RRosternomics
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Angels ANA

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GM: Bill Bavasi

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.02× league · TAB -10.7
-10.7TAB — talent above budget26th/30
+2.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)11th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars19th/30
-6.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag23rd/30
27%dead money %14th/30
0.525win %12th/30
23.9roster fWAR24th/30
-17surplus $M (value vs cost)27th/30
$43Mpayroll $M17th/30

Roster

CFJim Edmonds 153GDamon Mashore 7GOrlando Palmeiro 6G
LFGregg Jefferies 136GDarin Erstad 70GOrlando Palmeiro 46G
RFGarret Anderson 122GDamon Mashore 28GTim Salmon 19G
SSGary Disarcina 157GCarlos García 5GCraig Shipley 5G
2BJustin Baughman 59GNorberto Martin 54GRandy Velarde 51G
3BDave Hollins 91GTroy Glaus 48GCraig Shipley 48G
1BDarin Erstad 70GChris Pritchett 29GCraig Shipley 8G
STARTERSChuck Finley 4.4WARKen Hill 1.7WAROmar Olivares 1.6WARSteve Sparks 1.6WARJack McDowell 0.9WAR
CMatt Walbeck 104GChad Kreuter 94GPhil Nevin 69G
DHTim Salmon 111GFrank Bolick 5GDarin Erstad 2G
BULLPEN★ Troy Percival 42svShigetoshi Hasegawa 0hRich DeLucia 0hMike Fetters 0hMike Holtz 0hPep Harris 0hTrevor Wilson 0hMike James 0h
CMatt Walbeck 104 · Chad Kreuter 94 · Phil Nevin 69
1BDarin Erstad 70 · Chris Pritchett 29 · Craig Shipley 8
2BJustin Baughman 59 · Norberto Martin 54 · Randy Velarde 51
3BDave Hollins 91 · Troy Glaus 48 · Craig Shipley 48
SSGary Disarcina 157 · Carlos García 5 · Craig Shipley 5
LFGregg Jefferies 136 · Darin Erstad 70 · Orlando Palmeiro 46
CFJim Edmonds 153 · Damon Mashore 7 · Orlando Palmeiro 6
RFGarret Anderson 122 · Damon Mashore 28 · Tim Salmon 19
DHTim Salmon 111 · Frank Bolick 5 · Darin Erstad 2
SPChuck Finley 4.4 · Ken Hill 1.7 · Omar Olivares 1.6 · Steve Sparks 1.6 · Jack McDowell 0.9
BP★ Troy Percival 42 · Shigetoshi Hasegawa 0 · Rich DeLucia 0 · Mike Fetters 0 · Mike Holtz 0 · Pep Harris 0 · Trevor Wilson 0 · Mike James 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.

