RRosternomics
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Rangers TEX

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GM: John Hart

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↗ rising
expensive & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.56× league · TAB -11.2
-11.2TAB — talent above budget25th/30
-15.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)26th/30
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars23rd/30
-6.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag22nd/30
29%dead money %13th/30
0.444win %23rd/30
28.5roster fWAR20th/30
-57surplus $M (value vs cost)30th/30
$103Mpayroll $M4th/30

Roster

CFRuben Rivera 67GCalvin Murray 37GCarl Everett 33G
LFTodd Hollandsworth 99GKevin Mench 57GFrank Catalanotto 26G
RFJuan Gonzalez 62GKevin Mench 62GCarl Everett 39G
SSAlex Rodriguez 162GDonnie Sadler 16GMichael Young 11G
2BMichael Young 152GFrank Catalanotto 23GDonnie Sadler 6G
3BHerbert Perry Jr. 112GHank Blalock 46GDonnie Sadler 15G
1BRafael Palmeiro 97GMike Lamb 52GFrank Catalanotto 15G
STARTERSKenny Rogers 2.9WARChan Ho Park 0.9WARRob Bell 0.8WARJoaquín Benoit 0.7WARDoug Davis 0.6WAR
CIvan Rodriguez 100GBill Haselman 67GTodd Greene 15G
DHRafael Palmeiro 55GRusty Greer 22GMike Lamb 18G
BULLPEN★ Hideki Irabu 16svJay Powell 12hJuan Alvarez 10hRudy Seanez 10hRich Rodriguez 4hTodd Van Poppel 3hDan Kolb 2hFrancisco Cordero 1h
CIvan Rodriguez 100 · Bill Haselman 67 · Todd Greene 15
1BRafael Palmeiro 97 · Mike Lamb 52 · Frank Catalanotto 15
2BMichael Young 152 · Frank Catalanotto 23 · Donnie Sadler 6
3BHerbert Perry Jr. 112 · Hank Blalock 46 · Donnie Sadler 15
SSAlex Rodriguez 162 · Donnie Sadler 16 · Michael Young 11
LFTodd Hollandsworth 99 · Kevin Mench 57 · Frank Catalanotto 26
CFRuben Rivera 67 · Calvin Murray 37 · Carl Everett 33
RFJuan Gonzalez 62 · Kevin Mench 62 · Carl Everett 39
DHRafael Palmeiro 55 · Rusty Greer 22 · Mike Lamb 18
SPKenny Rogers 2.9 · Chan Ho Park 0.9 · Rob Bell 0.8 · Joaquín Benoit 0.7 · Doug Davis 0.6
BP★ Hideki Irabu 16 · Jay Powell 12 · Juan Alvarez 10 · Rudy Seanez 10 · Rich Rodriguez 4 · Todd Van Poppel 3 · Dan Kolb 2 · Francisco Cordero 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.

