RRosternomics
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Angels ANA

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GM: Mike Port

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.23× league · TAB +13.5
+13.5TAB — talent above budget2nd/26
+7.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)6th/26
12.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-2.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag2nd/26
17%dead money %2nd/26
0.568win %4th/26
50.3roster fWAR2nd/26
+2surplus $M (value vs cost)4th/26
$14Mpayroll $M7th/26

1986: made playoffs · 92–70. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFGary Pettis 153GRuppert Jones 10GDevon White 7G
LFBrian Downing 138GRuppert Jones 28GDevon White 18G
RFRuppert Jones 96GGeorge Hendrick 92GDarrell Miller 9G
SSDick Schofield 137GRick Burleson 37GGus Polidor 1G
2BRob Wilfong 90GBobby Grich 87GRick Burleson 6G
3BDoug DeCinces 132GJack Howell 39GRick Burleson 4G
1BWally Joyner 152GBobby Grich 11GGeorge Hendrick 7G
STARTERSMike Witt 6.7WARKirk McCaskill 5.6WARJohn Candelaria 3.0WARDon Sutton 2.2WARRon Romanick 0.5WAR
CBob Boone 144GJerry Narron 51GDarrell Miller 10G
DHReggie Jackson 111GRick Burleson 35GBrian Downing 9G
BULLPEN★ Donnie Moore 21svDoug Corbett 0hTerry Forster 0hGary Lucas 0hChuck Finley 0hVern Ruhle 0hT.R. Bryden 0hKen Forsch 0h
CBob Boone 144 · Jerry Narron 51 · Darrell Miller 10
1BWally Joyner 152 · Bobby Grich 11 · George Hendrick 7
2BRob Wilfong 90 · Bobby Grich 87 · Rick Burleson 6
3BDoug DeCinces 132 · Jack Howell 39 · Rick Burleson 4
SSDick Schofield 137 · Rick Burleson 37 · Gus Polidor 1
LFBrian Downing 138 · Ruppert Jones 28 · Devon White 18
CFGary Pettis 153 · Ruppert Jones 10 · Devon White 7
RFRuppert Jones 96 · George Hendrick 92 · Darrell Miller 9
DHReggie Jackson 111 · Rick Burleson 35 · Brian Downing 9
SPMike Witt 6.7 · Kirk McCaskill 5.6 · John Candelaria 3.0 · Don Sutton 2.2 · Ron Romanick 0.5
BP★ Donnie Moore 21 · Doug Corbett 0 · Terry Forster 0 · Gary Lucas 0 · Chuck Finley 0 · Vern Ruhle 0 · T.R. Bryden 0 · Ken Forsch 0

Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

1986 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mike Witt 25 arb 346.7 0.9 +1.1
Kirk McCaskill 25 pre-arb 345.6 0.1 +1.5
Gary Pettis 28 arb 1544.1 0.3 +0.9
Brian Downing 35 FA-elig 1523.9 0.8 +0.4
Dick Schofield 23 arb 1393.7 0.2 +0.9
Wally Joyner 24 pre-arb 1543.3 0.1 +0.9
John Candelaria 32 FA-elig 163.0 0.8 +0.1
Doug DeCinces 35 FA-elig 1402.7 1.2 -0.4
Ruppert Jones 31 FA-elig 1262.3 0.6 +0.1
Don Sutton 41 FA-elig 342.2 0.9 -0.2
Bobby Grich 37 FA-elig 982.1 0.5 +0.1
Bob Boone 38 FA-elig 1442.0 0.9 -0.3
Gary Lucas 31 FA-elig 271.5 0.5 -0.0
Reggie Jackson 40 FA-elig 1321.5 1.1 -0.7
Jack Howell 24 pre-arb 631.3 0.1 +0.3
George Hendrick 36 FA-elig 1021.1 0.9 -0.6
Rick Burleson 35 FA-elig 930.7 0.9 -0.6
Chuck Finley 23 pre-arb 250.5 0.1 +0.1
Ron Romanick 25 pre-arb 180.5 0.4 -0.3
Terry Forster 34 FA-elig 410.5 0.2 -0.0
Vern Ruhle 35 FA-elig 160.5 0.1 +0.1
Devon White 23 pre-arb 290.5 0.1 +0.1
Donnie Moore 32 FA-elig 490.5 1.0 -0.9
Jim Slaton↔ DET 36 FA-elig 140.4 0.2 -0.0
Rob Wilfong 32 FA-elig 920.4 0.4 -0.3
Jerry Narron 30 FA-elig 570.3 0.1 -0.1
Mark Ryal 26 – 130.1 – –
Willie Fraser 22 – 10.1 – –
Gus Polidor 24 – 60.1 – –
Mark McLemore 21 – 50.1 – –
Urbano Lugo 23 – 6-0.0 – –
Doug Corbett 33 FA-elig 46-0.1 0.4 -0.4
T.R. Bryden 27 – 16-0.1 – –
Mike Cook 22 – 5-0.2 – –
Todd Fischer 25 – 9-0.2 – –
Ray Chadwick 23 – 7-0.2 – –
Ken Forsch 39 FA-elig 10-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Darrell Miller 28 – 33-0.7 – –

Key additions (new vs 1985)

PlayerfWAR
Wally Joyner3.3
Gary Lucas1.5
Rick Burleson0.7
Chuck Finley0.5
Terry Forster0.5
Vern Ruhle0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1985)

Player1985 fWAR
Juan Beniquez1.5
Stu Cliburn1.5
Mike Brown0.6
Craig Gerber0.6
Tommy John0.5
Daryl Sconiers0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1986 payroll
$13.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1986, 1986–1992. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Doug DeCinces3513.000$1.2M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Reggie Jackson4019.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Donnie Moore3211.000$1.0M$1.0M$1.0MFREE AGENT
George Hendrick3615.000$939k$989k$989kFREE AGENT
Don Sutton4120.000$890k$890kFREE AGENT
Rick Burleson3512.000$857kFREE AGENT
Bob Boone3814.000$853k$883k$883kFREE AGENT
Brian Downing3513.000$808k$900k$900k$1.2M$1.2MFREE AGENT
John Candelaria3211.000$800k$696kFREE AGENT
Ruppert Jones3110.000$560k$450kFREE AGENT
Bobby Grich3716.000$500kFREE AGENT
Gary Lucas316.000$500k$662kFREE AGENT
Rob Wilfong329.000$417kFREE AGENT
Doug Corbett336.000$410kFREE AGENT
Terry Forster3415.000$170kFREE AGENT
Jim Slaton3615.000$156kFREE AGENT
Jerry Narron307.000$142kFREE AGENT
Ken Forsch3916.000$100kFREE AGENT
Vern Ruhle3512.000$60kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (3)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Mike Witt255.000$933kFREE AGENT
Gary Pettis284.000$300kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dick Schofield233.000$210kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Ron Romanick252.000$425kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kirk McCaskill251.000$142kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack Howell241.000$82kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wally Joyner240.000$65kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chuck Finley230.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Devon White231.000$60kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
T.R. Bryden27–—
Ray Chadwick23–—
Mike Cook22–—
Todd Fischer25–—
Willie Fraser220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Urbano Lugo23–—
Mark McLemore210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darrell Miller282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gus Polidor241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Ryal26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Angels 1986; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.

What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985

RegimeSeasonsWin %Playoff %Pennant %WS %
WINDOW 28152.131.05.01.1
CONTEND 30056.964.719.710.3
FORCED-SPEND 25648.09.81.61.6
REBUILD 32143.31.20.30.3
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.