RRosternomics
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TP

Tim Purpura

Born Mar 19, 1958 · Oak Lawn, IL · age 68

General manager for the Astros (2005–2007).

3 seasons with salary-era data across 1 stint. All figures are franchise-level outcomes during the tenure, not solely attributable to one executive.

Overview

Titles0
Pennants1
Playoffs1
Record244–242
Win %0.502
-1.1GM WAR — wins above a replacement GM (org-adjusted, shrunk; per season) ±6.5107th/195 execs
8.0Depth — 2+ WAR regulars per season (the breadth that drives TAB, not stars)24th/195 execs
-4.2Dead WAR — WAR/yr bled by sub-replacement players (closer to 0 = better)35th/195 execs
28%Dead money — payroll on <0.5-WAR players (lower = better)40th/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 track90th/195 execs
$7MDrafted surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own draftees (the develop-from-the-draft engine)82nd/195 execs
$7MTraded-for surplus — cheap-talent surplus from cost-controlled players he acquired via trade64th/195 execs
$2MInt'l surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own international signees57th/195 execs
-1.7TAB — talent above budget — roster-construction alpha (talent your budget bought above expectation), tenure total81st/195 execs
-4.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + the non-repeatable luck of converting talent to wins)85th/195 execs
2.04Acquisition Leverage — playoff pts per acquired WAR, graded once in the year each deal's wins arrive (the repeatable decision skill)79th/195 execs
-40Roster surplus $M97th/195 execs

Tenure breakdown

TeamRoleYearsSzns WAB WAB/yr TAB WAR surp HG Trade FA R5 AcqLev W-L% POPenWS Surp $M
▸ Astros GM 2005–2007 3 -4.7 -1.57 -1.7 -18.6 +66.9 -35.9 -17.5 -0.4 2.04 0.502 11– -40
Career total (1985+ data) 3 -4.7 -1.7 -18.6 +66.9 -35.9 -17.5 -0.4 2.04 0.502 11 – -40

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)+66.9
Trade-35.9
Free agency-17.5
Rule 5 / minor draft-0.4
Sourcing mix: 83% draft · 16% FA · 1% trade · 0% R5

Roster value distribution — career average — depth vs. stars

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR, averaged across Tim Purpura'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 — 42 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)

PlayerPosTeam How Year Szns fWAR WAR/yr Lev
José Altuve 2B HOU Intl FA 2007 15 +60.7 +4.0 –
Carlos Lee OF HOU Free agency 2006 5 +7.7 +1.5 0.3
Bud Norris P HOU Draft 2006 5 +5.4 +1.1 –
Ty Wigginton 1B/3B HOU Trade 2007 2 +3.4 +1.7 0.1
Mark Loretta 2B HOU Free agency 2007 3 +2.1 +0.7 1.4
Kazuo Matsui 2B HOU Free agency 2007 2 +1.8 +0.9 2.5
José Valverde P HOU Trade 2007 2 +1.8 +0.9 1.5
Brian Moehler P HOU Trade 2007 4 +1.5 +0.4 0.0
Geoff Blum 3B HOU Free agency 2007 5 +1.4 +0.3 4.6
Brian Bogusevic OF HOU Draft 2005 1 +1.4 +1.4 –
Brandon Barnes OF HOU Draft 2005 2 +0.9 +0.4 –
Trever Miller P HOU Free agency 2006 3 +0.6 +0.2 0.6
Dennis Sarfate P HOU Trade 2007 1 +0.4 +0.4 0.1
John Franco P HOU Free agency 2005 1 +0.3 +0.3 2.1
Woody Williams P HOU Free agency 2006 1 +0.3 +0.3 0.0
Orlando Palmeiro OF HOU Trade 2005 1 +0.3 +0.3 5.6
Jason Jennings P HOU Trade 2007 1 +0.3 +0.3 0.0
Doug Brocail P HOU Free agency 2007 2 +0.2 +0.1 0.0
Darin Erstad 1B/OF HOU Free agency 2007 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.8
Cody Ransom 3B/SS HOU Trade 2007 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.0
Geoff Geary P HOU Trade 2007 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.8
Jack Cassel P HOU Free agency 2007 – -0.0 – –
José Cisnero P HOU Intl FA 2007 1 -0.0 -0.0 –
Charles Gipson OF HOU Free agency 2005 1 +0.0 +0.0 0.1
David Martínez P HOU Intl FA 2005 1 +0.0 +0.0 –
Henry Villar P HOU Intl FA 2005 – -0.0 – –
Travis Driskill P HOU Trade 2005 1 +0.0 +0.0 0.3
Aubrey Huff 1B HOU Trade 2006 1 +0.0 +0.0 0.1
Dave Borkowski P HOU Free agency 2005 2 -0.1 -0.1 1.9
José Cruz OF HOU Free agency 2007 – -0.1 – –
Humberto Quintero C HOU Trade 2005 4 -0.1 -0.0 2.0
Tomás Pérez 2B/3B/SS HOU Free agency 2007 – -0.2 – –
Scott Strickland P HOU Free agency 2005 – -0.2 – –
Jorge De León P HOU Intl FA 2006 – -0.3 – –
J. R. House C HOU Free agency 2006 – -0.3 – –
Chris Johnson 3B HOU Draft 2006 2 -0.3 -0.1 –
Eric Munson 3B HOU Free agency 2005 – -0.3 – –
Chad Paronto P HOU Free agency 2007 – -0.3 – –
Steve Randolph P HOU Free agency 2007 – -0.4 – –
Wesley Wright P HOU Rule 5 2007 2 -0.4 -0.2 –
Tommy Manzella SS HOU Draft 2005 – -0.9 – –
Óscar Villarreal P HOU Trade 2007 – -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.