA-elig 273.2 10.5 -4.9
J.D. Drew 27 arb 1002.7 3.7 +1.1
Brett Tomko 30 FA-elig 351.7 3.3 -0.2
Bo Hart 26 – 771.1 – –
Tino Martinez 35 FA-elig 1381.0 7.5 -5.7
Jason Isringhausen 30 FA-elig 401.0 7.2 -5.5
Dan Haren 22 – 150.6 – –
Eduardo Perez 33 FA-elig 1050.5 0.5 +0.4
Kiko Calero 28 – 260.5 – –
Mike Matheny 32 FA-elig 1410.4 3.2 -2.5
So Taguchi 33 pre-arb 430.4 1.2 -0.5
Garrett Stephenson 31 FA-elig 320.4 0.8 -0.1
Cal Eldred 35 FA-elig 630.3 0.5 +0.1
Kevin Ohme 32 – 20.1 – –
Josh Pearce 25 – 70.1 – –
Fernando Viña 34 FA-elig 610.1 5.3 -5.2
Miguel Cairo 29 FA-elig 920.0 0.8 -0.8
Steve Kline 30 FA-elig 780.0 1.8 -1.8
Gabe Molina 28 – 3-0.0 – –
Jimmy Journell 25 – 7-0.0 – –
Mike DeJean↔ MIL 32 FA-elig 18-0.0 0.4 -0.5
Eli Marrero 29 FA-elig 41-0.1 1.5 -1.6
Lance Painter 35 FA-elig 22-0.1 0.6 -0.8
Jason Pearson 27 – 2-0.1 – –
Sterling Hitchcock↔ NYY 32 FA-elig 8-0.2 1.4 -1.6
Chris Widger 32 – 44-0.2 – –
Mike Crudale↔ MIL 26 – 13-0.2 – –
Orlando Palmeiro 34 FA-elig 141-0.3 0.7 -1.2
Joe Girardi 38 FA-elig 16-0.4 0.7 -1.4
Jason Simontacchi 29 pre-arb 48-0.4 0.3 -1.0
Dustin Hermanson↔ SFG 30 FA-elig 23-0.4 0.6 -1.3
Pedro Borbon Jr. 35 – 7-0.4 – –
Kerry Robinson 29 arb 116-0.5 0.3 -1.1
Esteban Yan↔ TEX 28 FA-elig 39-0.5 1.1 -2.0
Wilson Delgado↔ ANA 30 FA-elig 43-0.6 0.2 -1.3
Russ Springer 34 FA-elig 17-0.9 0.5 -2.0
Jeff Fassero 40 FA-elig 62-0.9 1.2 -2.9

Key additions (new vs 2002)

PlayerfWAR
Brett Tomko1.7
Bo Hart1.1
Dan Haren0.6
Kiko Calero0.5
Cal Eldred0.3
Kevin Ohme0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 2002)

Player2002 fWAR
Chuck Finley1.8
Placido Polanco1.6
Andy Benes1.0
Rick White0.7
Darryl Kile0.6
Bud Smith0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

2003 payroll
$85.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 2003, 2003–2009. 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 (28)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
Matt Morris286.000$10.5M$12.5M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Jim Edmonds3310.000$8.3M$9.3M$10.3M$12.1M$9.6MFREE AGENT
Scott Rolen287.000$7.6M$8.6M$11.6M$12.5M$12.3MFREE AGENT
Tino Martinez3513.000$7.5MFREE AGENT
Jason Isringhausen308.000$7.2M$7.8M$7.0M$8.8M$8.8M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Edgar Renteria267.000$6.5M$7.2MFREE AGENT
Woody Williams3610.000$6.0M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Fernando Viña3410.000$5.3MFREE AGENT
Brett Tomko306.000$3.3MFREE AGENT
Mike Matheny329.000$3.2M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Steve Kline306.000$1.8M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Eli Marrero296.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Sterling Hitchcock3211.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Jeff Fassero4012.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Esteban Yan287.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Miguel Cairo297.000$850kFREE AGENT$494k
Garrett Stephenson317.000$800kFREE AGENT
Joe Girardi3814.000$725kFREE AGENT
Orlando Palmeiro348.000$700kFREE AGENT
Dustin Hermanson308.000$647kFREE AGENT
Lance Painter3510.000$575kFREE AGENT
Eduardo Perez3310.000$500kFREE AGENT
Cal Eldred3512.000$500k$900k$600kFREE AGENT
Russ Springer3411.000$450kFREE AGENT$1.8M$3.5M
Mike DeJean326.000$403kFREE AGENT
Wilson Delgado307.000$212kFREE AGENT
Pedro Borbon Jr.3511.000—FREE AGENT
Chris Widger328.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (2)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
J.D. Drew275.000$3.7MFREE AGENT
Kerry Robinson295.000$320kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
So Taguchi331.000$1.2MPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Albert Pujols232.000$900kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Simontacchi291.000$315kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gabe Molina28–—
Kevin Ohme32–—
Mike Crudale26–—
Jimmy Journell25–—
Josh Pearce25–—
Jason Pearson27–—
Kiko Calero280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bo Hart260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Haren220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cardinals 2003; 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.