RRosternomics
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Cubs CHC

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GM: Dallas Green

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.25× league · TAB -10.8
-10.8TAB — talent above budget22nd/26
-8.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)20th/26
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars23rd/26
-4.6dead WAR — sub-replacement drag20th/26
21%dead money %4th/26
0.472win %18th/26
26.0roster fWAR21st/26
-6surplus $M (value vs cost)23rd/26
$14Mpayroll $M5th/26

Roster

CFDave Martinez 134GBob Dernier 72GDarrin Jackson 3G
LFJerry Mumphrey 78GBrian Dayett 68GRafael Palmeiro 44G
RFAndre Dawson 152GBrian Dayett 12GJerry Mumphrey 6G
SSShawon Dunston 94GPaul Noce 35GMike Brumley 34G
2BRyne Sandberg 131GPaul Noce 36GManny Trillo 10G
3BKeith Moreland 150GManny Trillo 35GWade Rowdon 9G
1BLeon Durham 123GManny Trillo 47GRafael Palmeiro 18G
STARTERSRick Sutcliffe 3.7WARJamie Moyer 2.0WARGreg Maddux 1.2WARLes Lancaster 1.1WARScott Sanderson 1.0WAR
CJody Davis 123GJim Sundberg 57GDamon Berryhill 11G
BULLPEN★ Lee Smith 36svFrank DiPino 0hJay Baller 0hDrew Hall 0h
CJody Davis 123 · Jim Sundberg 57 · Damon Berryhill 11
1BLeon Durham 123 · Manny Trillo 47 · Rafael Palmeiro 18
2BRyne Sandberg 131 · Paul Noce 36 · Manny Trillo 10
3BKeith Moreland 150 · Manny Trillo 35 · Wade Rowdon 9
SSShawon Dunston 94 · Paul Noce 35 · Mike Brumley 34
LFJerry Mumphrey 78 · Brian Dayett 68 · Rafael Palmeiro 44
CFDave Martinez 134 · Bob Dernier 72 · Darrin Jackson 3
RFAndre Dawson 152 · Brian Dayett 12 · Jerry Mumphrey 6
SPRick Sutcliffe 3.7 · Jamie Moyer 2.0 · Greg Maddux 1.2 · Les Lancaster 1.1 · Scott Sanderson 1.0
BP★ Lee Smith 36 · Frank DiPino 0 · Jay Baller 0 · Drew Hall 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
Rick Sutcliffe 31 FA-elig 353.7 1.8 -0.7
Andre Dawson 32 FA-elig 1533.5 0.7 +0.3
Lee Smith 29 FA-elig 632.9 0.8 -0.0
Ryne Sandberg 27 FA-elig 1322.1 0.8 -0.2
Jamie Moyer 24 pre-arb 392.0 0.1 +0.5
Jody Davis 30 FA-elig 1251.9 1.0 -0.5
Jerry Mumphrey 34 FA-elig 1181.8 0.8 -0.2
Dave Martinez 22 pre-arb 1421.8 0.1 +0.5
Steve Trout↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 111.4 0.4 +0.0
Keith Moreland 33 FA-elig 1531.3 1.0 -0.7
Greg Maddux 21 – 341.2 – –
Leon Durham 29 FA-elig 1311.2 1.2 -0.8
Les Lancaster 25 pre-arb 271.1 0.1 +0.3
Scott Sanderson 30 FA-elig 321.0 0.8 -0.6
Frank DiPino 30 FA-elig 690.8 0.3 -0.1
Bob Dernier 30 FA-elig 930.7 0.7 -0.5
Dickie Noles↔ DET 30 FA-elig 410.6 0.1 +0.1
Manny Trillo 36 FA-elig 1080.5 0.3 -0.2
Rafael Palmeiro 22 pre-arb 840.4 0.1 +0.0
Brian Dayett 30 arb 970.2 0.1 -0.0
Darrin Jackson 24 – 70.2 – –
Mike Mason↔ TEX 28 – 180.2 – –
Ed Lynch 31 FA-elig 580.1 0.6 -0.5
Bob Tewksbury↔ NYY 26 pre-arb 70.0 0.0 -0.0
Jim Sundberg 36 FA-elig 610.0 0.8 -0.8
Jay Baller 26 arb 23-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Gary Matthews Sr.↔ SEA 36 FA-elig 44-0.0 0.4 -0.4
Drew Hall 24 pre-arb 21-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Ron Davis↔ LAD 31 FA-elig 21-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Wade Rowdon 26 – 11-0.2 – –
Mike Brumley 24 – 39-0.4 – –
Damon Berryhill 23 – 12-0.5 – –
Paul Noce 27 – 70-0.6 – –
Shawon Dunston 24 pre-arb 95-0.7 0.2 -0.4
Luis Quinones 25 arb 49-0.7 0.1 -0.3
Chico Walker 29 – 47-1.2 – –

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Andre Dawson3.5
Les Lancaster1.1
Dickie Noles0.6
Darrin Jackson0.2
Mike Mason0.2
Bob Tewksbury0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Dennis Eckersley3.9
Davey Lopes1.8
Ron Cey1.6
Chris Speier0.9
Guy Hoffman0.9
Dave Gumpert0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$13.5M

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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Rick Sutcliffe3111.000$1.8M$2.1M$2.3M$1.9M$2.3MFREE AGENT
Leon Durham297.000$1.2M$738kFREE AGENT
Keith Moreland339.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Jody Davis306.000$1.0M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Scott Sanderson309.000$850k$950k$800kFREE AGENT
Lee Smith297.000$840kFREE AGENT
Jim Sundberg3613.000$792k$398kFREE AGENT
Ryne Sandberg276.000$760k$840k$950k$1.6MFREE AGENT$2.1M$6.0M
Jerry Mumphrey3413.000$750k$608kFREE AGENT
Bob Dernier307.000$708kFREE AGENT
Andre Dawson3211.000$700k$1.9M$2.1M$2.1M$3.3M$3.3MFREE AGENT
Ed Lynch317.000$550kFREE AGENT
Gary Matthews Sr.3615.000$435kFREE AGENT
Steve Trout299.000$392kFREE AGENT
Frank DiPino306.000$300k$465kFREE AGENT
Manny Trillo3614.000$290k$357kFREE AGENT
Ron Davis319.000$239kFREE AGENT
Dickie Noles308.000$68kFREE AGENT
Chico Walker297.000—FREE AGENT$234k

Arbitration-eligible (4)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Brian Dayett304.000$100kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Baller265.000$75kFREE AGENT
Luis Quinones254.000$68kARB 3FREE AGENT
Wade Rowdon263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Shawon Dunston242.000$155kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jamie Moyer241.000$70kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Drew Hall241.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Les Lancaster250.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Martinez221.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Palmeiro221.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Tewksbury261.000$40kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Damon Berryhill230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Brumley240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darrin Jackson242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Maddux211.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Mason28–—
Paul Noce27–—

Graphs

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