RRosternomics
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Braves ATL

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GM: Bobby Cox

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.03× league · TAB -22.0
-22.0TAB — talent above budget25th/26
-27.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)25th/26
3.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars24th/26
-8.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/26
40%dead money %18th/26
0.338win %25th/26
12.5roster fWAR26th/26
-8surplus $M (value vs cost)23rd/26
$12Mpayroll $M15th/26

Roster

CFAlbert Hall 63GTerry Blocker 61GDion James 49G
LFDion James 86GKen Griffey Sr. 41GLonnie Smith 35G
RFDale Murphy 156GDion James 3GKen Griffey Sr. 2G
SSAndres Thomas 150GJeff Blauser 8GPaul Runge 6G
2BRon Gant 122GMark Lemke 16GDámaso García 13G
3BJim Morrison 24GRon Gant 22GPaul Runge 19G
1BGerald Perry 141GTed Simmons 19GGary Roenicke 1G
STARTERSRick Mahler 4.1WARTom Glavine 2.3WARPete Smith 1.7WARZane Smith 1.7WARGerman Jimenez 0.5WAR
COzzie Virgil Jr. 96GBruce Benedict 89GJody Davis 76G
BULLPEN★ Bruce Sutter 14svPaul Assenmacher 0hJosé Álvarez 0hCharlie Puleo 0hJim Acker 0hJuan Eichelberger 0hJoe Boever 0hEd Olwine 0h
COzzie Virgil Jr. 96 · Bruce Benedict 89 · Jody Davis 76
1BGerald Perry 141 · Ted Simmons 19 · Gary Roenicke 1
2BRon Gant 122 · Mark Lemke 16 · Dámaso García 13
3BJim Morrison 24 · Ron Gant 22 · Paul Runge 19
SSAndres Thomas 150 · Jeff Blauser 8 · Paul Runge 6
LFDion James 86 · Ken Griffey Sr. 41 · Lonnie Smith 35
CFAlbert Hall 63 · Terry Blocker 61 · Dion James 49
RFDale Murphy 156 · Dion James 3 · Ken Griffey Sr. 2
SPRick Mahler 4.1 · Tom Glavine 2.3 · Pete Smith 1.7 · Zane Smith 1.7 · German Jimenez 0.5
BP★ Bruce Sutter 14 · Paul Assenmacher 0 · José Álvarez 0 · Charlie Puleo 0 · Jim Acker 0 · Juan Eichelberger 0 · Joe Boever 0 · Ed Olwine 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.

1988 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Rick Mahler 34 FA-elig 394.1 0.7 +0.5
Dale Murphy 32 FA-elig 1562.6 2.0 -1.2
Tom Glavine 22 pre-arb 422.3 0.1 +0.6
Ron Gant 23 pre-arb 1461.8 0.1 +0.5
Zane Smith 27 arb 271.7 0.5 +0.1
Pete Smith 22 pre-arb 321.7 0.1 +0.5
Ozzie Virgil Jr. 31 FA-elig 1071.3 0.9 -0.5
Paul Assenmacher 27 pre-arb 641.2 0.1 +0.3
Gerald Perry 27 arb 1410.7 0.4 -0.2
Bruce Sutter 35 FA-elig 380.7 1.7 -1.5
Bruce Benedict 32 FA-elig 900.5 0.7 -0.5
German Jimenez 25 pre-arb 150.5 0.1 +0.1
Jeff Blauser 22 pre-arb 180.5 0.1 +0.1
José Álvarez 32 FA-elig 610.2 0.1 +0.0
Joe Boever 27 – 160.2 – –
Lonnie Smith 32 FA-elig 430.2 0.1 -0.1
Tommy Gregg↔ PIT 24 – 110.2 – –
Jody Davis↔ CHC 31 FA-elig 20.1 0.0 +0.0
Kevin Blankenship↔ CHC 25 – 20.0 – –
Charlie Puleo 33 FA-elig 53-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Gary Eave 24 pre-arb 5-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Juan Eichelberger 34 – 20-0.0 – –
Chuck Cary 28 arb 7-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Paul Runge 30 FA-elig 52-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Jim Acker 29 arb 21-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Gary Roenicke 33 FA-elig 49-0.2 0.4 -0.4
Ken Oberkfell↔ PIT 32 FA-elig 120-0.2 0.6 -0.7
Kevin Coffman 23 pre-arb 19-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Mark Lemke 22 – 16-0.3 – –
Dion James 25 arb 132-0.4 0.4 -0.5
John Smoltz 21 pre-arb 12-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Jim Morrison↔ DET 35 FA-elig 51-0.4 0.2 -0.3
Ed Olwine 30 pre-arb 16-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Albert Hall 30 FA-elig 85-0.4 0.2 -0.4
Ted Simmons 38 FA-elig 78-0.5 0.5 -0.6
Jerry Royster 35 – 68-0.6 – –
Damaso Garcia 31 FA-elig 21-0.7 0.7 -0.9
Terry Blocker 28 arb 66-0.7 0.1 -0.3
Andres Thomas 24 arb 153-1.2 0.1 -0.5
Ken Griffey Sr.↔ CIN 38 FA-elig 69-1.2 0.4 -0.8

Key additions (new vs 1987)

PlayerfWAR
Bruce Sutter0.7
German Jimenez0.5
José Álvarez0.2
Lonnie Smith0.2
Tommy Gregg0.2
Jody Davis0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Glenn Hubbard2.4
David Palmer1.8
Gene Garber0.5
Doyle Alexander0.3
Jeff Dedmon0.3
Larry McWilliams0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$12.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 1988, 1988–1994. 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 (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Dale Murphy3212.000$2.0M$2.0M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Bruce Sutter3512.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Ozzie Virgil Jr.318.000$900kFREE AGENT
Rick Mahler349.000$738kFREE AGENT
Damaso Garcia3110.000$692kFREE AGENT
Bruce Benedict3210.000$665k$395kFREE AGENT
Ken Oberkfell3211.000$621kFREE AGENT
Ted Simmons3820.000$470kFREE AGENT
Gary Roenicke3312.000$380kFREE AGENT
Ken Griffey Sr.3815.000$367kFREE AGENT
Albert Hall307.000$250kFREE AGENT
Charlie Puleo337.000$195kFREE AGENT
Jim Morrison3511.000$189kFREE AGENT
Lonnie Smith3210.000$150k$400k$1.5M$2.0M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Paul Runge307.000$108kFREE AGENT
José Álvarez327.000$62k$125kFREE AGENT
Jody Davis317.000$25k$887k$800kFREE AGENT
Jerry Royster3515.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Zane Smith274.000$450kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Acker295.000$435kFREE AGENT
Gerald Perry275.000$425kFREE AGENT
Dion James255.000$360kFREE AGENT
Andres Thomas243.000$110kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chuck Cary283.000$78kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Blocker283.000$70kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Boever273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Paul Assenmacher272.000$81kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Olwine302.000$79kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Blauser221.000$67kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Gant231.000$65kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Smith221.000$65kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Coffman231.000$65kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Glavine221.000$65kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Eave240.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
German Jimenez250.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Smoltz210.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Blankenship250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Eichelberger34–—
Tommy Gregg241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Lemke220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Braves 1988; 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.