RRosternomics
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Cardinals STL

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GM: Walt Jocketty

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.25× league · TAB -5.8
-5.8TAB — talent above budget23rd/30
-1.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)17th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars25th/30
-4.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag14th/30
37%dead money %21st/30
0.516win %13th/30
31.0roster fWAR20th/30
-40surplus $M (value vs cost)26th/30
$95Mpayroll $M7th/30

2006: World Series champions · 83–78. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFJim Edmonds 99GSo Taguchi 59GJuan Encarnacion 32G
LFPreston Wilson 102GSo Taguchi 70GChris Duncan 49G
RFJuan Encarnacion 125GPreston Wilson 24GChris Duncan 24G
SSDavid Eckstein 120GAaron Miles 39GJose Vizcaino 26G
2BRonnie Belliard 145GAaron Miles 88GJose Vizcaino 18G
3BScott Rolen 142GScott Spiezio 38GAaron Miles 1G
1BAlbert Pujols 143GScott Spiezio 13GJose Vizcaino 11G
STARTERSChris Carpenter 4.7WARJeff Suppan 2.4WARMark Mulder 0.2WARAnthony Reyes 0.0WARJeff Weaver 0.0WAR
CYadier Molina 127GGary Bennett 56GMike Rose 4G
DHScott Spiezio 5GChris Duncan 1GTimo Perez 1G
BULLPEN★ Jason Isringhausen 33svRandy Flores 18hAdam Wainwright 17hBraden Looper 15hTyler Johnson 11hJosh Hancock 5hBrad Thompson 3hJosh Kinney 2h
CYadier Molina 127 · Gary Bennett 56 · Mike Rose 4
1BAlbert Pujols 143 · Scott Spiezio 13 · Jose Vizcaino 11
2BRonnie Belliard 145 · Aaron Miles 88 · Jose Vizcaino 18
3BScott Rolen 142 · Scott Spiezio 38 · Aaron Miles 1
SSDavid Eckstein 120 · Aaron Miles 39 · Jose Vizcaino 26
LFPreston Wilson 102 · So Taguchi 70 · Chris Duncan 49
CFJim Edmonds 99 · So Taguchi 59 · Juan Encarnacion 32
RFJuan Encarnacion 125 · Preston Wilson 24 · Chris Duncan 24
DHScott Spiezio 5 · Chris Duncan 1 · Timo Perez 1
SPChris Carpenter 4.7 · Jeff Suppan 2.4 · Mark Mulder 0.2 · Anthony Reyes 0.0 · Jeff Weaver 0.0
BP★ Jason Isringhausen 33 · Randy Flores 18 · Adam Wainwright 17 · Braden Looper 15 · Tyler Johnson 11 · Josh Hancock 5 · Brad Thompson 3 · Josh Kinney 2

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.

