RRosternomics
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Diamondbacks ARI

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GM: Joe Garagiola

Overview

REBUILD → steady
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.76× league · TAB -11.5
-11.5TAB — talent above budget27th/30
-13.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)29th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars11th/30
-9.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag28th/30
28%dead money %16th/30
0.401win %26th/30
19.4roster fWAR27th/30
-9surplus $M (value vs cost)20th/30
$32Mpayroll $M21st/30

Roster

CFDevon White 144GDavid Dellucci 19GAndy Fox 8G
LFBernard Gilkey 103GDavid Dellucci 95GYamil Benitez 49G
RFKarim Garcia 100GBrent Brede 39GAndy Fox 33G
SSJay Bell 138GTony Batista 34GHanley Frias 2G
2BAndy Stankiewicz 61GAndy Fox 60GTony Batista 41G
3BMatt Williams 134GAndy Fox 26GTony Batista 15G
1BTravis Lee 146GAndy Fox 12GBrent Brede 12G
STARTERSAndy Benes 3.7WAROmar Daal 3.5WARAmaury Telemaco 1.0WARBrian Anderson 0.7WARClint Sodowsky 0.3WAR
CKelly Stinnett 86GDamian Miller 46G
DHYamil Benitez 2GBrent Brede 1GMike Robertson 1G
BULLPEN★ Gregg Olson 30svAlan Embree 0hAaron Small 0hFelix Rodriguez 0hWillie Banks 0hBobby Chouinard 0hScott Brow 0hBarry Manuel 0h
CKelly Stinnett 86 · Damian Miller 46
1BTravis Lee 146 · Andy Fox 12 · Brent Brede 12
2BAndy Stankiewicz 61 · Andy Fox 60 · Tony Batista 41
3BMatt Williams 134 · Andy Fox 26 · Tony Batista 15
SSJay Bell 138 · Tony Batista 34 · Hanley Frias 2
LFBernard Gilkey 103 · David Dellucci 95 · Yamil Benitez 49
CFDevon White 144 · David Dellucci 19 · Andy Fox 8
RFKarim Garcia 100 · Brent Brede 39 · Andy Fox 33
DHYamil Benitez 2 · Brent Brede 1 · Mike Robertson 1
SPAndy Benes 3.7 · Omar Daal 3.5 · Amaury Telemaco 1.0 · Brian Anderson 0.7 · Clint Sodowsky 0.3
BP★ Gregg Olson 30 · Alan Embree 0 · Aaron Small 0 · Felix Rodriguez 0 · Willie Banks 0 · Bobby Chouinard 0 · Scott Brow 0 · Barry Manuel 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
Andy Benes 30 FA-elig 353.7 6.5 -2.4
Devon White 35 FA-elig 1463.7 3.5 +0.5
Omar Daal 26 arb 333.5 0.6 +3.2
Jay Bell 32 FA-elig 1553.4 5.0 -1.3
Tony Batista 24 pre-arb 1062.5 0.2 +2.5
Matt Williams 32 FA-elig 1352.3 4.8 -2.3
Kelly Stinnett 28 arb 922.1 0.3 +2.0
Andy Fox 27 pre-arb 1391.9 0.2 +1.8
Gregg Olson 31 FA-elig 641.2 0.7 +0.7
Travis Lee 23 pre-arb 1461.0 0.2 +0.9
Amaury Telemaco↔ CHC 24 pre-arb 271.0 0.1 +0.9
Brian Anderson 26 arb 350.7 0.8 -0.1
Damian Miller 28 pre-arb 570.6 0.2 +0.5
Jeff Suppan↔ KCR 23 arb 130.3 0.2 +0.2
Clint Sodowsky 25 arb 460.3 0.2 +0.1
Russ Springer↔ ATL 29 FA-elig 260.2 0.4 -0.1
Willie Banks↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 330.2 0.3 -0.1
Bobby Chouinard↔ MIL 26 pre-arb 260.1 0.2 -0.0
Vladimir Nunez 23 – 40.0 – –
Neil Weber 25 – 40.0 – –
Jorge Fabregas↔ NYM 28 arb 500.0 0.8 -0.7
Ricky Pickett 28 – 2-0.0 – –
Chris Michalak 27 pre-arb 5-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Alan Embree↔ ATL 28 FA-elig 35-0.1 0.4 -0.4
Joel Adamson 26 pre-arb 5-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Bob Wolcott 24 – 6-0.1 – –
Bryan Corey 24 – 3-0.1 – –
Chris Jones↔ SFG 32 FA-elig 20-0.1 0.1 -0.3
Hensley Meulens 31 – 7-0.1 – –
Scott Brow 29 arb 17-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Efrain Valdez 31 – 6-0.1 – –
Ben Ford 22 pre-arb 8-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Hanley Frias 24 pre-arb 15-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Aaron Small↔ OAK 26 arb 23-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Mike Robertson 27 – 11-0.2 – –
Felix Rodriguez 25 arb 43-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Edwin Diaz 23 pre-arb 3-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Bernard Gilkey↔ NYM 31 FA-elig 29-0.4 1.3 -1.7
David Dellucci 24 pre-arb 124-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Barry Manuel 32 FA-elig 13-0.5 0.3 -0.8
Willie Blair↔ NYM 32 FA-elig 23-0.6 2.2 -2.8
Andy Stankiewicz 33 FA-elig 77-0.8 0.3 -1.2
Yamil Benitez 25 arb 91-0.8 0.2 -1.0
Danny Klassen 22 – 29-1.0 – –
Brent Brede 26 pre-arb 98-1.5 0.2 -1.8
Karim Garcia 22 arb 113-1.5 0.2 -1.8

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Andy Benes3.7
Devon White3.7
Omar Daal3.5
Jay Bell3.4
Tony Batista2.5
Matt Williams2.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
—

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$31.7M

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 (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Andy Benes309.000$6.5M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Jay Bell3212.000$5.0M$6.1M$7.0M$8.1M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Matt Williams3211.000$4.8M$8.1M$8.5M$9.0M$9.5M$10.0MFREE AGENT
Devon White3513.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
Willie Blair328.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Bernard Gilkey318.000$1.3M$5.2M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Gregg Olson3110.000$650k$850kFREE AGENT
Russ Springer296.000$379kFREE AGENT$1.7M$1.7M
Alan Embree286.000$366kFREE AGENT
Andy Stankiewicz336.000$350kFREE AGENT
Barry Manuel327.000$285kFREE AGENT
Willie Banks297.000$269kFREE AGENT
Chris Jones327.000$143kFREE AGENT
Hensley Meulens319.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Brian Anderson265.000$775kFREE AGENT
Jorge Fabregas284.000$750kARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Daal265.000$575kFREE AGENT
Kelly Stinnett284.000$275kARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Brow295.000$225kFREE AGENT
Clint Sodowsky253.000$214kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Rodriguez253.000$210kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Yamil Benitez253.000$195kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Karim Garcia223.000$188kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Suppan233.000$164kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Small264.000$97kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Wolcott243.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Andy Fox272.000$240kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Batista242.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joel Adamson262.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Brede262.000$190kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Damian Miller281.000$178kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Dellucci241.000$178kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hanley Frias241.000$171kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Ford220.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Michalak270.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Travis Lee230.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Edwin Diaz230.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Chouinard262.000$169kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Amaury Telemaco242.000$114kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Robertson272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Efrain Valdez31–—
Ricky Pickett28–—
Bryan Corey24–—
Danny Klassen220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vladimir Nunez230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Neil Weber25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Diamondbacks 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.