RRosternomics
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Blue Jays TOR

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GM: JP Ricciardi

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.71× league · TAB +3.6
+3.6TAB — talent above budget14th/30
+8.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars22nd/30
-3.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag7th/30
15%dead money %3rd/30
0.531win %11th/30
33.6roster fWAR15th/30
+9surplus $M (value vs cost)5th/30
$48Mpayroll $M24th/30

Roster

CFVernon Wells 161GReed Johnson 5GBobby Kielty 3G
LFFrank Catalanotto 61GReed Johnson 53GBobby Kielty 4G
RFBobby Kielty 89GReed Johnson 71GFrank Catalanotto 43G
SSChris Woodward 103GMike Bordick 69GDave Berg 1G
2BOrlando Hudson 139GDave Berg 24GMike Bordick 13G
3BEric Hinske 124GMike Bordick 22GDave Berg 17G
1BCarlos Delgado 147GTom Wilson 14GJosh Phelps 8G
STARTERSRoy Halladay 7.0WARKelvim Escobar 3.4WARCory Lidle 2.4WARMark Hendrickson 1.8WARJosh Towers 0.1WAR
CGreg Myers 81GTom Wilson 76GKevin Cash 34G
DHJosh Phelps 97GFrank Catalanotto 18GGreg Myers 17G
BULLPEN★ Cliff Politte 12svTrever Miller 16hAquilino López 16hJason Kershner 7hJeff Tam 6hJuan Acevedo 4hScott Service 3hDoug Creek 2h
CGreg Myers 81 · Tom Wilson 76 · Kevin Cash 34
1BCarlos Delgado 147 · Tom Wilson 14 · Josh Phelps 8
2BOrlando Hudson 139 · Dave Berg 24 · Mike Bordick 13
3BEric Hinske 124 · Mike Bordick 22 · Dave Berg 17
SSChris Woodward 103 · Mike Bordick 69 · Dave Berg 1
LFFrank Catalanotto 61 · Reed Johnson 53 · Bobby Kielty 4
CFVernon Wells 161 · Reed Johnson 5 · Bobby Kielty 3
RFBobby Kielty 89 · Reed Johnson 71 · Frank Catalanotto 43
DHJosh Phelps 97 · Frank Catalanotto 18 · Greg Myers 17
SPRoy Halladay 7.0 · Kelvim Escobar 3.4 · Cory Lidle 2.4 · Mark Hendrickson 1.8 · Josh Towers 0.1
BP★ Cliff Politte 12 · Trever Miller 16 · Aquilino López 16 · Jason Kershner 7 · Jeff Tam 6 · Juan Acevedo 4 · Scott Service 3 · Doug Creek 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.

2003 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Roy Halladay 26 arb 367.0 3.8 +8.6
Carlos Delgado 31 FA-elig 1615.3 18.7 -9.2
Vernon Wells 24 arb 1613.8 0.5 +6.2
Kelvim Escobar 27 FA-elig 413.4 3.9 +2.1
Cory Lidle 31 FA-elig 312.4 5.3 -1.1
Mike Bordick 37 FA-elig 1021.8 1.0 +2.1
Mark Hendrickson 29 pre-arb 301.8 0.3 +2.8
Greg Myers 37 FA-elig 1211.7 0.8 +2.3
Frank Catalanotto 29 FA-elig 1331.7 2.2 +0.7
Eric Hinske 25 pre-arb 1241.4 0.6 +1.8
Orlando Hudson 25 pre-arb 1421.4 0.3 +2.1
Aquilino Lopez 28 pre-arb 721.0 0.3 +1.5
Reed Johnson 26 – 1140.9 – –
Josh Phelps 25 arb 1190.7 0.3 +0.9
Shannon Stewart↔ MIN 29 FA-elig 710.7 3.2 -2.1
Jason Kershner 26 – 400.5 – –
Doug Davis↔ MIL 27 – 120.5 – –
Howie Clark 29 – 380.4 – –
Tom Wilson 32 pre-arb 960.4 0.3 +0.4
Chris Woodward 27 arb 1040.3 0.8 -0.2
Josh Towers 26 – 140.1 – –
Jayson Werth 24 pre-arb 260.1 0.3 -0.1
Vinnie Chulk 24 – 30.1 – –
Scott Service↔ ARI 36 – 150.0 – –
Juan Acevedo↔ NYY 33 FA-elig 140.0 0.3 -0.3
Trever Miller 30 FA-elig 79-0.0 0.3 -0.4
Jeff Tam 32 arb 44-0.0 0.6 -0.7
Brian Bowles 26 – 5-0.1 – –
Dan Reichert 26 – 15-0.1 – –
Doug Linton 38 FA-elig 7-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Corey Thurman 24 – 6-0.1 – –
John Wasdin 30 – 3-0.1 – –
Ken Huckaby 32 pre-arb 5-0.2 0.3 -0.6
Doug Creek 34 FA-elig 21-0.2 0.7 -1.1
Bobby Kielty↔ MIN 26 pre-arb 62-0.3 0.1 -0.6
Tanyon Sturtze 32 FA-elig 40-0.3 1.0 -1.5
Cliff Politte 29 arb 54-0.3 0.8 -1.3
Pete Walker 34 FA-elig 23-0.3 0.4 -1.0
Dave Berg 32 arb 61-0.8 0.7 -2.2
Kevin Cash 25 – 34-1.0 – –

Key additions (new vs 2002)

PlayerfWAR
Cory Lidle2.4
Mike Bordick1.8
Greg Myers1.7
Frank Catalanotto1.7
Aquilino Lopez1.0
Reed Johnson0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 2002)

Player2002 fWAR
José Cruz Jr.2.4
Esteban Loaiza2.3
Scott Eyre0.9
Chris Carpenter0.7
Dan Plesac0.3
Felipe Lopez0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

2003 payroll
$48.5M

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 (15)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
Carlos Delgado3110.000$18.7M$19.7MFREE AGENT
Cory Lidle316.000$5.3MFREE AGENT
Kelvim Escobar276.000$3.9MFREE AGENT
Shannon Stewart298.000$3.2MFREE AGENT$1.5M
Frank Catalanotto296.000$2.2M$2.3M$2.7M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Tanyon Sturtze328.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Mike Bordick3713.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Greg Myers3716.000$800k$900k$700kFREE AGENT
Doug Creek348.000$700kFREE AGENT
Pete Walker348.000$425kFREE AGENT$400k$650k
Doug Linton3811.000$350kFREE AGENT
Juan Acevedo338.000$323kFREE AGENT
Trever Miller307.000$305kFREE AGENT
Scott Service3615.000—FREE AGENT
John Wasdin308.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
Roy Halladay265.000$3.8MFREE AGENT
Cliff Politte295.000$845kFREE AGENT
Chris Woodward274.000$775kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Berg325.000$700kFREE AGENT
Jeff Tam325.000$600kFREE AGENT
Vernon Wells244.000$520kARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Phelps253.000$320kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Reichert264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Davis274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
Eric Hinske251.000$600kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Wilson322.000$316kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orlando Hudson251.000$313kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Huckaby322.000$313kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Hendrickson291.000$302kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jayson Werth241.000$300kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aquilino Lopez280.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Kielty262.000$147kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Towers262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Bowles26–—
Reed Johnson260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Corey Thurman241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Howie Clark29–—
Kevin Cash251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Kershner261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vinnie Chulk240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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