Rosternomics
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DW

Dick Wagner

Oct 19, 1927 (Central City, NE) – Oct 5, 2006 · died at 78

General manager for the Reds and Astros (1979–1987).

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

Titles0
Pennants0
Playoffs1
Record172–152
Win %0.531
+8.0WAB — wins above budget51st/195 execs
+5.0Talent above budget — roster-construction alpha (talent your budget bought above expectation)68th/195 execs
1.03Acquisition leverage — playoff pts each bought win added, given the roster it joined (did you buy where wins matter?)85th/195 execs
+1.1WAR surplus (era-neutral, win-equiv)42nd/195 execs
+0Roster surplus $M42nd/195 execs

How the roster was sourced

by valueby volume

Share of gross-positive acquired fWAR by channel (vs. league average).

Build channels — net fWAR

Acquired minus surrendered / signed minus walked.

Home-grown (draft/intl)+199.7
Trade-7.0
Free agency-18.4
Rule 5 / minor draft+0.1
Sourcing mix: 90% draft · 2% FA · 8% trade · 0% R5

Tenure breakdown

TeamRoleYearsSzns WAB WAB/yr TAB WAR surp HG Trade FA R5 AcqLev W-L% POPenWS Surp $M
▸ Astros GM 1986–1987 2 +8.0 +4.00 +5.0 +1.1 +77.9 +2.2 -12.7 +0.0 1.03 0.531 1–– +0
▸ Reds GM 1979–1983 0 +0.0 – +0.0 +0.0 +121.7 -9.2 -5.7 +0.1 – – ––– –
Career total (1985+ data) 2 +8.0 +5.0 +1.1 +199.7 -7.0 -18.4 +0.1 1.03 0.531 1– – +0

Players acquired — 47 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)

PlayerPosTeam How Year fWAR
Craig Biggio 2B HOU Draft 1987 +65.8
Eric Davis OF CIN Draft 1980 +28.2
Chris Sabo 3B CIN Draft 1983 +17.9
Tom Browning P CIN Draft 1982 +16.8
Paul O'Neill OF CIN Draft 1981 +14.2
Rob Dibble P CIN Draft 1983 +13.7
Darryl Kile P HOU Draft 1987 +13.3
Kal Daniels OF CIN Draft 1982 +11.4
Joe Oliver C CIN Draft 1983 +7.3
Ron Robinson P CIN Draft 1980 +6.8
John Franco P CIN Trade 1983 +6.3
Larry Andersen P HOU Free agency 1986 +5.2
Rob Murphy P CIN Draft 1981 +4.0
Ted Power P CIN Trade 1982 +4.0
Danny Darwin P HOU Trade 1986 +2.8
Tracy Jones OF CIN Draft 1983 +2.5
Andújar Cedeño SS HOU Intl FA 1986 +1.9
Lenny Harris 3B CIN Draft 1983 +1.4
Eric Anthony OF HOU Draft 1986 +1.4
Wayne Krenchicki 3B CIN Trade 1982 +1.1
Terry McGriff C CIN Draft 1981 +0.2
Dean Hartgraves P HOU Draft 1987 +0.2
Jeff Montgomery P CIN Draft 1983 +0.1
Randy Hennis P HOU Draft 1987 +0.1
Davey Lopes 2B HOU Free agency 1986 +0.1
Paul Householder OF HOU Free agency 1987 -0.0
Ty Waller 3B/OF HOU Trade 1987 -0.0
Dann Bilardello C CIN Rule 5 1982 -0.1
Terry Lee 1B CIN Intl FA 1982 -0.1
Mike Smith P CIN Intl FA 1981 -0.1
Gary Cooper 3B HOU Draft 1986 -0.1
Dale Berra 3B/SS HOU Free agency 1986 -0.2
Lloyd McClendon OF CIN Trade 1982 -0.3
Leo García OF CIN Trade 1982 -0.4
Wade Rowdon 3B CIN Trade 1982 -0.4
Scott Terry P CIN Draft 1980 -0.4
Juan Agosto P HOU Free agency 1987 -0.4
Aurelio López P HOU Free agency 1986 -0.4
Ryan Bowen P HOU Draft 1986 -0.5
Brian Meyer P HOU Draft 1986 -0.5
Andy Mota 2B HOU Draft 1987 -0.5
Karl Rhodes OF HOU Draft 1986 -0.5
Bob Buchanan P CIN Draft 1979 -0.6
Dave Rohde 2B HOU Draft 1986 -0.6
Ronn Reynolds C HOU Trade 1987 -0.9
Kurt Stillwell SS CIN Draft 1983 -1.4
Al Osuna P HOU Draft 1987 -1.9

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.

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.