RRosternomics
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Cardinals STL

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GM: Walt Jocketty

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 5 in this regime · payroll 1.36× league · TAB +12.0
+12.0TAB — talent above budget1st/30
+19.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)1st/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/30
-2.6dead WAR — sub-replacement drag2nd/30
14%dead money %6th/30
0.648win %1st/30
50.0roster fWAR1st/30
-8surplus $M (value vs cost)14th/30
$91Mpayroll $M6th/30

2004: won pennant · 105–57. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFJim Edmonds 146GSo Taguchi 31GRay Lankford 4G
LFRay Lankford 66GSo Taguchi 53GJohn Mabry 39G
RFReggie Sanders 81GLarry Walker 75GRoger Cedeno 35G
SSEdgar Renteria 149GHector Luna 24GBo Hart 1G
2BTony Womack 133GMarlon Anderson 37GHector Luna 19G
3BScott Rolen 141GJohn Mabry 20GHector Luna 16G
1BAlbert Pujols 150GJohn Mabry 14GMarlon Anderson 2G
STARTERSWoody Williams 3.1WARChris Carpenter 2.6WARJason Marquis 2.6WARMatt Morris 1.2WARJeff Suppan 1.0WAR
CMike Matheny 122GYadier Molina 51GCody McKay 18G
DHAlbert Pujols 3GMarlon Anderson 1GJim Edmonds 1G
BULLPEN★ Jason Isringhausen 47svRay King 31hJulian Tavarez 19hSteve Kline 15hKiko Calero 12hCal Eldred 8hMike Lincoln 1hJason Simontacchi 0h
CMike Matheny 122 · Yadier Molina 51 · Cody McKay 18
1BAlbert Pujols 150 · John Mabry 14 · Marlon Anderson 2
2BTony Womack 133 · Marlon Anderson 37 · Hector Luna 19
3BScott Rolen 141 · John Mabry 20 · Hector Luna 16
SSEdgar Renteria 149 · Hector Luna 24 · Bo Hart 1
LFRay Lankford 66 · So Taguchi 53 · John Mabry 39
CFJim Edmonds 146 · So Taguchi 31 · Ray Lankford 4
RFReggie Sanders 81 · Larry Walker 75 · Roger Cedeno 35
DHAlbert Pujols 3 · Marlon Anderson 1 · Jim Edmonds 1
SPWoody Williams 3.1 · Chris Carpenter 2.6 · Jason Marquis 2.6 · Matt Morris 1.2 · Jeff Suppan 1.0
BP★ Jason Isringhausen 47 · Ray King 31 · Julian Tavarez 19 · Steve Kline 15 · Kiko Calero 12 · Cal Eldred 8 · Mike Lincoln 1 · Jason Simontacchi 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.

2004 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Scott Rolen 29 FA-elig 1429.0 8.6 +6.9
Jim Edmonds 34 FA-elig 1538.3 9.3 +4.9
Albert Pujols 24 arb 1547.8 7.0 +6.4
Woody Williams 37 FA-elig 343.1 8.0 -2.7
Tony Womack 34 FA-elig 1452.8 0.3 +4.5
Chris Carpenter 29 FA-elig 282.6 0.3 +4.2
Jason Marquis 25 arb 352.6 0.5 +3.9
Reggie Sanders 36 FA-elig 1352.4 2.0 +2.2
Edgar Renteria 27 FA-elig 1492.0 7.2 -3.8
Jason Isringhausen 31 FA-elig 741.7 7.8 -4.7
Julian Tavarez 31 FA-elig 771.3 1.6 +0.6
Larry Walker↔ COL 37 FA-elig 441.2 6.8 -4.7
Matt Morris 29 FA-elig 321.2 12.5 -10.5
Jeff Suppan 29 FA-elig 311.0 1.0 +0.6
Ray King 30 arb 860.8 0.9 +0.5
Kiko Calero 29 pre-arb 410.7 0.3 +0.9
So Taguchi 34 pre-arb 1090.6 1.2 -0.1
Ray Lankford 37 FA-elig 920.6 0.7 +0.4
Steve Kline 31 FA-elig 670.6 1.7 -0.7
Yadier Molina 21 – 510.4 – –
Al Reyes 34 – 120.4 – –
Mike Lincoln 29 arb 130.3 0.5 +0.1
John Mabry 33 – 870.3 – –
Dan Haren 23 – 140.3 – –
Cal Eldred 36 FA-elig 520.2 0.9 -0.6
Randy Flores 28 – 90.1 – –
Hector Luna 24 pre-arb 830.1 0.3 -0.1
Colin Porter 28 – 230.1 – –
Josh Pearce 26 – 30.0 – –
Rick Ankiel 24 arb 5-0.0 0.3 -0.4
Carmen Cali 25 – 10-0.0 – –
Bo Hart 27 pre-arb 11-0.0 0.3 -0.4
Mike Matheny 33 FA-elig 122-0.2 4.0 -4.4
Cody McKay 30 pre-arb 35-0.3 0.3 -0.8
Jason Simontacchi 30 pre-arb 15-0.4 0.3 -1.1
Roger Cedeno 29 FA-elig 95-0.7 5.4 -6.6
Marlon Anderson 30 FA-elig 113-0.8 0.6 -2.0

Key additions (new vs 2003)

PlayerfWAR
Tony Womack2.8
Chris Carpenter2.6
Jason Marquis2.6
Reggie Sanders2.4
Julian Tavarez1.3
Larry Walker1.2

Key subtractions (gone from 2003)

Player2003 fWAR
J.D. Drew2.7
Brett Tomko1.7
Tino Martinez1.0
Eduardo Perez0.5
Garrett Stephenson0.4
Kevin Ohme0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2004 payroll
$90.6M

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 (20)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Matt Morris297.000$12.5M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Jim Edmonds3411.000$9.3M$10.3M$12.1M$9.6MFREE AGENT
Scott Rolen298.000$8.6M$11.6M$12.5M$12.3MFREE AGENT
Woody Williams3711.000$8.0MFREE AGENT
Jason Isringhausen319.000$7.8M$7.0M$8.8M$8.8M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Edgar Renteria278.000$7.2MFREE AGENT
Larry Walker3715.000$6.8M$12.7MFREE AGENT
Roger Cedeno299.000$5.4M$5.5MFREE AGENT
Mike Matheny3310.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Reggie Sanders3613.000$2.0M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Steve Kline317.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Julian Tavarez3111.000$1.6M$2.6MFREE AGENT
Jeff Suppan299.000$1.0M$4.0M$4.0MFREE AGENT$6.4M
Cal Eldred3613.000$900k$600kFREE AGENT
Ray Lankford3714.000$650kFREE AGENT
Marlon Anderson306.000$600kFREE AGENT
Chris Carpenter297.000$300k$2.0M$5.0M$8.5M$10.5M$13.3M$15.8M
Tony Womack3411.000$300kFREE AGENT
John Mabry3310.000—$725kFREE AGENT
Al Reyes349.000—$450kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (5)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Albert Pujols243.000$7.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ray King305.000$900kFREE AGENT
Jason Marquis254.000$525kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Lincoln295.000$450kFREE AGENT
Rick Ankiel245.000$320kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
So Taguchi342.000$1.2MARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Simontacchi302.000$350kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bo Hart271.000$307kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kiko Calero291.000$305kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cody McKay302.000$300kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Luna240.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Pearce26–—
Randy Flores282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Yadier Molina210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Colin Porter28–—
Dan Haren231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carmen Cali25–—

Graphs

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