RRosternomics
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Braves ATL

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GM: John Schuerholz

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.13× league · TAB +8.2
+8.2TAB — talent above budget7th/26
+14.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)1st/26
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars2nd/26
-5.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag17th/26
29%dead money %10th/26
0.605win %1st/26
44.0roster fWAR2nd/26
-0surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/26
$34Mpayroll $M7th/26

1992: won pennant · 98–64. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFOtis Nixon 102GDeion Sanders 60GRon Gant 23G
LFRon Gant 138GLonnie Smith 35GDeion Sanders 12G
RFDavid Justice 140GOtis Nixon 16GDeion Sanders 9G
SSRafael Belliard 139GJeff Blauser 106GVinny Castilla 4G
2BMark Lemke 145GJeff Treadway 45GJeff Blauser 21G
3BTerry Pendleton 158GMark Lemke 13GVinny Castilla 4G
1BSid Bream 120GBrian R. Hunter 92GRyan Klesko 5G
STARTERSTom Glavine 5.3WARJohn Smoltz 5.3WARSteve Avery 3.7WARCharlie Leibrandt 3.5WARMike Bielecki 1.8WAR
CGreg Olson 94GDamon Berryhill 84GJavy Lopez 9G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Reardon 30svMike Stanton 0hMarvin Freeman 0hKent Mercker 0hAlejandro Pena 0hMark Wohlers 0hRandy St. Claire 0hDavid Nied 0h
CGreg Olson 94 · Damon Berryhill 84 · Javy Lopez 9
1BSid Bream 120 · Brian R. Hunter 92 · Ryan Klesko 5
2BMark Lemke 145 · Jeff Treadway 45 · Jeff Blauser 21
3BTerry Pendleton 158 · Mark Lemke 13 · Vinny Castilla 4
SSRafael Belliard 139 · Jeff Blauser 106 · Vinny Castilla 4
LFRon Gant 138 · Lonnie Smith 35 · Deion Sanders 12
CFOtis Nixon 102 · Deion Sanders 60 · Ron Gant 23
RFDavid Justice 140 · Otis Nixon 16 · Deion Sanders 9
SPTom Glavine 5.3 · John Smoltz 5.3 · Steve Avery 3.7 · Charlie Leibrandt 3.5 · Mike Bielecki 1.8
BP★ Jeff Reardon 30 · Mike Stanton 0 · Marvin Freeman 0 · Kent Mercker 0 · Alejandro Pena 0 · Mark Wohlers 0 · Randy St. Claire 0 · David Nied 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.

1992 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Tom Glavine 26 arb 355.3 3.0 +1.2
John Smoltz 25 arb 365.3 1.6 +2.5
Terry Pendleton 31 FA-elig 1605.1 3.0 +1.0
David Justice 26 arb 1445.1 0.6 +3.4
Steve Avery 22 pre-arb 353.7 0.4 +2.5
Charlie Leibrandt 35 FA-elig 323.5 3.2 -0.5
Deion Sanders 24 arb 973.3 0.6 +1.9
Ron Gant 27 arb 1533.0 2.7 -0.4
Otis Nixon 33 FA-elig 1202.6 1.8 +0.2
Jeff Blauser 26 arb 1232.5 0.9 +1.0
Mike Bielecki 32 FA-elig 191.8 1.3 +0.1
Lonnie Smith 36 FA-elig 841.5 1.8 -0.6
Greg Olson 31 arb 951.4 0.3 +0.7
Sid Bream 31 FA-elig 1251.3 2.4 -1.4
Pete Smith 26 arb 121.1 0.4 +0.4
David Nied 23 – 60.9 – –
Brian R. Hunter 24 pre-arb 1020.6 0.1 +0.4
Jerry Willard↔ WSN 32 – 260.3 – –
Jeff Reardon↔ BOS 36 FA-elig 140.3 0.6 -0.4
Mark Wohlers 22 – 320.3 – –
Francisco Cabrera 25 arb 120.2 0.1 +0.0
Mike Stanton 25 arb 650.2 0.3 -0.1
Javy Lopez 21 – 90.1 – –
Melvin Nieves 20 – 120.0 – –
Pedro Borbon Jr. 24 – 20.0 – –
Tommy Gregg 28 arb 18-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Randy St. Claire 31 – 10-0.1 – –
Kent Mercker 24 arb 53-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Vinny Castilla 24 pre-arb 9-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Steve Lyons↔ BOS 32 FA-elig 11-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Ben Rivera↔ PHI 24 pre-arb 8-0.2 0.0 -0.2
Armando Reynoso 26 – 3-0.2 – –
Ryan Klesko 21 – 13-0.3 – –
Damon Berryhill 28 arb 101-0.3 0.4 -0.6
Mark Davis↔ KCR 31 FA-elig 14-0.3 1.9 -2.1
Alejandro Pena 33 FA-elig 41-0.4 2.6 -2.9
Mark Lemke 26 arb 155-0.4 0.2 -0.5
Jeff Treadway 29 arb 61-0.4 1.3 -1.6
Marvin Freeman 29 FA-elig 58-0.5 0.4 -0.8
Juan Berenguer↔ KCR 37 FA-elig 28-1.0 0.7 -1.5
Rafael Belliard 30 FA-elig 144-1.0 0.5 -1.3

Key additions (new vs 1991)

PlayerfWAR
David Nied0.9
Jeff Reardon0.3
Javy Lopez0.1
Melvin Nieves0.0
Pedro Borbon Jr.0.0
Steve Lyons-0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1991)

Player1991 fWAR
Keith Mitchell0.2
Danny Heep0.1
Rico Rossy-0.0
Jeff Parrett-0.1
Rick Mahler-0.1
Jim Clancy-0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1992 payroll
$33.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 1992, 1992–1998. 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 (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Charlie Leibrandt3513.000$3.2MFREE AGENT
Terry Pendleton318.000$3.0M$2.2M$3.2MFREE AGENT$1.2M
Alejandro Pena3311.000$2.6MFREE AGENT$174k
Sid Bream319.000$2.4M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Mark Davis3112.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Otis Nixon339.000$1.8M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Lonnie Smith3614.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Mike Bielecki328.000$1.3MFREE AGENT$150k$125k$708k
Juan Berenguer3714.000$715kFREE AGENT
Jeff Reardon3613.000$614kFREE AGENT
Rafael Belliard3010.000$500k$800k$800k$550k$575k$250k$250k
Marvin Freeman296.000$400k$725kFREE AGENT
Steve Lyons327.000$149kFREE AGENT
Randy St. Claire318.000—FREE AGENT
Jerry Willard328.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Tom Glavine265.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Ron Gant275.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
John Smoltz254.000$1.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Treadway295.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Jeff Blauser265.000$940kFREE AGENT
Deion Sanders243.000$600kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Justice263.000$555kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Smith265.000$410kFREE AGENT
Damon Berryhill285.000$370kFREE AGENT
Greg Olson313.000$350kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Stanton253.000$265kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Lemke264.000$250kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Gregg285.000$248kFREE AGENT
Kent Mercker243.000$190kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Cabrera253.000$148kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Steve Avery222.000$355kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian R. Hunter241.000$146kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vinny Castilla241.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Rivera240.000$31kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pedro Borbon Jr.240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Klesko210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Javy Lopez210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Nied230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Melvin Nieves200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Armando Reynoso261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Wohlers221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Braves 1992; 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.