2002 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Alex Rodriguez 26 FA-elig 16210.0 22.0 -4.8
Rafael Palmeiro 37 FA-elig 1554.5 8.7 -1.0
Ivan Rodriguez 30 FA-elig 1083.1 9.6 -4.3
Kenny Rogers 37 FA-elig 342.9 7.5 -2.6
Ismael Valdez↔ SEA 28 FA-elig 231.8 1.9 +1.2
Herbert Perry Jr. 32 FA-elig 1321.6 0.9 +1.8
Juan Gonzalez 32 FA-elig 701.4 11.0 -8.5
Dave Burba↔ CLE 35 FA-elig 231.4 1.3 +1.1
Francisco Cordero 27 – 391.2 – –
Kevin Mench 24 – 1101.1 – –
Michael Young 25 pre-arb 1561.0 0.2 +1.5
Chan Ho Park 29 FA-elig 250.9 6.9 -5.3
Frank Catalanotto 28 arb 680.8 2.5 -1.0
Rob Bell 25 – 170.8 – –
Joaquín Benoit 24 – 170.7 – –
Doug Davis 26 arb 100.6 0.3 +0.7
Ruben Rivera 28 – 690.2 – –
Jay Powell 30 FA-elig 510.2 2.2 -2.0
C.J. Nitkowski 29 – 120.1 – –
Todd Van Poppel 30 FA-elig 500.1 2.0 -1.8
Todd Greene 31 – 420.1 – –
Dan Kolb 27 arb 340.1 0.3 -0.1
Rich Rodriguez 39 FA-elig 360.1 0.6 -0.5
Héctor Ortiz 32 – 70.0 – –
Rudy Seanez 33 FA-elig 330.0 1.0 -1.0
Jason Hart 24 – 100.0 – –
Dan Miceli 31 FA-elig 90.0 1.0 -1.0
Gabe Kapler↔ COL 26 arb 72-0.0 1.2 -1.2
Todd Hollandsworth↔ COL 29 FA-elig 39-0.0 0.8 -0.8
John Rocker 27 arb 30-0.0 2.5 -2.6
Colby Lewis 22 pre-arb 15-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Jason Romano↔ COL 23 – 29-0.1 – –
Travis Hafner 25 – 23-0.1 – –
Chris Michalak 31 – 13-0.1 – –
Calvin Murray↔ SFG 30 arb 37-0.1 0.2 -0.5
Randy Flores↔ COL 26 – 20-0.2 – –
Mike Lamb 26 – 115-0.2 – –
Reynaldo Garcia 28 – 3-0.2 – –
Anthony Telford 36 – 20-0.2 – –
Ryan Ludwick 23 – 23-0.2 – –
Rusty Greer 33 FA-elig 51-0.2 6.8 -7.2
Steve Woodard 27 arb 14-0.2 0.6 -0.9
Dennys Reyes↔ COL 25 arb 15-0.2 0.2 -0.6
Hank Blalock 21 pre-arb 49-0.2 0.2 -0.6
Ben Kozlowski 21 – 2-0.3 – –
Bill Haselman 36 FA-elig 69-0.3 0.8 -1.3
Aaron Myette 24 – 15-0.5 – –
Juan Alvarez 28 – 52-0.5 – –
Donnie Sadler↔ KCR 27 arb 38-0.5 0.1 -1.0
Hideki Irabu 33 arb 38-0.8 0.6 -1.9
Carl Everett 31 FA-elig 105-1.0 8.7 -10.4

Key additions (new vs 2001)

PlayerfWAR
Ismael Valdez1.8
Herbert Perry Jr.1.6
Juan Gonzalez1.4
Dave Burba1.4
Kevin Mench1.1
Chan Ho Park0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 2001)

Player2001 fWAR
Rick Helling2.0
Randy Velarde1.6
Darren Oliver1.3
Jeff Zimmerman1.1
Ruben Sierra0.8
Mike Venafro0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

2002 payroll
$102.8M

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 (22)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Alex Rodriguez268.000$22.0M$22.0MFREE AGENT
Juan Gonzalez3213.000$11.0M$13.0MFREE AGENT
Ivan Rodriguez3011.000$9.6MFREE AGENT
Rafael Palmeiro3716.000$8.7M$9.0MFREE AGENT
Carl Everett319.000$8.7M$4.6MFREE AGENT
Kenny Rogers3713.000$7.5MFREE AGENT$2.5M$3.5M
Chan Ho Park298.000$6.9M$13.0M$14.0M$10.0MFREE AGENT
Rusty Greer338.000$6.8MFREE AGENT
Jay Powell307.000$2.2M$3.2M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Todd Van Poppel3011.000$2.0M$1.4MFREE AGENT
Ismael Valdez288.000$1.9M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Dave Burba3512.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Rudy Seanez3313.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Dan Miceli319.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Herbert Perry Jr.328.000$900k$1.3M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Todd Hollandsworth297.000$800kFREE AGENT
Bill Haselman3612.000$800kFREE AGENT
Rich Rodriguez3912.000$600kFREE AGENT
Todd Greene316.000—$750kFREE AGENT
C.J. Nitkowski297.000—$550kFREE AGENT
Ruben Rivera287.000—FREE AGENT
Anthony Telford3612.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
John Rocker274.000$2.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Frank Catalanotto285.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Gabe Kapler264.000$1.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Woodard275.000$550kFREE AGENT
Hideki Irabu335.000$550kFREE AGENT
Doug Davis263.000$310kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Kolb273.000$260kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Calvin Murray303.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dennys Reyes255.000$233kFREE AGENT
Donnie Sadler274.000$133kARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Michalak314.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Héctor Ortiz324.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Cordero273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Myette243.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Michael Young252.000$250kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Colby Lewis220.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hank Blalock210.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Bell252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Lamb262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Alvarez28–—
Joaquín Benoit241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Hart24–—
Travis Hafner250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Romano230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Ludwick230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Mench240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Kozlowski21–—
Randy Flores260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reynaldo Garcia280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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