1998 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Chuck Finley 35 FA-elig 344.4 5.0 -0.3
Jim Edmonds 28 arb 1544.0 3.2 +1.2
Tim Salmon 29 FA-elig 1363.3 5.0 -1.4
Gary Disarcina 30 FA-elig 1572.3 2.8 -0.3
Darin Erstad 24 pre-arb 1332.3 0.6 +1.9
Troy Percival 28 arb 671.7 1.1 +0.7
Ken Hill 32 FA-elig 191.7 5.0 -3.2
Omar Olivares 30 FA-elig 401.6 1.1 +0.6
Steve Sparks 32 – 221.6 – –
Jack McDowell 32 FA-elig 140.9 1.5 -0.5
Allen Watson 27 arb 280.9 2.9 -2.0
Mike Holtz 25 pre-arb 530.8 0.2 +0.6
Jason Dickson 25 pre-arb 270.7 0.3 +0.5
Garret Anderson 26 arb 1560.6 1.5 -0.8
Jarrod Washburn 23 pre-arb 150.5 0.2 +0.4
Randy Velarde 35 FA-elig 510.5 0.8 -0.3
Reggie Williams 32 – 290.5 – –
Shigetoshi Hasegawa 29 pre-arb 610.4 0.8 -0.4
Matt Walbeck 28 arb 1080.4 0.7 -0.3
Jeff Juden↔ MIL 27 FA-elig 80.3 0.2 +0.1
Mike James 30 arb 110.3 0.7 -0.4
Gregg Jefferies↔ PHI 30 FA-elig 190.2 0.8 -0.6
Chris Pritchett 28 pre-arb 310.2 0.2 +0.0
Pep Harris 25 pre-arb 490.1 0.2 -0.1
Trevor Wilson 32 FA-elig 150.1 0.2 -0.1
Greg Cadaret↔ TEX 36 FA-elig 390.1 0.3 -0.2
Mike Fetters↔ OAK 33 FA-elig 12-0.0 0.5 -0.5
Bengie Molina 23 pre-arb 2-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Damon Mashore 28 pre-arb 43-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Charlie O'Brien↔ CHW 38 FA-elig 5-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Orlando Palmeiro 29 arb 75-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Rich DeLucia 33 FA-elig 61-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Chad Kreuter↔ CHW 33 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Frank Bolick 32 arb 21-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Cecil Fielder↔ CLE 34 FA-elig 103-0.2 2.5 -2.7
Craig Shipley 35 – 77-0.3 – –
Mark Johnson 30 – 10-0.3 – –
Phil Nevin 27 arb 75-0.3 0.2 -0.6
Rich Robertson 29 – 5-0.3 – –
Carlos Garcia 30 FA-elig 19-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Norberto Martin 31 arb 79-0.6 0.4 -1.1
Troy Glaus 21 pre-arb 48-0.8 0.2 -1.0
Todd Greene 27 pre-arb 29-0.8 0.2 -1.1
Justin Baughman 23 – 63-0.8 – –
Dave Hollins 32 FA-elig 101-0.9 1.9 -2.9

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Omar Olivares1.6
Steve Sparks1.6
Jack McDowell0.9
Jarrod Washburn0.5
Reggie Williams0.5
Matt Walbeck0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Luis Alicea2.6
Jim Leyritz2.1
Tony Phillips1.0
Chuck McElroy0.4
Darrell May0.3
Jack Howell0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$42.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1998, 1998–2004. 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 (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Tim Salmon296.000$5.0M$5.5M$6.0M$6.5M$9.7M$9.9M$9.9M
Ken Hill3210.000$5.0M$5.5M$5.0MFREE AGENT
Chuck Finley3512.000$5.0M$5.8MFREE AGENT
Gary Disarcina309.000$2.8M$3.1M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Cecil Fielder3413.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Dave Hollins328.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Jack McDowell3211.000$1.5M$500kFREE AGENT
Omar Olivares308.000$1.1M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Randy Velarde3511.000$850k$974kFREE AGENT
Gregg Jefferies3011.000$792kFREE AGENT
Mike Fetters339.000$495kFREE AGENT
Rich DeLucia338.000$400kFREE AGENT
Greg Cadaret3611.000$257kFREE AGENT
Jeff Juden277.000$250kFREE AGENT
Trevor Wilson3210.000$225kFREE AGENT
Carlos Garcia308.000$182kFREE AGENT
Charlie O'Brien3813.000$56k$700kFREE AGENT
Chad Kreuter3310.000$22kFREE AGENT
Craig Shipley3512.000—FREE AGENT
Reggie Williams326.000—$210kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Jim Edmonds285.000$3.2MFREE AGENT
Allen Watson275.000$2.9MFREE AGENT
Garret Anderson264.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Troy Percival283.000$1.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike James303.000$700kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Walbeck285.000$700kFREE AGENT
Norberto Martin315.000$425kFREE AGENT
Phil Nevin273.000$210kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orlando Palmeiro293.000$189kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Frank Bolick325.000$178kFREE AGENT
Mark Johnson303.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Robertson295.000—FREE AGENT
Steve Sparks323.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Shigetoshi Hasegawa291.000$790kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darin Erstad242.000$550kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Dickson252.000$295kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pep Harris252.000$226kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Holtz252.000$226kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Damon Mashore282.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Greene272.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Pritchett282.000$171kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bengie Molina230.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Troy Glaus210.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jarrod Washburn230.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Justin Baughman23–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Angels 1998; 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.