RRosternomics
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Red Sox BOS

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GM: Lou Gorman

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.29× league · TAB +3.1
+3.1TAB — talent above budget9th/26
+10.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/26
-6.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag24th/26
35%dead money %15th/26
0.590win %3rd/26
40.3roster fWAR7th/26
-3surplus $M (value vs cost)19th/26
$14Mpayroll $M6th/26

1986: won pennant · 95–66. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFTony Armas 108GDave Henderson 83GKevin Romine 28G
LFJim Rice 156GTony Armas 9GMike Greenwell 8G
RFDwight Evans 149GTony Armas 19GMike Greenwell 7G
SSSpike Owen 154GEd Romero 75GGlenn Hoffman 11G
2BMarty Barrett 158GDave Stapleton 6GEd Romero 4G
3BWade Boggs 149GEd Romero 18GDave Stapleton 2G
1BBill Buckner 138GDave Stapleton 29GDon Baylor 13G
STARTERSRoger Clemens 7.1WARBruce Hurst 4.2WAROil Can Boyd 2.4WARTom Seaver 2.3WARAl Nipper 0.9WAR
CRich Gedman 134GMarc Sullivan 41GDave Sax 2G
DHDon Baylor 143GBill Buckner 15GDwight Evans 1G
BULLPEN★ Bob Stanley 16svJoe Sambito 0hSteve Crawford 0hTim Lollar 0hSammy Stewart 0hCalvin Schiraldi 0hWes Gardner 0h
CRich Gedman 134 · Marc Sullivan 41 · Dave Sax 2
1BBill Buckner 138 · Dave Stapleton 29 · Don Baylor 13
2BMarty Barrett 158 · Dave Stapleton 6 · Ed Romero 4
3BWade Boggs 149 · Ed Romero 18 · Dave Stapleton 2
SSSpike Owen 154 · Ed Romero 75 · Glenn Hoffman 11
LFJim Rice 156 · Tony Armas 9 · Mike Greenwell 8
CFTony Armas 108 · Dave Henderson 83 · Kevin Romine 28
RFDwight Evans 149 · Tony Armas 19 · Mike Greenwell 7
DHDon Baylor 143 · Bill Buckner 15 · Dwight Evans 1
SPRoger Clemens 7.1 · Bruce Hurst 4.2 · Oil Can Boyd 2.4 · Tom Seaver 2.3 · Al Nipper 0.9
BP★ Bob Stanley 16 · Joe Sambito 0 · Steve Crawford 0 · Tim Lollar 0 · Sammy Stewart 0 · Calvin Schiraldi 0 · Wes Gardner 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.

1986 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Wade Boggs 28 arb 1497.7 1.4 +1.0
Roger Clemens 23 pre-arb 337.1 0.3 +1.8
Jim Rice 33 FA-elig 1575.5 2.0 -0.4
Dwight Evans 34 FA-elig 1524.5 1.0 +0.3
Bruce Hurst 28 FA-elig 254.2 0.5 +0.8
Rich Gedman 26 FA-elig 1353.2 0.7 +0.3
Oil Can Boyd 26 arb 302.4 0.4 +0.3
Marty Barrett 28 arb 1582.3 0.4 +0.3
Tom Seaver↔ CHW 41 FA-elig 162.3 0.6 +0.0
Don Baylor 37 FA-elig 1601.3 0.7 -0.3
Calvin Schiraldi 24 pre-arb 251.3 0.1 +0.3
Al Nipper 27 arb 260.9 0.3 -0.0
Bob Stanley 31 FA-elig 660.8 1.1 -0.8
Steve Crawford 28 FA-elig 400.4 0.3 -0.2
Mike Greenwell 22 pre-arb 310.3 0.1 +0.0
Joe Sambito 34 FA-elig 530.3 0.5 -0.4
Dave Henderson↔ SEA 27 arb 360.3 0.1 -0.0
Bob Woodward 23 – 90.3 – –
Dave Sax 27 – 40.2 – –
Kevin Romine 25 – 350.2 – –
Pat Dodson 26 – 90.2 – –
Bill Buckner 36 FA-elig 1530.2 0.8 -0.7
Steve Lyons↔ CHW 26 – 590.2 – –
Wes Gardner 25 pre-arb 10.0 0.1 -0.1
Mike Trujillo↔ SEA 26 pre-arb 3-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Jeff Sellers 22 – 14-0.0 – –
Mike Stenhouse 28 – 21-0.0 – –
Mike Brown↔ SEA 27 arb 15-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Rey Quinones↔ SEA 22 pre-arb 62-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Glenn Hoffman 27 FA-elig 12-0.2 0.3 -0.4
Sammy Stewart 31 FA-elig 27-0.5 0.4 -0.5
Marc Sullivan 27 arb 41-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Spike Owen↔ SEA 25 arb 42-0.7 0.1 -0.3
Tony Armas 32 FA-elig 121-0.7 1.0 -1.2
La Schelle Tarver 27 – 13-0.7 – –
Tim Lollar 30 FA-elig 33-0.7 0.5 -0.7
Dave Stapleton 32 FA-elig 39-0.7 0.3 -0.5
Ed Romero 28 FA-elig 100-1.1 0.4 -0.7

Key additions (new vs 1985)

PlayerfWAR
Tom Seaver2.3
Don Baylor1.3
Calvin Schiraldi1.3
Joe Sambito0.3
Dave Henderson0.3
Pat Dodson0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1985)

Player1985 fWAR
Bob Ojeda3.1
Bruce Kison1.0
Mike Easler0.5
Rick Miller0.3
Mark Clear0.2
Ed Jurak-0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1986 payroll
$14.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 1986, 1986–1992. 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 (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Jim Rice3312.000$2.0M$2.1M$2.2M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Bob Stanley319.000$1.1M$1.1M$1.1M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Dwight Evans3414.000$1.0M$1.1M$1.6M$1.1M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Tony Armas3210.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Bill Buckner3617.000$785k$208kFREE AGENT
Don Baylor3716.000$661kFREE AGENT
Rich Gedman266.000$650k$773k$953k$1.1M$736kFREE AGENT
Tom Seaver4119.000$647kFREE AGENT
Tim Lollar306.000$541kFREE AGENT
Joe Sambito3410.000$500k$360kFREE AGENT
Bruce Hurst286.000$495k$700k$900kFREE AGENT
Sammy Stewart318.000$381kFREE AGENT
Ed Romero289.000$375k$415k$415k$46kFREE AGENT
Glenn Hoffman276.000$350k$197kFREE AGENT
Steve Crawford286.000$330k$396kFREE AGENT
Dave Stapleton326.000$300kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Wade Boggs284.000$1.4MARB 3FREE AGENT
Marty Barrett284.000$435kARB 3FREE AGENT
Oil Can Boyd264.000$375kARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Nipper273.000$265kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Sullivan274.000$110kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Henderson275.000$107kFREE AGENT
Spike Owen253.000$70kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Brown274.000$57kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Roger Clemens232.000$340kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Calvin Schiraldi242.000$75kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wes Gardner252.000$70kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Greenwell221.000$60kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rey Quinones220.000$38kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Trujillo261.000$18kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Dodson26–—
Steve Lyons261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Romine251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Sax27–—
Jeff Sellers221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Stenhouse28–—
La Schelle Tarver27–—
Bob Woodward231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Red Sox 1986; 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.