RRosternomics
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PD

Paul DePodesta

General manager for the Dodgers and Padres (2005–2009).

2 seasons with salary-era data across 2 stints. All figures are franchise-level outcomes during the tenure, not solely attributable to one executive.

Overview

Titles0
Pennants0
Playoffs0
Record146–178
Win %0.451
-1.6GM WAR — wins above a replacement GM (org-adjusted, shrunk; per season) ±7.1118th/195 execs
6.5Depth — 2+ WAR regulars per season (the breadth that drives TAB, not stars)86th/195 execs
-7.6Dead WAR — WAR/yr bled by sub-replacement players (closer to 0 = better)178th/195 execs
42%Dead money — payroll on <0.5-WAR players (lower = better)151st/195 execs
$16MCheap-talent surplus — $/yr of value from cost-controlled (pre-arb/arb) players above their pay; the selection engine, and the stickiest GM skill we track91st/195 execs
$3MDrafted surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own draftees (the develop-from-the-draft engine)120th/195 execs
$13MTraded-for surplus — cheap-talent surplus from cost-controlled players he acquired via trade35th/195 execs
$-0MInt'l surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own international signees171st/195 execs
-8.7TAB — talent above budget — roster-construction alpha (talent your budget bought above expectation), tenure total109th/195 execs
-9.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + the non-repeatable luck of converting talent to wins)108th/195 execs
0.28Acquisition Leverage — playoff pts per acquired WAR, graded once in the year each deal's wins arrive (the repeatable decision skill)160th/195 execs
-4Roster surplus $M49th/195 execs

Tenure breakdown

TeamRoleYearsSzns WAB WAB/yr TAB WAR surp HG Trade FA R5 AcqLev W-L% POPenWS Surp $M
▸ Padres GM 2009–2009 1 +1.8 +1.78 +0.7 +9.7 -0.7 +10.1 +12.1 +0.0 0.65 0.463 ––– +23
▸ Dodgers GM 2005–2005 1 -10.9 -10.95 -9.4 -14.2 +2.3 +21.9 +27.7 +0.0 0.08 0.438 ––– -27
Career total (1985+ data) 2 -9.2 -8.7 -4.6 +1.6 +32.0 +39.8 +0.0 0.28 0.451 –– – -4

Roster Construction

How the roster was sourced

by valueby volume

Share of acquired fWAR by channel vs. league average.

Build channels — net fWAR

Acquired minus surrendered / signed minus walked.

Home-grown (draft/intl)+1.6
Trade+32.0
Free agency+39.8
Rule 5 / minor draft+0.0
Sourcing mix: 2% draft · 54% FA · 44% trade · 0% R5

Roster value distribution — career average — depth vs. stars

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR, averaged across Paul DePodesta's seasons. Bars = his rosters; the black line = the league-average player at each slot. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge.

Players acquired — 51 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)

