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Tommy Lasorda

Sep 22, 1927 (Norristown, PA) – Jan 7, 2021 (Fullerton, CA) · died at 93

General manager for the Dodgers (1998–1998).

1 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
Record83–79
Win %0.512
-2.0GM WAR — wins above a replacement GM (org-adjusted, shrunk; per season) ±7.8127th/195 execs
7.0Depth — 2+ WAR regulars per season (the breadth that drives TAB, not stars)53rd/195 execs
-5.3Dead WAR — WAR/yr bled by sub-replacement players (closer to 0 = better)112th/195 execs
28%Dead money — payroll on <0.5-WAR players (lower = better)42nd/195 execs
$-0MCheap-talent surplus — $/yr of value from cost-controlled (pre-arb/arb) players above their pay; the selection engine, and the stickiest GM skill we track184th/195 execs
$3MDrafted surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own draftees (the develop-from-the-draft engine)124th/195 execs
$-2MTraded-for surplus — cheap-talent surplus from cost-controlled players he acquired via trade179th/195 execs
$-1MInt'l surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own international signees184th/195 execs
-8.8TAB — talent above budget — roster-construction alpha (talent your budget bought above expectation), tenure total111th/195 execs
-3.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + the non-repeatable luck of converting talent to wins)82nd/195 execs
0.46Acquisition Leverage — playoff pts per acquired WAR, graded once in the year each deal's wins arrive (the repeatable decision skill)150th/195 execs
-26Roster surplus $M86th/195 execs

Tenure breakdown

TeamRoleYearsSzns WAB WAB/yr TAB WAR surp HG Trade FA R5 AcqLev W-L% POPenWS Surp $M
▸ Dodgers GM 1998–1998 1 -3.4 -3.36 -8.8 -24.0 +1.2 +29.0 +7.7 +0.3 0.46 0.512 ––– -26
Career total (1985+ data) 1 -3.4 -8.8 -24.0 +1.2 +29.0 +7.7 +0.3 0.46 0.512 –– – -26

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)+1.2
Trade+29.0
Free agency+7.7
Rule 5 / minor draft+0.3
Sourcing mix: 3% draft · 46% FA · 52% trade · 0% R5

Roster value distribution — career average — depth vs. stars

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR, averaged across Tommy Lasorda'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 — 20 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)

PlayerPosTeam How Year Szns fWAR WAR/yr Lev
Kevin Brown P LAD Free agency 1998 5 +22.8 +4.6 5.1
Gary Sheffield OF LAD Trade 1998 4 +14.7 +3.7 1.5
Mark Grudzielanek 2B/SS LAD Trade 1998 4 +7.4 +1.9 3.4
Todd Hundley C LAD Trade 1998 3 +2.9 +1.0 0.3
Brian Bohanon P LAD Trade 1998 1 +1.6 +1.6 0.7
David Ross C LAD Draft 1998 2 +1.4 +0.7 –
Matt Luke OF LAD Trade 1998 1 +1.3 +1.3 0.6
Dave Mlicki P LAD Trade 1998 2 +1.2 +0.6 0.5
Charles Johnson C LAD Trade 1998 1 +1.1 +1.1 0.5
Trenidad Hubbard OF LAD Trade 1998 2 +1.0 +0.5 0.5
Devon White OF LAD Free agency 1998 1 +0.2 +0.2 0.5
Greg McMichael P LAD Trade 1998 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.1
Carlos Pérez P LAD Trade 1998 2 +0.1 +0.1 0.3
Brad Clontz P LAD Free agency 1998 – -0.0 – –
Pedro Borbón P LAD Free agency 1998 – -0.1 – –
Bubba Crosby OF LAD Draft 1998 – -0.1 – –
Sean Maloney P LAD Free agency 1998 – -0.1 – –
Hiram Bocachica OF LAD Trade 1998 2 -0.2 -0.1 –
Thomas Howard OF LAD Free agency 1998 – -0.4 – –
Alan Mills P LAD Free agency 1998 – -0.7 – –

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.