RRosternomics
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Orioles BAL

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GM: Roland Hemond

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.62× league · TAB +3.0
+3.0TAB — talent above budget11th/26
+11.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)3rd/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars8th/26
-3.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag7th/26
32%dead money %18th/26
0.537win %8th/26
31.4roster fWAR15th/26
+2surplus $M (value vs cost)4th/26
$8Mpayroll $M24th/26

Roster

CFMike Devereaux 80GBrady Anderson 75GSteve Finley 23G
LFPhil Bradley 140GJoe Orsulak 20GSteve Finley 14G
RFJoe Orsulak 91GSteve Finley 41GMike Devereaux 35G
SSCal Ripken Jr. 162GJuan Bell 2GRene Gonzales 1G
2BBilly Ripken 114GRene Gonzales 54GTim Hulett Sr. 23G
3BCraig Worthington 145GRene Gonzales 17GTim Hulett Sr. 11G
1BRandy Milligan 117GJim Traber 69GFrancisco Melendez 5G
STARTERSBob Milacki 2.2WARJeff Ballard 2.1WARJay Tibbs 0.9WARBrian Holton 0.4WARPete Harnisch 0.2WAR
CBob Melvin 75GMickey Tettleton 75GJamie Quirk 32G
DHLarry Sheets 82GKeith Moreland 69GMickey Tettleton 40G
BULLPEN★ Gregg Olson 27svMark Williamson 0hKevin Hickey 0hMark Thurmond 0hMike Smith 0hMark Huismann 0hMickey Weston 0hBen McDonald 0h
CBob Melvin 75 · Mickey Tettleton 75 · Jamie Quirk 32
1BRandy Milligan 117 · Jim Traber 69 · Francisco Melendez 5
2BBilly Ripken 114 · Rene Gonzales 54 · Tim Hulett Sr. 23
3BCraig Worthington 145 · Rene Gonzales 17 · Tim Hulett Sr. 11
SSCal Ripken Jr. 162 · Juan Bell 2 · Rene Gonzales 1
LFPhil Bradley 140 · Joe Orsulak 20 · Steve Finley 14
CFMike Devereaux 80 · Brady Anderson 75 · Steve Finley 23
RFJoe Orsulak 91 · Steve Finley 41 · Mike Devereaux 35
DHLarry Sheets 82 · Keith Moreland 69 · Mickey Tettleton 40
SPBob Milacki 2.2 · Jeff Ballard 2.1 · Jay Tibbs 0.9 · Brian Holton 0.4 · Pete Harnisch 0.2
BP★ Gregg Olson 27 · Mark Williamson 0 · Kevin Hickey 0 · Mark Thurmond 0 · Mike Smith 0 · Mark Huismann 0 · Mickey Weston 0 · Ben McDonald 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
Cal Ripken Jr. 28 FA-elig 1625.8 2.5 -0.4
Mickey Tettleton 28 arb 1174.4 0.3 +1.3
Randy Milligan 27 pre-arb 1243.8 0.1 +1.3
Bob Milacki 24 – 372.2 – –
Jeff Ballard 25 pre-arb 352.1 0.1 +0.7
Mike Devereaux 26 pre-arb 1222.1 0.1 +0.7
Phil Bradley 30 FA-elig 1442.1 1.1 -0.4
Gregg Olson 22 pre-arb 642.0 0.1 +0.7
Mark Williamson 29 pre-arb 651.6 0.1 +0.5
Craig Worthington 24 pre-arb 1451.5 0.1 +0.5
Joe Orsulak 27 FA-elig 1231.4 0.3 +0.2
Jay Tibbs 27 arb 100.9 0.2 +0.2
Billy Ripken 24 pre-arb 1150.9 0.1 +0.2
Mark Thurmond 32 FA-elig 490.7 0.5 -0.2
Mark Huismann 31 FA-elig 80.5 0.1 +0.0
Stan Jefferson↔ NYY 26 arb 350.5 0.1 +0.1
Brian Holton 29 – 390.4 – –
Jamie Quirk↔ NYY 34 FA-elig 250.3 0.0 +0.1
Bob Melvin 27 arb 850.2 0.2 -0.1
Pete Harnisch 22 pre-arb 180.2 0.1 +0.0
Tim Hulett Sr. 29 FA-elig 330.2 0.1 -0.1
Brady Anderson 25 – 940.1 – –
Steve Finley 24 pre-arb 810.1 0.1 -0.0
Kevin Hickey 33 FA-elig 510.1 0.2 -0.1
Mickey Weston 28 – 70.1 – –
Dave Johnson 29 pre-arb 140.0 0.1 -0.1
Rene Gonzales 28 arb 71-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Francisco Melendez 25 – 9-0.0 – –
Butch Davis 31 – 5-0.0 – –
Chris Hoiles 24 – 6-0.1 – –
Curt Schilling 22 – 5-0.1 – –
Juan Bell 21 – 8-0.1 – –
Jim Traber 27 arb 86-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Dave Schmidt 32 FA-elig 38-0.2 0.7 -0.7
Ben McDonald 21 – 6-0.2 – –
Mike Smith 25 – 13-0.4 – –
Jose Bautista 24 – 15-0.6 – –
Larry Sheets 29 arb 102-0.6 0.7 -0.9
Keith Moreland↔ DET 35 FA-elig 33-0.7 0.4 -0.6

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Randy Milligan3.8
Mike Devereaux2.1
Phil Bradley2.1
Mark Huismann0.5
Stan Jefferson0.5
Brian Holton0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Eddie Murray3.6
Fred Lynn2.3
Mike Boddicker1.9
Oswaldo Peraza0.8
Mike Morgan0.5
Terry Kennedy0.1

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 (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Cal Ripken Jr.288.000$2.5M$1.3M$2.6M$2.1M$5.2M$5.5M$6.7M
Phil Bradley306.000$1.1M$708kFREE AGENT
Dave Schmidt328.000$675kFREE AGENT
Mark Thurmond326.000$470kFREE AGENT
Keith Moreland3511.000$398kFREE AGENT
Joe Orsulak276.000$300k$610k$1.1M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Kevin Hickey338.000$180k$250kFREE AGENT
Mark Huismann316.000$150kFREE AGENT
Tim Hulett Sr.296.000$150k$208k$328k$420k$400k$550kFREE AGENT
Jamie Quirk3414.000$36kFREE AGENT
Butch Davis316.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Larry Sheets295.000$660kFREE AGENT
Mickey Tettleton285.000$290kFREE AGENT
Bob Melvin274.000$230kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Tibbs275.000$175kFREE AGENT
Rene Gonzales285.000$95kFREE AGENT
Jim Traber275.000$90kFREE AGENT
Stan Jefferson263.000$70kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Holton294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Melendez255.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Mark Williamson292.000$120kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Ripken242.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Ballard252.000$97kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Devereaux262.000$80kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Milligan272.000$75kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Johnson292.000$70kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Harnisch221.000$70kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gregg Olson221.000$70kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Finley240.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Worthington241.000$68kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brady Anderson251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Bautista241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Bell210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Hoiles240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben McDonald210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Milacki241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Curt Schilling221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Smith250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mickey Weston280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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