2006 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Albert Pujols 26 arb 1438.1 14.0 +2.2
Scott Rolen 31 FA-elig 1425.5 12.5 -1.6
Chris Carpenter 31 FA-elig 324.7 5.0 +4.4
Jeff Suppan 31 FA-elig 322.4 4.0 +0.7
Chris Duncan 25 – 902.3 – –
Jim Edmonds 36 FA-elig 1101.7 12.1 -8.6
David Eckstein 31 arb 1231.5 3.3 -0.3
Adam Wainwright 24 pre-arb 611.5 0.3 +2.6
Scott Spiezio 33 – 1191.3 – –
Braden Looper 31 FA-elig 691.2 3.5 -1.1
Hector Luna↔ CLE 26 pre-arb 761.0 0.2 +1.8
Sidney Ponson↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 140.7 0.7 +0.6
Juan Encarnacion 30 FA-elig 1530.6 3.5 -2.2
John Rodriguez 28 pre-arb 1020.6 0.3 +0.9
Preston Wilson↔ HOU 31 FA-elig 330.4 1.0 -0.2
Brad Thompson 24 pre-arb 430.3 0.3 +0.3
Jose Vizcaino↔ SFG 38 FA-elig 160.2 0.2 +0.2
Ronnie Belliard↔ CLE 31 FA-elig 540.2 1.5 -1.1
Josh Hancock 28 arb 620.2 0.4 +0.0
Mark Mulder 28 FA-elig 170.2 7.8 -7.4
So Taguchi 36 arb 1340.1 0.8 -0.5
Brian Falkenborg 28 – 50.1 – –
Josh Kinney 27 – 210.1 0.2 +0.0
Chris Narveson 24 – 50.1 – –
Anthony Reyes 24 – 180.0 – –
Jeff Weaver↔ ANA 29 FA-elig 170.0 4.3 -4.2
Randy Flores 30 arb 650.0 0.3 -0.3
John Gall 28 – 8-0.0 – –
Larry Bigbie 28 arb 17-0.1 0.9 -1.0
Mike Rose 29 – 10-0.1 – –
Jason Marquis 27 FA-elig 46-0.1 5.2 -5.4
Ricardo Rincon 36 FA-elig 5-0.2 1.2 -1.5
John Nelson 27 – 8-0.2 – –
Timo Perez 31 – 23-0.2 – –
Yadier Molina 23 pre-arb 129-0.3 0.4 -0.9
Skip Schumaker 26 pre-arb 28-0.3 0.3 -0.9
Tyler Johnson 25 – 56-0.3 – –
Gary Bennett 34 FA-elig 60-0.5 0.8 -1.8
Aaron Miles 29 arb 135-0.6 0.3 -1.5
Jorge Sosa↔ ATL 28 arb 19-0.6 0.9 -2.2
Jason Isringhausen 33 FA-elig 59-0.9 8.8 -10.6

Key additions (new vs 2005)

PlayerfWAR
Scott Spiezio1.3
Braden Looper1.2
Sidney Ponson0.7
Juan Encarnacion0.6
Preston Wilson0.4
Jose Vizcaino0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 2005)

Player2005 fWAR
Mark Grudzielanek2.8
Matt Morris2.4
Larry Walker2.2
Reggie Sanders1.7
Al Reyes1.3
Abraham O. Nunez1.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2006 payroll
$95.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 2006, 2006–2012. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Scott Rolen3110.000$12.5M$12.3MFREE AGENT
Jim Edmonds3613.000$12.1M$9.6MFREE AGENT
Jason Isringhausen3311.000$8.8M$8.8M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Mark Mulder286.000$7.8M$4.5M$7.0MFREE AGENT
Jason Marquis276.000$5.2MFREE AGENT
Chris Carpenter319.000$5.0M$8.5M$10.5M$13.3M$15.8M$14.3M$10.5M
Jeff Weaver297.000$4.3MFREE AGENT
Jeff Suppan3111.000$4.0MFREE AGENT$6.4M
Juan Encarnacion309.000$3.5M$5.0MFREE AGENT
Braden Looper318.000$3.5M$4.5M$5.5MFREE AGENT
Ronnie Belliard318.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Ricardo Rincon369.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Preston Wilson318.000$978k$1.0MFREE AGENT
Gary Bennett3411.000$800k$850kFREE AGENT
Sidney Ponson298.000$737kFREE AGENT
Jose Vizcaino3817.000$245kFREE AGENT
Scott Spiezio3310.000—$2.1MFREE AGENT
Brian Falkenborg287.000—FREE AGENT
Timo Perez316.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Albert Pujols265.000$14.0MFREE AGENT
David Eckstein315.000$3.3MFREE AGENT
Jorge Sosa284.000$909kARB 3FREE AGENT
Larry Bigbie285.000$900kFREE AGENT
So Taguchi364.000$825kARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Hancock284.000$355kARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Flores304.000$350kARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Miles293.000$350kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Yadier Molina232.000$400kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Thompson241.000$334kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Rodriguez281.000$332kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Skip Schumaker261.000$329kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Wainwright241.000$327kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Luna262.000$229kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Kinney270.000$218kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Duncan251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Rose29–—
Chris Narveson240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Gall28–—
Tyler Johnson251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Anthony Reyes241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Nelson27–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cardinals 2006; 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.