RRosternomics
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JC

John Coppolella

Born Jul 28, 1979 · California, CA · age 46

General manager for the Braves (2016–2017).

2 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
Pennants0
Playoffs0
Record140–183
Win %0.433
-3.2GM WAR — wins above a replacement GM (org-adjusted, shrunk; per season) ±7.1154th/195 execs
3.5Depth — 2+ WAR regulars per season (the breadth that drives TAB, not stars)175th/195 execs
-7.8Dead WAR — WAR/yr bled by sub-replacement players (closer to 0 = better)180th/195 execs
45%Dead money — payroll on <0.5-WAR players (lower = better)162nd/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 track93rd/195 execs
$-1MDrafted surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own draftees (the develop-from-the-draft engine)189th/195 execs
$13MTraded-for surplus — cheap-talent surplus from cost-controlled players he acquired via trade33rd/195 execs
$4MInt'l surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own international signees28th/195 execs
-16.6TAB — talent above budget — roster-construction alpha (talent your budget bought above expectation), tenure total136th/195 execs
-15.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + the non-repeatable luck of converting talent to wins)135th/195 execs
0.13Acquisition Leverage — playoff pts per acquired WAR, graded once in the year each deal's wins arrive (the repeatable decision skill)173rd/195 execs
-47Roster surplus $M105th/195 execs

Tenure breakdown

TeamRoleYearsSzns WAB WAB/yr TAB WAR surp HG Trade FA R5 AcqLev W-L% POPenWS Surp $M
▸ Braves GM 2016–2017 2 -15.8 -7.91 -16.6 -13.9 +6.3 +0.1 +0.1 +0.4 0.13 0.433 ––– -47
Career total (1985+ data) 2 -15.8 -16.6 -13.9 +6.3 +0.1 +0.1 +0.4 0.13 0.433 –– – -47

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)+6.3
Trade+0.1
Free agency+0.1
Rule 5 / minor draft+0.4
Sourcing mix: 43% draft · 29% FA · 28% trade · 0% R5

Roster value distribution — career average — depth vs. stars

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR, averaged across John Coppolella'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 — 54 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)

PlayerPosTeam How Year Szns fWAR WAR/yr Lev
Ender Inciarte OF ATL Trade 2016 4 +11.4 +2.9 0.4
Mike Foltynewicz P ATL Trade 2016 4 +6.1 +1.5 0.2
Ian Anderson P ATL Draft 2016 3 +3.6 +1.2 –
Kurt Suzuki C ATL Free agency 2017 2 +2.1 +1.1 0.2
Kyle Wright P ATL Draft 2017 1 +1.9 +1.9 –
Jaime García P ATL Trade 2017 1 +1.6 +1.6 0.2
Huascar Ynoa P ATL Trade 2017 2 +1.5 +0.8 –
R. A. Dickey P ATL Free agency 2016 1 +1.4 +1.4 0.2
Charlie Culberson 3B/OF ATL Trade 2017 3 +1.3 +0.4 6.2
Bud Norris P ATL Trade 2016 1 +1.1 +1.1 0.1
Lane Adams OF ATL Free agency 2016 2 +0.9 +0.4 0.1
Sam Freeman P ATL Free agency 2016 2 +0.9 +0.5 0.1
Luiz Gohara P ATL Trade 2017 2 +0.9 +0.4 –
Brandon Phillips 2B ATL Trade 2017 1 +0.9 +0.9 0.1
Chase d'Arnaud 3B/SS ATL Trade 2016 2 +0.7 +0.4 0.1
Kyle Muller P ATL Draft 2016 1 +0.6 +0.6 –
Ian Krol P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.6 +0.6 0.1
Chaz Roe P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.5 +0.5 0.1
Lucas Harrell P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.4 +0.4 0.1
Jesse Biddle P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.3 +0.3 –
Brandon Snyder 1B/3B ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.3 +0.3 0.0
Rex Brothers P ATL Free agency 2017 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.0
Gordon Beckham 2B ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.0
Dario Álvarez P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.0
Hunter Cervenka P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.0
Casey Kelly P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.0
Luke Jackson P ATL Trade 2016 6 +0.1 +0.0 0.0
Brandon McCarthy P ATL Trade 2017 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.5
Danny Santana OF ATL Trade 2017 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.4
Jeremy Walker P ATL Draft 2016 1 +0.1 +0.1 –
Bryse Wilson P ATL Draft 2016 2 +0.1 +0.1 –
Anthony Recker C ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.0
Matt Adams 1B ATL Trade 2017 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.1
Akeel Morris P ATL Trade 2017 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.0
Jed Bradley P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.0 +0.0 –
Tucker Davidson P ATL Draft 2016 2 -0.0 -0.0 –
Adam McCreery P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.0 +0.0 –
Alexi Ogando P ATL Free agency 2016 – -0.0 – –
Michael Reed OF ATL Free agency 2017 – -0.0 – –
Madison Younginer P ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.0 +0.0 –
Drew Stubbs OF ATL Trade 2016 1 +0.0 +0.0 0.0
Jhoulys Chacín P ATL Free agency 2016 1 -0.1 -0.1 0.1
David Freitas C ATL Trade 2017 – -0.1 – –
Micah Johnson 2B ATL Trade 2017 – -0.1 – –
Blake Lalli C/1B ATL Free agency 2016 – -0.1 – –
Joel De La Cruz P ATL Trade 2016 – -0.2 – –
Alex Jackson C ATL Trade 2016 1 -0.2 -0.2 –
Roberto Hernández P ATL Free agency 2016 – -0.3 – –
Eric O'Flaherty P ATL Free agency 2016 4 -0.3 -0.1 1.8
José Ramírez P ATL Trade 2016 1 -0.3 -0.3 0.0
Jason Motte P ATL Free agency 2017 – -0.4 – –
Josh Collmenter P ATL Trade 2016 1 -0.4 -0.4 0.0
Travis Demeritte OF ATL Trade 2016 – -0.5 – –
Matt Kemp OF ATL Trade 2016 1 -1.0 -1.0 0.0

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.