RRosternomics
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Cubs CHC

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GM: Jim Frey

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.79× league · TAB +5.2
+5.2TAB — talent above budget8th/26
+14.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)1st/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/26
-3.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag8th/26
19%dead money %6th/26
0.574win %2nd/26
36.5roster fWAR10th/26
+3surplus $M (value vs cost)2nd/26
$11Mpayroll $M19th/26

1989: made playoffs · 93–69. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFJerome Walton 115GMarvell Wynne 47GDoug Dascenzo 36G
LFDwight Smith 75GMitch Webster 52GLloyd McClendon 45G
RFAndre Dawson 112GDwight Smith 32GMarvell Wynne 30G
SSShawon Dunston 138GDomingo Ramos 42GCurtis Wilkerson 7G
2BRyne Sandberg 155GCurtis Wilkerson 15GGreg Smith 2G
3BVance Law 119GLuis Salazar 97GDomingo Ramos 30G
1BMark Grace 142GLloyd McClendon 28G
STARTERSRick Sutcliffe 4.1WARGreg Maddux 4.0WARMike Bielecki 2.5WARScott Sanderson 1.3WARSteve Wilson 1.0WAR
CDamon Berryhill 89GJoe Girardi 59GRick Wrona 37G
BULLPEN★ Mitch Williams 36svPaul Assenmacher 0hLes Lancaster 0hPat Perry 0hDean Wilkins 0hKevin Blankenship 0hJoe Kraemer 0h
CDamon Berryhill 89 · Joe Girardi 59 · Rick Wrona 37
1BMark Grace 142 · Lloyd McClendon 28
2BRyne Sandberg 155 · Curtis Wilkerson 15 · Greg Smith 2
3BVance Law 119 · Luis Salazar 97 · Domingo Ramos 30
SSShawon Dunston 138 · Domingo Ramos 42 · Curtis Wilkerson 7
LFDwight Smith 75 · Mitch Webster 52 · Lloyd McClendon 45
CFJerome Walton 115 · Marvell Wynne 47 · Doug Dascenzo 36
RFAndre Dawson 112 · Dwight Smith 32 · Marvell Wynne 30
SPRick Sutcliffe 4.1 · Greg Maddux 4.0 · Mike Bielecki 2.5 · Scott Sanderson 1.3 · Steve Wilson 1.0
BP★ Mitch Williams 36 · Paul Assenmacher 0 · Les Lancaster 0 · Pat Perry 0 · Dean Wilkins 0 · Kevin Blankenship 0 · Joe Kraemer 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
Ryne Sandberg 29 FA-elig 1575.7 0.9 +1.1
Rick Sutcliffe 33 FA-elig 374.1 2.3 -0.9
Greg Maddux 23 arb 354.0 0.3 +1.2
Mark Grace 25 pre-arb 1423.8 0.1 +1.2
Dwight Smith 25 pre-arb 1092.5 0.1 +0.8
Mike Bielecki 29 arb 332.5 0.1 +0.8
Les Lancaster 27 pre-arb 422.3 0.1 +0.7
Andre Dawson 34 FA-elig 1182.0 2.1 -1.4
Jerome Walton 23 pre-arb 1162.0 0.1 +0.6
Shawon Dunston 26 arb 1381.8 0.6 +0.1
Scott Sanderson 32 FA-elig 371.3 0.8 -0.3
Damon Berryhill 25 pre-arb 911.3 0.1 +0.4
Mitch Webster 30 FA-elig 981.2 0.6 -0.1
Lloyd McClendon 30 pre-arb 921.0 0.1 +0.3
Paul Kilgus 27 pre-arb 351.0 0.1 +0.2
Steve Wilson 24 pre-arb 531.0 0.1 +0.3
Domingo Ramos 31 FA-elig 850.9 0.1 +0.2
Joe Girardi 24 pre-arb 590.5 0.1 +0.1
Rick Wrona 25 pre-arb 380.3 0.1 +0.0
Vance Law 32 FA-elig 1300.2 0.4 -0.3
Joe Kraemer 24 – 10.1 – –
Pat Perry 30 – 190.1 – –
Luis Salazar↔ SDP 33 FA-elig 260.1 0.1 -0.1
Jeff Pico 23 – 530.0 – –
Kevin Blankenship 26 – 20.0 – –
Paul Assenmacher↔ ATL 28 arb 140.0 0.1 -0.1
Darrin Jackson↔ SDP 26 arb 45-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Dean Wilkins 22 – 11-0.1 – –
Curtis Wilkerson 28 FA-elig 77-0.1 0.5 -0.5
Greg Smith 22 – 4-0.1 – –
Gary Varsho 28 – 61-0.3 – –
Phil Stephenson↔ SDP 28 – 17-0.3 – –
Mitch Williams 24 arb 76-0.4 0.4 -0.5
Marvell Wynne↔ SDP 29 FA-elig 20-0.5 0.1 -0.2
Doug Dascenzo 25 – 47-0.7 – –
Calvin Schiraldi↔ SDP 27 arb 54-0.8 0.4 -0.6

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Dwight Smith2.5
Jerome Walton2.0
Lloyd McClendon1.0
Paul Kilgus1.0
Steve Wilson1.0
Domingo Ramos0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Rafael Palmeiro2.4
Jamie Moyer1.8
Frank DiPino0.8
Jody Davis0.6
Mike Harkey0.5
Jim Sundberg0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$10.7M

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 (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Rick Sutcliffe3313.000$2.3M$1.9M$2.3MFREE AGENT
Andre Dawson3413.000$2.1M$2.1M$3.3M$3.3MFREE AGENT
Ryne Sandberg298.000$950k$1.6MFREE AGENT$2.1M$6.0M$6.0M
Scott Sanderson3211.000$800kFREE AGENT
Mitch Webster306.000$550kFREE AGENT
Curtis Wilkerson286.000$500k$400kFREE AGENT
Vance Law329.000$425kFREE AGENT
Domingo Ramos3111.000$130k$310kFREE AGENT
Luis Salazar339.000$86k$550k$575k$600kFREE AGENT
Marvell Wynne296.000$56k$525kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Shawon Dunston264.000$550kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mitch Williams243.000$378kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Calvin Schiraldi275.000$366kFREE AGENT
Greg Maddux233.000$275kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Bielecki295.000$122kFREE AGENT
Paul Assenmacher283.000$60kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darrin Jackson264.000$58kARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Perry304.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Mark Grace251.000$140kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Kilgus272.000$130kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Les Lancaster272.000$120kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Damon Berryhill252.000$115kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lloyd McClendon302.000$91kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jerome Walton230.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Wilson241.000$68kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Girardi240.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dwight Smith250.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Wrona251.000$68kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Blankenship261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Dascenzo251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Kraemer240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Pico231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Smith220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Phil Stephenson280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Varsho281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dean Wilkins220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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