RRosternomics
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Braves ATL

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GM: Bobby Cox

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.76× league · TAB -6.6
-6.6TAB — talent above budget19th/26
-13.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)24th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/26
-8.6dead WAR — sub-replacement drag26th/26
56%dead money %25th/26
0.401win %26th/26
24.2roster fWAR23rd/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)11th/26
$13Mpayroll $M23rd/26

Roster

CFRon Gant 113GOddibe McDowell 60GJeff Blauser 1G
LFLonnie Smith 122GRon Gant 38GJim Vatcher 14G
RFDavid Justice 60GJim Vatcher 16GTommy Gregg 13G
SSJeff Blauser 93GAndres Thomas 72GVictor Rosario 3G
2BJeff Treadway 122GMark Lemke 44GJeff Blauser 14G
3BJim Presley 133GMark Lemke 45GJeff Blauser 9G
1BDavid Justice 69GTommy Gregg 50GFrancisco Cabrera 48G
STARTERSJohn Smoltz 3.9WARCharlie Leibrandt 3.3WARTom Glavine 3.0WARSteve Avery 1.4WARPete Smith 0.6WAR
CGreg Olson 97GErnie Whitt 59GJimmy Kremers 27G
BULLPEN★ Kent Mercker 7svMark Grant 0hTony Castillo 0hDwayne Henry 0hCharlie Kerfeld 0hMarvin Freeman 0hMike Stanton 0hDoug Sisk 0h
CGreg Olson 97 · Ernie Whitt 59 · Jimmy Kremers 27
1BDavid Justice 69 · Tommy Gregg 50 · Francisco Cabrera 48
2BJeff Treadway 122 · Mark Lemke 44 · Jeff Blauser 14
3BJim Presley 133 · Mark Lemke 45 · Jeff Blauser 9
SSJeff Blauser 93 · Andres Thomas 72 · Victor Rosario 3
LFLonnie Smith 122 · Ron Gant 38 · Jim Vatcher 14
CFRon Gant 113 · Oddibe McDowell 60 · Jeff Blauser 1
RFDavid Justice 60 · Jim Vatcher 16 · Tommy Gregg 13
SPJohn Smoltz 3.9 · Charlie Leibrandt 3.3 · Tom Glavine 3.0 · Steve Avery 1.4 · Pete Smith 0.6
BP★ Kent Mercker 7 · Mark Grant 0 · Tony Castillo 0 · Dwayne Henry 0 · Charlie Kerfeld 0 · Marvin Freeman 0 · Mike Stanton 0 · Doug Sisk 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Ron Gant 25 arb 1525.1 0.1 +2.1
Lonnie Smith 34 FA-elig 1354.0 1.5 +0.3
John Smoltz 23 pre-arb 383.9 0.2 +1.5
Charlie Leibrandt 33 FA-elig 243.3 1.0 +0.5
David Justice 24 pre-arb 1273.3 0.1 +1.4
Tom Glavine 24 arb 343.0 0.3 +1.1
Tony Castillo 27 pre-arb 521.4 0.1 +0.5
Steve Avery 20 pre-arb 211.4 0.1 +0.5
Jeff Treadway 27 arb 1281.3 0.2 +0.3
Dale Murphy↔ PHI 34 FA-elig 970.9 1.3 -0.8
Greg Olson 29 pre-arb 1000.9 0.1 +0.3
Jeff Blauser 24 arb 1150.8 0.2 +0.2
Derek Lilliquist↔ SDP 24 pre-arb 130.6 0.1 +0.2
Mark Grant↔ SDP 26 FA-elig 330.6 0.2 +0.1
Pete Smith 24 arb 130.6 0.2 +0.1
Francisco Cabrera 23 pre-arb 630.3 0.1 +0.0
Tommy Gregg 26 arb 1240.2 0.2 -0.0
Paul Marak 24 – 70.2 – –
Marvin Freeman↔ PHI 27 – 90.2 – –
Marty Clary 28 arb 330.2 0.1 -0.0
Jim Vatcher↔ PHI 24 pre-arb 210.1 0.0 +0.0
Mark Lemke 24 pre-arb 1020.1 0.1 -0.1
Mike Bell 22 pre-arb 360.1 0.1 -0.1
Dwayne Henry 28 FA-elig 340.0 0.1 -0.1
Sergio Valdez↔ CLE 25 arb 60.0 0.0 -0.0
Jeff Parrett↔ PHI 28 arb 200.0 0.2 -0.2
Charlie Kerfeld↔ HOU 26 arb 25-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Victor Rosario 23 pre-arb 9-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Mike Stanton 23 pre-arb 7-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Doug Sisk 32 – 3-0.1 – –
Rusty Richards 25 – 1-0.1 – –
Geronimo Berroa 25 – 7-0.1 – –
Oddibe McDowell 27 arb 113-0.1 0.7 -0.8
Rick Luecken↔ TOR 29 pre-arb 36-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Kent Mercker 22 pre-arb 36-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Kelly Mann 22 – 11-0.3 – –
Joe Hesketh↔ BOS 31 FA-elig 31-0.3 0.3 -0.4
Jody Davis 33 FA-elig 12-0.3 0.8 -0.9
Tommy Greene↔ PHI 23 pre-arb 5-0.4 0.0 -0.2
Nick Esasky 30 FA-elig 9-0.6 1.4 -1.6
Ernie Whitt 38 FA-elig 67-0.7 1.2 -1.5
Joe Boever↔ PHI 29 arb 33-0.9 0.1 -0.5
Jimmy Kremers 24 – 29-0.9 – –
Alexis Infante 28 arb 20-0.9 0.1 -0.5
Jim Presley 28 FA-elig 140-1.0 0.6 -1.1
Andres Thomas 26 arb 84-1.3 0.6 -1.1

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Charlie Leibrandt3.3
Steve Avery1.4
Greg Olson0.9
Mark Grant0.6
Paul Marak0.2
Marvin Freeman0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Zane Smith1.7
Paul Assenmacher1.5
Jim Acker1.4
Dion James0.5
Mark Eichhorn0.5
Bruce Benedict0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$12.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Lonnie Smith3412.000$1.5M$2.0M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Nick Esasky307.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Dale Murphy3414.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Ernie Whitt3814.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Charlie Leibrandt3311.000$1.0M$1.8M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Jody Davis339.000$800kFREE AGENT
Jim Presley286.000$640kFREE AGENT
Joe Hesketh316.000$258kFREE AGENT
Mark Grant266.000$224kFREE AGENT
Dwayne Henry286.000$120kFREE AGENT
Doug Sisk328.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Oddibe McDowell275.000$690kFREE AGENT
Andres Thomas265.000$550kFREE AGENT
Tom Glavine243.000$285kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Treadway273.000$250kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Parrett284.000$194kARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Smith243.000$190kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Blauser243.000$180kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Gregg263.000$155kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Gant253.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marty Clary283.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alexis Infante283.000$114kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Boever295.000$106kFREE AGENT
Charlie Kerfeld265.000$102kFREE AGENT
Sergio Valdez254.000$20kARB 3FREE AGENT
Marvin Freeman274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
John Smoltz232.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Stanton231.000$118kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Luecken291.000$111kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Lemke242.000$105kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Cabrera231.000$102kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Justice241.000$102kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kent Mercker221.000$102kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Avery200.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Castillo272.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Bell220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Victor Rosario230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Olson291.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derek Lilliquist241.000$61kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Vatcher240.000$37kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Greene231.000$33kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Geronimo Berroa251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jimmy Kremers24–—
Kelly Mann22–—
Paul Marak24–—
Rusty Richards25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Braves 1990; 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.