RRosternomics
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Cubs CHC

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GM: Jim Frey

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.87× league · TAB -9.9
-9.9TAB — talent above budget23rd/26
-3.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)15th/26
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars22nd/26
-7.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag23rd/26
49%dead money %24th/26
0.475win %14th/26
22.6roster fWAR24th/26
-4surplus $M (value vs cost)19th/26
$15Mpayroll $M17th/26

Roster

CFJerome Walton 98GMarvell Wynne 54GDoug Dascenzo 38G
LFDoug Dascenzo 64GDwight Smith 59GDave Clark 39G
RFAndre Dawson 139GDoug Dascenzo 22GDwight Smith 22G
SSShawon Dunston 144GDomingo Ramos 21GGreg Smith 7G
2BRyne Sandberg 154GCurtis Wilkerson 14GGreg Smith 7G
3BLuis Salazar 91GDomingo Ramos 66GCurtis Wilkerson 52G
1BMark Grace 153GHector Villanueva 14GLloyd McClendon 8G
STARTERSGreg Maddux 4.9WARMike Harkey 2.7WARMike Bielecki 1.8WARShawn Boskie 1.5WARSteve Wilson 1.2WAR
CJoe Girardi 133GHector Villanueva 23GRick Wrona 16G
BULLPEN★ Mitch Williams 16svPaul Assenmacher 0hBill Long 0hRandy Kramer 0hJoe Kraemer 0hDave Pavlas 0hKevin Coffman 0hDean Wilkins 0h
CJoe Girardi 133 · Hector Villanueva 23 · Rick Wrona 16
1BMark Grace 153 · Hector Villanueva 14 · Lloyd McClendon 8
2BRyne Sandberg 154 · Curtis Wilkerson 14 · Greg Smith 7
3BLuis Salazar 91 · Domingo Ramos 66 · Curtis Wilkerson 52
SSShawon Dunston 144 · Domingo Ramos 21 · Greg Smith 7
LFDoug Dascenzo 64 · Dwight Smith 59 · Dave Clark 39
CFJerome Walton 98 · Marvell Wynne 54 · Doug Dascenzo 38
RFAndre Dawson 139 · Doug Dascenzo 22 · Dwight Smith 22
SPGreg Maddux 4.9 · Mike Harkey 2.7 · Mike Bielecki 1.8 · Shawn Boskie 1.5 · Steve Wilson 1.2
BP★ Mitch Williams 16 · Paul Assenmacher 0 · Bill Long 0 · Randy Kramer 0 · Joe Kraemer 0 · Dave Pavlas 0 · Kevin Coffman 0 · Dean Wilkins 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Ryne Sandberg 30 FA-elig 1556.3 1.6 +1.3
Greg Maddux 24 arb 354.9 0.4 +1.8
Mark Grace 26 pre-arb 1573.5 0.3 +1.2
Mike Harkey 23 pre-arb 272.7 0.1 +1.1
Andre Dawson 35 FA-elig 1472.3 2.1 -1.1
Mike Bielecki 30 FA-elig 361.8 0.7 +0.1
Shawn Boskie 23 pre-arb 151.5 0.1 +0.6
Paul Assenmacher 29 arb 741.3 0.5 +0.1
Steve Wilson 25 pre-arb 451.2 0.1 +0.4
Joe Girardi 25 pre-arb 1331.0 0.1 +0.3
Shawon Dunston 27 arb 1460.9 1.2 -0.8
Hector Villanueva 25 pre-arb 520.7 0.1 +0.2
Jeff Pico 24 pre-arb 310.7 0.1 +0.2
Les Lancaster 28 arb 550.4 0.3 -0.1
Luis Salazar 34 FA-elig 1150.3 0.6 -0.4
Jose Antonio Nunez 26 arb 210.3 0.1 -0.0
Dave Pavlas 27 – 130.1 – –
Doug Dascenzo 26 pre-arb 1130.1 0.1 -0.1
Rick Sutcliffe 34 FA-elig 50.0 1.9 -1.9
Kevin Blankenship 27 pre-arb 3-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Lance Dickson 20 pre-arb 3-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Kevin Coffman 25 arb 8-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Gary Varsho 29 pre-arb 46-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Joe Kraemer 25 pre-arb 18-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Mitch Williams 25 arb 59-0.1 1.1 -1.2
Dean Wilkins 23 pre-arb 7-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Rick Wrona 26 pre-arb 16-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Dwight Smith 26 pre-arb 117-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Dave Clark 27 arb 84-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Randy Kramer↔ PIT 29 pre-arb 10-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Damon Berryhill 26 arb 17-0.3 0.2 -0.3
Derrick May 21 – 17-0.3 – –
Greg Smith 23 – 18-0.4 – –
Bill Long↔ CHW 30 arb 42-0.5 0.2 -0.4
Marvell Wynne 30 FA-elig 92-0.7 0.5 -0.8
Jerome Walton 24 pre-arb 101-0.7 0.2 -0.5
Domingo Ramos 32 FA-elig 98-0.8 0.3 -0.7
Lloyd McClendon↔ PIT 31 arb 49-1.0 0.2 -0.6
Curtis Wilkerson 29 FA-elig 77-1.2 0.4 -0.9

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Mike Harkey2.7
Shawn Boskie1.5
Hector Villanueva0.7
Jose Antonio Nunez0.3
Dave Pavlas0.1
Lance Dickson-0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Scott Sanderson1.3
Mitch Webster1.2
Paul Kilgus1.0
Vance Law0.2
Pat Perry0.1
Darrin Jackson-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$14.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Andre Dawson3514.000$2.1M$3.3M$3.3MFREE AGENT
Rick Sutcliffe3414.000$1.9M$2.3MFREE AGENT
Ryne Sandberg309.000$1.6MFREE AGENT$2.1M$6.0M$6.0M$2.3M
Mike Bielecki306.000$675k$770kFREE AGENT
Luis Salazar3410.000$550k$575k$600kFREE AGENT
Marvell Wynne307.000$525kFREE AGENT
Curtis Wilkerson297.000$400kFREE AGENT
Domingo Ramos3212.000$310kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Shawon Dunston275.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Mitch Williams254.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Assenmacher294.000$450kARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Maddux244.000$438kARB 3FREE AGENT
Les Lancaster283.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Long305.000$235kFREE AGENT
Damon Berryhill263.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Clark274.000$195kARB 3FREE AGENT
Lloyd McClendon313.000$194kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Antonio Nunez263.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Coffman253.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Mark Grace262.000$325kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jerome Walton241.000$185kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dwight Smith261.000$165kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Wilson252.000$148kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Pico242.000$120kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Girardi251.000$115kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Varsho292.000$105kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Harkey232.000$104kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dean Wilkins231.000$104kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Blankenship272.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Dascenzo262.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Kraemer251.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Boskie230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance Dickson200.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Villanueva250.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Wrona262.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Kramer292.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derrick May210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Pavlas270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Smith231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cubs 1990; 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.