PlayerPosTeam How Year Szns fWAR WAR/yr Lev
Andre Ethier OF LAD Trade 2005 10 +24.4 +2.4 –
Rafael Furcal SS LAD Free agency 2005 5 +14.3 +2.9 10.2
Derek Lowe P LAD Free agency 2005 4 +14.3 +3.6 0.2
Brad Penny P LAD Trade 2005 3 +12.2 +4.1 0.3
Jeff Kent 2B LAD Trade 2005 4 +8.4 +2.1 0.3
Chris Denorfia OF SDP Free agency 2009 5 +7.4 +1.5 4.1
J. D. Drew OF LAD Trade 2005 2 +6.9 +3.5 0.2
Luke Gregerson P SDP Trade 2009 5 +5.7 +1.1 –
Clayton Richard P SDP Trade 2009 7 +5.4 +0.8 0.1
Tony Gwynn OF SDP Trade 2009 2 +4.5 +2.2 1.6
Scott Van Slyke OF LAD Draft 2005 3 +3.8 +1.3 –
Kevin Correia P SDP Trade 2009 2 +3.1 +1.5 1.8
José Cruz OF LAD Trade 2005 2 +2.7 +1.4 0.2
David Eckstein SS SDP Free agency 2009 2 +2.2 +1.1 0.5
Henry Blanco C SDP Free agency 2009 1 +1.6 +1.6 1.0
Chad Gaudin P SDP Trade 2009 1 +1.5 +1.5 1.0
Odalis Pérez P LAD Free agency 2005 5 +1.4 +0.3 13.3
Nomar Garciaparra SS LAD Free agency 2005 2 +1.2 +0.6 5.7
Kenny Lofton OF LAD Free agency 2005 1 +1.0 +1.0 3.0
Antonio Pérez 2B/3B LAD Trade 2005 1 +0.8 +0.8 0.1
Ricky Ledée OF LAD Trade 2005 1 +0.7 +0.7 0.1
Hee-Seop Choi 1B LAD Trade 2005 1 +0.7 +0.7 0.1
Dioner Navarro C LAD Trade 2005 2 +0.7 +0.3 0.1
Ryan Webb P SDP Trade 2009 1 +0.6 +0.6 –
Cody Ross OF LAD Trade 2005 2 +0.5 +0.3 0.0
Edward Mujica P SDP Trade 2009 1 +0.5 +0.5 0.3
Adam Russell P SDP Trade 2009 2 +0.4 +0.2 0.1
Paul Bako C LAD Free agency 2005 1 +0.3 +0.3 0.0
Shawn Hill P SDP Free agency 2009 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.1
José Valentín SS LAD Trade 2005 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.0
Kelly Wunsch P LAD Trade 2005 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.0
Tayron Guerrero P SDP Intl FA 2009 – -0.0 – –
Chris Stewart C SDP Free agency 2009 – -0.0 – –
Jon Meloan P LAD Draft 2005 – -0.1 – –
Walter Silva P SDP Draft 2009 – -0.1 – –
Brent Leach P LAD Draft 2005 – -0.2 – –
Bill Mueller 3B LAD Free agency 2005 – -0.2 – –
Óscar Robles 3B/SS LAD Trade 2005 1 -0.2 -0.2 –
Cliff Floyd OF SDP Free agency 2009 – -0.2 – –
Oscar Salazar OF SDP Trade 2009 1 -0.2 -0.2 0.1
Josh Wall P LAD Draft 2005 – -0.3 – –
Chris Burke 2B/OF SDP Free agency 2009 – -0.3 – –
Cody Decker 1B SDP Draft 2009 – -0.3 – –
Edwin Moreno P SDP Trade 2009 – -0.3 – –
Norihiro Nakamura 3B LAD Draft 2005 – -0.4 – –
Miles Mikolas P SDP Draft 2009 – -0.4 – –
Iván De Jesús 2B LAD Draft 2005 1 -0.5 -0.5 –
Duaner Sánchez P SDP Free agency 2009 – -0.6 – –
Luis Perdomo P SDP Trade 2009 – -0.7 – –
Scott Erickson P LAD Free agency 2005 – -0.9 – –
Jason Phillips C/1B LAD Trade 2005 – -1.0 – –

WAB = wins above what the team's payroll predicted (resource-controlled). WAR surplus = era-neutral value (WAR minus payroll in win-equivalents). Roster surplus $M = dollar value of WAR over cost. Build channels (realized fWAR): HG = home-grown via amateur draft / international signing; Trade = acquired minus surrendered (incl. purchases/waivers); FA = signed minus walked; R5 = Rule-5 / minor-league-draft pickups. Credit follows the acquisition year — home-grown to the regime at the player's draft/signing (not whoever was in the chair when he peaked), trade/FA/R5 to the GM who made the move. Players acquired as prospects before debuting (e.g. Smoltz, Bagwell; Rule-5 picks like Uggla) are counted as trade/R5, not home-grown. All are franchise-level outcomes during the stint, not solely attributable to one executive.

Graphs

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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.