RRosternomics
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Braves ATL

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GM: Bobby Cox

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.62× league · TAB -0.1
-0.1TAB — talent above budget13th/26
-11.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)25th/26
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars24th/26
-7.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag24th/26
41%dead money %24th/26
0.394win %25th/26
27.8roster fWAR21st/26
+2surplus $M (value vs cost)5th/26
$8Mpayroll $M25th/26

Roster

CFDale Murphy 82GOddibe McDowell 69GRon Gant 14G
LFLonnie Smith 132GTommy Gregg 7GJeff Wetherby 7G
RFDale Murphy 70GTommy Gregg 41GGerónimo Berroa 33G
SSAndres Thomas 138GJeff Blauser 30G
2BJeff Treadway 123GJeff Blauser 39GMark Lemke 14G
3BJeff Blauser 78GRon Gant 53GEd Whited 29G
1BGerald Perry 72GDarrell Evans 50GTommy Gregg 37G
STARTERSJohn Smoltz 4.2WARTom Glavine 2.1WARDerek Lilliquist 2.1WARPete Smith 2.0WARMarty Clary 1.3WAR
CJody Davis 72GBruce Benedict 65GJohn Russell 45G
BULLPEN★ Joe Boever 21svMark Eichhorn 0hJosé Álvarez 0hTony Castillo 0hJay Aldrich 0hMike Stanton 0hSergio Valdez 0hCharlie Puleo 0h
CJody Davis 72 · Bruce Benedict 65 · John Russell 45
1BGerald Perry 72 · Darrell Evans 50 · Tommy Gregg 37
2BJeff Treadway 123 · Jeff Blauser 39 · Mark Lemke 14
3BJeff Blauser 78 · Ron Gant 53 · Ed Whited 29
SSAndres Thomas 138 · Jeff Blauser 30
LFLonnie Smith 132 · Tommy Gregg 7 · Jeff Wetherby 7
CFDale Murphy 82 · Oddibe McDowell 69 · Ron Gant 14
RFDale Murphy 70 · Tommy Gregg 41 · Gerónimo Berroa 33
SPJohn Smoltz 4.2 · Tom Glavine 2.1 · Derek Lilliquist 2.1 · Pete Smith 2.0 · Marty Clary 1.3
BP★ Joe Boever 21 · Mark Eichhorn 0 · José Álvarez 0 · Tony Castillo 0 · Jay Aldrich 0 · Mike Stanton 0 · Sergio Valdez 0 · Charlie Puleo 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.

1989 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Lonnie Smith 33 FA-elig 1348.1 0.4 +2.5
John Smoltz 22 pre-arb 334.2 0.1 +1.4
Derek Lilliquist 23 pre-arb 362.1 0.1 +0.7
Tom Glavine 23 pre-arb 302.1 0.1 +0.6
Pete Smith 23 pre-arb 292.0 0.3 +0.4
Zane Smith↔ WSN 28 arb 211.7 0.3 +0.4
Oddibe McDowell↔ CLE 26 arb 761.6 0.2 +0.4
Jeff Treadway 26 pre-arb 1341.6 0.1 +0.5
Paul Assenmacher↔ CHC 28 arb 491.5 0.2 +0.3
Jim Acker↔ TOR 30 FA-elig 591.4 0.6 -0.0
Dale Murphy 33 FA-elig 1541.4 2.0 -1.5
Marty Clary 27 pre-arb 181.3 0.1 +0.4
Mike Stanton 22 pre-arb 201.1 0.1 +0.3
Jeff Blauser 23 pre-arb 1420.9 0.1 +0.3
Joe Boever 28 arb 660.8 0.2 +0.1
Geronimo Berroa 24 pre-arb 810.6 0.1 +0.1
Dion James↔ CLE 26 FA-elig 630.5 0.2 +0.0
Mark Eichhorn 28 – 450.5 – –
Bruce Benedict 33 FA-elig 660.4 0.4 -0.2
José Álvarez 33 FA-elig 300.2 0.1 -0.1
David Justice 23 – 160.1 – –
Jay Aldrich↔ MIL 28 – 80.1 – –
Gary Eave 25 – 30.1 – –
Dwayne Henry 27 – 120.1 – –
Tony Castillo↔ TOR 26 pre-arb 120.1 0.0 +0.0
Mark Lemke 23 – 140.1 – –
Kelly Mann 21 – 70.1 – –
Drew Denson 23 – 120.0 – –
Tommy Greene 22 – 4-0.0 – –
Jeff Wetherby 25 pre-arb 52-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Kent Mercker 21 – 2-0.0 – –
Francisco Cabrera↔ TOR 22 – 4-0.0 – –
Charlie Puleo 34 – 15-0.1 – –
Ed Romero↔ BOS 31 FA-elig 7-0.1 0.0 -0.0
John Mizerock 28 – 11-0.1 – –
Sergio Valdez 24 arb 19-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Terry Blocker 29 – 26-0.2 – –
Rusty Richards 24 – 2-0.3 – –
John Russell 28 arb 74-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Tommy Gregg 25 pre-arb 102-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Gerald Perry 28 FA-elig 72-0.5 0.7 -0.8
Jody Davis 32 FA-elig 78-0.6 0.9 -1.1
Ron Gant 24 – 75-0.7 – –
Ed Whited 25 pre-arb 36-0.8 0.1 -0.4
Andres Thomas 25 arb 141-1.2 0.5 -0.9
Darrell Evans 42 FA-elig 107-1.4 0.4 -0.9

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Derek Lilliquist2.1
Oddibe McDowell1.6
Jeff Treadway1.6
Marty Clary1.3
Mike Stanton1.1
Geronimo Berroa0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Rick Mahler4.1
Ozzie Virgil Jr.1.3
Bruce Sutter0.7
German Jimenez0.5
Kevin Blankenship0.0
Juan Eichelberger-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$8.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 1989, 1989–1995. 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 (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Dale Murphy3313.000$2.0M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Jody Davis328.000$887k$800kFREE AGENT
Gerald Perry286.000$662kFREE AGENT
Jim Acker306.000$556kFREE AGENT
Darrell Evans4220.000$415kFREE AGENT
Lonnie Smith3311.000$400k$1.5M$2.0M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Bruce Benedict3311.000$395kFREE AGENT
Dion James266.000$188kFREE AGENT
José Álvarez338.000$125kFREE AGENT
Ed Romero3112.000$7kFREE AGENT
Mark Eichhorn287.000—FREE AGENT
John Mizerock286.000—FREE AGENT
Charlie Puleo348.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Andres Thomas254.000$510kARB 3FREE AGENT
Zane Smith285.000$258kFREE AGENT
Paul Assenmacher283.000$211kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Oddibe McDowell264.000$197kARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Boever284.000$167kARB 3FREE AGENT
John Russell285.000$145kFREE AGENT
Sergio Valdez243.000$68kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Blocker294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dwayne Henry275.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (24)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Pete Smith232.000$275kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Glavine232.000$118kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Treadway262.000$95kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Smoltz221.000$86kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Blauser232.000$82kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Gregg252.000$82kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Geronimo Berroa240.000$70kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Wetherby250.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marty Clary272.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Stanton220.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derek Lilliquist230.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Whited250.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Castillo261.000$30kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Aldrich282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Cabrera220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Drew Denson23–—
Gary Eave251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Gant242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Greene220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Justice230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Lemke231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelly Mann21–—
Kent Mercker210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rusty Richards24–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Braves 1989; 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.