RRosternomics
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Cubs CHC

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GM: Ed Lynch

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.89× league · TAB -1.6
-1.6TAB — talent above budget17th/28
-4.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)22nd/28
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/28
-3.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag5th/28
14%dead money %4th/28
0.469win %20th/28
31.1roster fWAR16th/28
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)12th/28
$29Mpayroll $M18th/28

Roster

CFBrian McRae 155GScott Bullett 11GDoug Glanville 9G
LFLuis Gonzalez 139GScott Bullett 28GOzzie Timmons 25G
RFSammy Sosa 124GOzzie Timmons 22GScott Bullett 22G
SSRey Sanchez 92GJosé Hernández 87GTodd Haney 3G
2BRyne Sandberg 146GTodd Haney 23GBret Barberie 6G
3BLeo Gomez 124GDave Magadan 51GJosé Hernández 43G
1BMark Grace 141GBrant Brown 18GTyler Houston 12G
STARTERSJaime Navarro 3.0WARFrank Castillo 1.6WARSteve Trachsel 1.3WARJim Bullinger 1.1WARKevin Foster 0.6WAR
CScott Servais 128GTyler Houston 27GBrian Dorsett 15G
BULLPEN★ Turk Wendell 18svBob Patterson 0hTerry Adams 0hKent Bottenfield 0hRodney Myers 0hLarry Casian 0hMike Perez 0hTanyon Sturtze 0h
CScott Servais 128 · Tyler Houston 27 · Brian Dorsett 15
1BMark Grace 141 · Brant Brown 18 · Tyler Houston 12
2BRyne Sandberg 146 · Todd Haney 23 · Bret Barberie 6
3BLeo Gomez 124 · Dave Magadan 51 · José Hernández 43
SSRey Sanchez 92 · José Hernández 87 · Todd Haney 3
LFLuis Gonzalez 139 · Scott Bullett 28 · Ozzie Timmons 25
CFBrian McRae 155 · Scott Bullett 11 · Doug Glanville 9
RFSammy Sosa 124 · Ozzie Timmons 22 · Scott Bullett 22
SPJaime Navarro 3.0 · Frank Castillo 1.6 · Steve Trachsel 1.3 · Jim Bullinger 1.1 · Kevin Foster 0.6
BP★ Turk Wendell 18 · Bob Patterson 0 · Terry Adams 0 · Kent Bottenfield 0 · Rodney Myers 0 · Larry Casian 0 · Mike Perez 0 · Tanyon Sturtze 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.

1996 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Sammy Sosa 27 FA-elig 1245.5 4.8 -0.1
Mark Grace 32 FA-elig 1423.9 4.2 -0.9
Brian McRae 28 FA-elig 1573.6 3.4 -0.3
Ryne Sandberg 36 FA-elig 1503.1 2.3 +0.3
Jaime Navarro 29 FA-elig 353.0 3.6 -1.1
Luis Gonzalez 28 FA-elig 1462.7 1.4 +0.9
Scott Servais 29 arb 1291.8 0.8 +0.7
Leo Gomez 30 FA-elig 1361.7 0.6 +0.9
Frank Castillo 27 arb 331.6 1.6 -0.3
Steve Trachsel 25 arb 311.3 0.2 +0.9
Jim Bullinger 30 arb 381.1 0.4 +0.6
Terry Adams 23 pre-arb 690.8 0.1 +0.6
Tyler Houston↔ ATL 25 pre-arb 460.7 0.1 +0.5
Kevin Foster 27 arb 190.6 0.2 +0.3
Kent Bottenfield 27 arb 480.6 0.1 +0.4
Bob Patterson 37 FA-elig 790.6 0.7 -0.2
Dave Magadan 33 FA-elig 780.6 0.5 -0.0
Brant Brown 25 – 290.5 – –
Turk Wendell 29 arb 700.4 0.2 +0.2
Doug Jones↔ MIL 39 FA-elig 280.3 0.4 -0.2
Mike Campbell 32 FA-elig 130.1 0.1 -0.0
Rey Sanchez 28 arb 950.1 1.2 -1.1
Doug Glanville 25 – 490.1 – –
Mike Perez 31 FA-elig 240.1 0.5 -0.4
Brooks Kieschnick 24 pre-arb 250.1 0.1 -0.1
José Hernández 26 arb 1310.0 0.3 -0.2
Dave Swartzbaugh 28 – 60.0 – –
Ozzie Timmons 25 pre-arb 650.0 0.1 -0.1
Larry Casian 30 FA-elig 350.0 0.3 -0.3
Bret Barberie 28 – 15-0.0 – –
Pedro Valdes 23 – 9-0.1 – –
Terry Shumpert 29 FA-elig 27-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Rodney Myers 27 pre-arb 45-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Brian Dorsett 35 FA-elig 17-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Amaury Telemaco 22 pre-arb 25-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Tanyon Sturtze 25 – 6-0.2 – –
Felix Fermin 32 – 11-0.2 – –
Scott Bullett 27 arb 109-0.4 0.2 -0.5
Mike Hubbard 25 pre-arb 21-0.4 0.1 -0.5
Robin Jennings 24 – 31-0.7 – –
Todd Haney 30 arb 49-1.2 0.1 -1.1

Key additions (new vs 1995)

PlayerfWAR
Ryne Sandberg3.1
Leo Gomez1.7
Tyler Houston0.7
Kent Bottenfield0.6
Bob Patterson0.6
Dave Magadan0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 1995)

Player1995 fWAR
Rick Wilkins0.9
Shawon Dunston0.5
Randy Myers0.4
Mark Parent0.4
Joe Kmak0.4
Mike Morgan0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1996 payroll
$29.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 1996, 1996–2002. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Sammy Sosa277.000$4.8M$5.5M$8.3M$9.0M$11.0M$12.5M$15.0M
Mark Grace328.000$4.2M$4.5M$4.2M$4.1M$5.3MFREE AGENT
Jaime Navarro297.000$3.6MFREE AGENT
Brian McRae286.000$3.4M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Ryne Sandberg3615.000$2.3M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Luis Gonzalez286.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Bob Patterson3711.000$675k$1.1M$900kFREE AGENT
Leo Gomez306.000$550kFREE AGENT
Mike Perez316.000$500kFREE AGENT
Dave Magadan3310.000$500kFREE AGENT
Doug Jones3914.000$444kFREE AGENT
Larry Casian306.000$275k$255kFREE AGENT
Brian Dorsett359.000$210kFREE AGENT
Terry Shumpert296.000$150kFREE AGENT
Mike Campbell329.000$125kFREE AGENT
Felix Fermin329.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Frank Castillo275.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Rey Sanchez285.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Scott Servais295.000$822kFREE AGENT
Jim Bullinger304.000$385kARB 3FREE AGENT
José Hernández265.000$253kFREE AGENT
Kevin Foster273.000$230kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Trachsel253.000$220kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Turk Wendell293.000$160kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Bullett275.000$160kFREE AGENT
Todd Haney304.000$128kARB 3FREE AGENT
Kent Bottenfield274.000$111kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bret Barberie285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Ozzie Timmons251.000$150kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Adams231.000$113kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Hubbard251.000$112kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brooks Kieschnick240.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rodney Myers270.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Amaury Telemaco220.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Houston250.000$63kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brant Brown250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Glanville250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robin Jennings240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tanyon Sturtze251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Swartzbaugh281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pedro Valdes230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cubs 1996; 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.