RRosternomics
𝕏

Rays TBR

‹ ›

GM: Chuck Lamar

Overview

REBUILD → steady
cheap & losing · year 5 in this regime · payroll 0.52× league · TAB -11.4
-11.4TAB — talent above budget26th/30
-17.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)28th/30
2.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars30th/30
-7.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag24th/30
65%dead money %30th/30
0.342win %29th/30
14.6roster fWAR27th/30
-14surplus $M (value vs cost)17th/30
$34Mpayroll $M30th/30

Roster

CFRandy Winn 138GJason Conti 28GDamian Rolls 4G
LFCarl Crawford 63GJason Tyner 41GGreg Vaughn 31G
RFBen Grieve 118GJason Conti 28GDamian Rolls 13G
SSChris Gomez 130GFelix Escalona 26GAndy Sheets 11G
2BBrent Abernathy 116GAndy Sheets 26GFelix Escalona 25G
3BJared Sandberg 97GRuss Johnson 27GAubrey Huff 14G
1BSteve Cox 110GAubrey Huff 45GBobby Smith 6G
STARTERSJoe Kennedy 2.6WARTanyon Sturtze 1.3WARPaul Wilson 1.1WARRyan Rupe 1.1WARTravis Harper 0.2WAR
CToby Hall 83GJohn Flaherty 75GPaul Hoover 4G
DHAubrey Huff 53GGreg Vaughn 38GSteve Cox 35G
BULLPEN★ Esteban Yan 19svJesus Colome 3hTravis Phelps 3hSteve Kent 1hLee Gardner 1hBrandon Backe 0hLance Carter 0hLuis De Los Santos 0h
CToby Hall 83 · John Flaherty 75 · Paul Hoover 4
1BSteve Cox 110 · Aubrey Huff 45 · Bobby Smith 6
2BBrent Abernathy 116 · Andy Sheets 26 · Felix Escalona 25
3BJared Sandberg 97 · Russ Johnson 27 · Aubrey Huff 14
SSChris Gomez 130 · Felix Escalona 26 · Andy Sheets 11
LFCarl Crawford 63 · Jason Tyner 41 · Greg Vaughn 31
CFRandy Winn 138 · Jason Conti 28 · Damian Rolls 4
RFBen Grieve 118 · Jason Conti 28 · Damian Rolls 13
DHAubrey Huff 53 · Greg Vaughn 38 · Steve Cox 35
SPJoe Kennedy 2.6 · Tanyon Sturtze 1.3 · Paul Wilson 1.1 · Ryan Rupe 1.1 · Travis Harper 0.2
BP★ Esteban Yan 19 · Jesus Colome 3 · Travis Phelps 3 · Steve Kent 1 · Lee Gardner 1 · Brandon Backe 0 · Lance Carter 0 · Luis De Los Santos 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.

2002 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Randy Winn 28 arb 1524.6 1.0 +6.9
Joe Kennedy 23 pre-arb 302.6 0.2 +4.3
Aubrey Huff 25 – 1132.0 – –
Jared Sandberg 24 – 1021.8 – –
Chris Gomez 31 FA-elig 1301.5 1.0 +1.5
Tanyon Sturtze 31 FA-elig 331.3 0.3 +2.0
Paul Wilson 29 FA-elig 301.1 1.2 +0.8
Ryan Rupe 27 arb 151.1 0.6 +1.4
Jason Conti 27 pre-arb 781.0 0.2 +1.5
Andy Sheets 30 – 410.9 – –
Ben Grieve 26 arb 1360.9 4.0 -2.4
John Flaherty 34 FA-elig 760.9 3.2 -1.7
Carl Crawford 20 – 630.7 0.1 +1.1
Toby Hall 26 pre-arb 850.7 0.2 +0.9
Lance Carter 27 – 80.2 – –
Travis Harper 26 – 370.2 – –
Russ Johnson 29 arb 450.1 0.6 -0.4
Tom Martin 32 – 20.0 – –
Dave McCarty↔ KCR 32 FA-elig 120.0 0.4 -0.4
Esteban Yan 27 FA-elig 55-0.0 1.5 -1.6
Delvin James 24 – 8-0.0 – –
Steve Cox 27 arb 148-0.0 0.3 -0.4
Felix Escalona 23 pre-arb 59-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Jason Jimenez↔ DET 26 – 5-0.1 – –
Wilson Alvarez 32 FA-elig 23-0.1 8.0 -8.1
Jason Standridge 23 – 1-0.1 – –
Paul Hoover 26 – 5-0.1 – –
Steve Kent 23 pre-arb 34-0.2 0.2 -0.5
Brandon Backe 24 – 9-0.2 – –
Dewon Brazelton 22 – 2-0.2 – –
Brent Abernathy 24 pre-arb 117-0.3 0.2 -0.7
Greg Vaughn 36 FA-elig 69-0.3 8.8 -9.3
Bobby Smith 28 arb 18-0.3 0.3 -0.8
Luis De Los Santos 24 – 3-0.3 – –
Lee Gardner 27 – 12-0.4 – –
Jorge Sosa 24 pre-arb 31-0.4 0.2 -0.9
Victor Zambrano 26 pre-arb 42-0.4 0.2 -0.9
Damian Rolls 24 – 21-0.5 – –
Travis Phelps 24 pre-arb 26-0.5 0.2 -1.0
Doug Creek↔ SEA 33 FA-elig 29-0.5 0.4 -1.3
Jason Smith 24 pre-arb 26-0.6 0.2 -1.3
Jesus Colome 24 pre-arb 32-0.6 0.2 -1.3
Jason Tyner 25 pre-arb 44-0.8 0.2 -1.6

Key additions (new vs 2001)

PlayerfWAR
Jason Conti1.0
Carl Crawford0.7
Lance Carter0.2
Tom Martin0.0
Dave McCarty0.0
Delvin James-0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 2001)

Player2001 fWAR
Fred McGriff2.4
Bryan Rekar1.0
Albie Lopez0.7
Jose Guillen0.4
Nick Bierbrodt0.3
Rusty Meacham0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2002 payroll
$34.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 2002, 2002–2008. 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 (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Greg Vaughn3613.000$8.8MFREE AGENT
Wilson Alvarez3213.000$8.0MFREE AGENT
John Flaherty3410.000$3.2MFREE AGENT
Esteban Yan276.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Paul Wilson296.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Chris Gomez319.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Dave McCarty329.000$408kFREE AGENT
Doug Creek337.000$382kFREE AGENT
Tanyon Sturtze317.000$295kFREE AGENT
Andy Sheets306.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Ben Grieve265.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Randy Winn284.000$960kARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Johnson295.000$575kFREE AGENT
Ryan Rupe273.000$575kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Cox273.000$280kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Smith284.000$255kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Martin325.000—FREE AGENT
Lance Carter273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (25)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Jason Tyner252.000$250kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Kennedy231.000$225kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Travis Phelps241.000$218kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jesus Colome241.000$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Abernathy241.000$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Victor Zambrano261.000$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Toby Hall262.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Conti272.000$205kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Smith241.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jorge Sosa240.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Kent230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Escalona230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carl Crawford200.000$77kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis De Los Santos24–—
Travis Harper262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Hoover261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Damian Rolls242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jared Sandberg24–—
Jason Standridge231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aubrey Huff252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Delvin James24–—
Dewon Brazelton220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brandon Backe240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lee Gardner270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Jimenez26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Rays 2002; 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.