RRosternomics
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Orioles BAL

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GM: Hank Peters

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.26× league · TAB -15.1
-15.1TAB — talent above budget25th/26
-17.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)26th/26
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars21st/26
-5.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag22nd/26
36%dead money %17th/26
0.414win %24th/26
22.0roster fWAR25th/26
-7surplus $M (value vs cost)26th/26
$14Mpayroll $M4th/26

Roster

CFFred Lynn 102GKen Gerhart 42GMike Hart 28G
LFLarry Sheets 72GMike Young 54GKen Gerhart 53G
RFLee Lacy 79GLarry Sheets 58GJim Dwyer 29G
SSCal Ripken Jr. 162GRene Gonzales 1GRon Washington 1G
2BBilly Ripken 58GRick Burleson 55GAlan Wiggins 33G
3BRay Knight 130GRene Gonzales 29GRon Washington 20G
1BEddie Murray 156GRay Knight 6GLarry Sheets 3G
STARTERSMike Boddicker 3.3WARDave Schmidt 2.2WARMike Griffin 0.3WARJohn Habyan 0.3WAREric Bell 0.3WAR
CTerry Kennedy 142GFloyd Rayford 17GCarl Nichols 13G
DHMike Young 43GAlan Wiggins 36GJim Dwyer 35G
BULLPEN★ Tom Niedenfuer 14svMark Williamson 0hJack O'Connor 0hTony Arnold 0hMike Kinnunen 0hLuis DeLeon 0hDoug Corbett 0hDon Aase 0h
CTerry Kennedy 142 · Floyd Rayford 17 · Carl Nichols 13
1BEddie Murray 156 · Ray Knight 6 · Larry Sheets 3
2BBilly Ripken 58 · Rick Burleson 55 · Alan Wiggins 33
3BRay Knight 130 · Rene Gonzales 29 · Ron Washington 20
SSCal Ripken Jr. 162 · Rene Gonzales 1 · Ron Washington 1
LFLarry Sheets 72 · Mike Young 54 · Ken Gerhart 53
CFFred Lynn 102 · Ken Gerhart 42 · Mike Hart 28
RFLee Lacy 79 · Larry Sheets 58 · Jim Dwyer 29
DHMike Young 43 · Alan Wiggins 36 · Jim Dwyer 35
SPMike Boddicker 3.3 · Dave Schmidt 2.2 · Mike Griffin 0.3 · John Habyan 0.3 · Eric Bell 0.3
BP★ Tom Niedenfuer 14 · Mark Williamson 0 · Jack O'Connor 0 · Tony Arnold 0 · Mike Kinnunen 0 · Luis DeLeon 0 · Doug Corbett 0 · Don Aase 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.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Eddie Murray 31 FA-elig 1604.1 2.0 -0.9
Cal Ripken Jr. 26 FA-elig 1623.5 1.4 -0.3
Mike Boddicker 29 FA-elig 343.3 0.8 +0.1
Larry Sheets 27 arb 1352.7 0.1 +0.6
Dave Schmidt 30 FA-elig 352.2 0.4 +0.2
Terry Kennedy 31 FA-elig 1431.7 1.0 -0.5
Mike Flanagan↔ TOR 35 FA-elig 161.5 0.4 +0.0
Mark Williamson 27 pre-arb 611.3 0.1 +0.3
Jim Dwyer 37 FA-elig 921.3 0.3 +0.1
Billy Ripken 22 pre-arb 581.0 0.1 +0.2
Fred Lynn 35 FA-elig 1110.8 1.3 -1.1
Ray Knight 34 FA-elig 1500.8 0.6 -0.4
Ken Gerhart 26 pre-arb 920.4 0.1 +0.1
Mike Young 27 arb 1100.3 0.3 -0.2
Mike Griffin 30 FA-elig 230.3 0.1 +0.0
Eric Bell 23 pre-arb 330.3 0.1 +0.0
John Habyan 23 pre-arb 270.3 0.1 +0.0
Rene Gonzales 26 – 370.3 – –
Luis DeLeon 28 – 110.3 – –
Jack O'Connor 29 FA-elig 290.2 0.1 -0.0
Carl Nichols 24 – 130.2 – –
Lee Lacy 39 FA-elig 870.1 0.5 -0.5
Scott McGregor 33 FA-elig 260.1 0.9 -0.9
Nelson Simmons 24 – 160.0 – –
Jackie Gutierrez 27 – 3-0.0 – –
Don Aase 32 FA-elig 7-0.1 0.6 -0.6
Dave Vangorder 30 – 12-0.1 – –
Jose Mesa 21 – 6-0.1 – –
Ken Dixon 26 arb 34-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Pete Stanicek 24 – 30-0.1 – –
John Shelby↔ LAD 29 FA-elig 21-0.2 0.0 -0.1
Tony Arnold 28 pre-arb 27-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Mike Kinnunen 29 – 18-0.2 – –
Doug Corbett 34 – 11-0.3 – –
Floyd Rayford 29 FA-elig 20-0.4 0.2 -0.3
Ron Washington 35 FA-elig 26-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Jeff Ballard 23 – 14-0.4 – –
Mike Hart 29 arb 34-0.5 0.1 -0.2
Tom Niedenfuer↔ LAD 27 FA-elig 45-0.5 0.5 -0.7
Rick Burleson 36 FA-elig 62-0.7 0.2 -0.4
Alan Wiggins 29 FA-elig 85-1.0 0.8 -1.1

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Dave Schmidt2.2
Terry Kennedy1.7
Mark Williamson1.3
Billy Ripken1.0
Ray Knight0.8
Mike Griffin0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Storm Davis2.6
Rick Dempsey2.1
Juan Beniquez1.0
Jim Traber0.9
Brad Havens0.7
Rich Bordi0.6

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$13.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. 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 (22)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Eddie Murray3110.000$2.0M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Cal Ripken Jr.266.000$1.4M$1.7M$2.5M$1.3M$2.6M$2.1M$5.2M
Fred Lynn3513.000$1.3M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Terry Kennedy319.000$1.0M$850kFREE AGENT
Scott McGregor3311.000$940k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Mike Boddicker297.000$825k$496kFREE AGENT
Alan Wiggins296.000$762kFREE AGENT
Don Aase3210.000$625k$675kFREE AGENT
Ray Knight3413.000$600kFREE AGENT
Tom Niedenfuer276.000$548k$850kFREE AGENT
Lee Lacy3915.000$525kFREE AGENT
Dave Schmidt306.000$435k$625k$675kFREE AGENT
Mike Flanagan3512.000$435kFREE AGENT$250k$600k
Jim Dwyer3714.000$308k$191kFREE AGENT
Floyd Rayford297.000$248kFREE AGENT
Rick Burleson3613.000$200kFREE AGENT
Jack O'Connor296.000$85kFREE AGENT
Ron Washington3510.000$85kFREE AGENT
Mike Griffin308.000$65kFREE AGENT
John Shelby296.000$45kFREE AGENT
Doug Corbett347.000—FREE AGENT
Luis DeLeon286.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Mike Young275.000$350kFREE AGENT
Ken Dixon263.000$155kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Larry Sheets273.000$145kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Hart293.000$62kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rene Gonzales263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jackie Gutierrez274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Vangorder305.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
John Habyan232.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Gerhart261.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Bell232.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Arnold281.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Ripken220.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Williamson270.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Ballard230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Kinnunen29–—
Jose Mesa210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carl Nichols241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nelson Simmons24–—
Pete Stanicek240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Orioles 1987; 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.