RRosternomics
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Cubs CHC

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GM: Ed Lynch

Overview

FORCED-SPEND → steady
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.24× league · TAB -0.7
-0.7TAB — talent above budget17th/30
+4.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/30
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/30
-4.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag16th/30
32%dead money %20th/30
0.552win %6th/30
36.5roster fWAR13th/30
-12surplus $M (value vs cost)23rd/30
$52Mpayroll $M9th/30

1998: made playoffs · 90–73. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFLance Johnson 78GBrant Brown 69GJosé Hernández 31G
LFHenry Rodriguez 114GGlenallen Hill 99GMatt Mieske 50G
RFSammy Sosa 156GMatt Mieske 12GGlenallen Hill 6G
SSJeff Blauser 106GManny Alexander 50GJosé Hernández 45G
2BMickey Morandini 152GManny Alexander 27GJosé Hernández 2G
3BGary Gaetti 119GJosé Hernández 72GManny Alexander 19G
1BMark Grace 156GBrant Brown 7GTyler Houston 7G
STARTERSKerry Wood 4.4WARMark Clark 3.6WARSteve Trachsel 2.7WARKevin Tapani 2.3WARTerry Mulholland 1.7WAR
CScott Servais 110GTyler Houston 63GSandy Martínez 33G
DHHenry Rodriguez 5GManny Alexander 2GJason Hardtke 1G
BULLPEN★ Rod Beck 51svFélix Heredia 0hTerry Adams 0hMatt Karchner 0hMarc Pisciotta 0hBob Patterson 0hDave Stevens 0hRodney Myers 0h
CScott Servais 110 · Tyler Houston 63 · Sandy Martínez 33
1BMark Grace 156 · Brant Brown 7 · Tyler Houston 7
2BMickey Morandini 152 · Manny Alexander 27 · José Hernández 2
3BGary Gaetti 119 · José Hernández 72 · Manny Alexander 19
SSJeff Blauser 106 · Manny Alexander 50 · José Hernández 45
LFHenry Rodriguez 114 · Glenallen Hill 99 · Matt Mieske 50
CFLance Johnson 78 · Brant Brown 69 · José Hernández 31
RFSammy Sosa 156 · Matt Mieske 12 · Glenallen Hill 6
DHHenry Rodriguez 5 · Manny Alexander 2 · Jason Hardtke 1
SPKerry Wood 4.4 · Mark Clark 3.6 · Steve Trachsel 2.7 · Kevin Tapani 2.3 · Terry Mulholland 1.7
BP★ Rod Beck 51 · Félix Heredia 0 · Terry Adams 0 · Matt Karchner 0 · Marc Pisciotta 0 · Bob Patterson 0 · Dave Stevens 0 · Rodney Myers 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.

1998 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Sammy Sosa 29 FA-elig 1597.1 8.3 -0.7
Kerry Wood 21 pre-arb 264.4 0.2 +4.5
Mickey Morandini 32 FA-elig 1544.0 2.0 +2.3
Mark Clark 30 FA-elig 333.6 5.0 -1.1
Mark Grace 34 FA-elig 1583.3 4.2 -0.7
Steve Trachsel 27 arb 332.7 3.0 -0.1
Kevin Tapani 34 FA-elig 352.3 4.0 -1.6
José Hernández 28 FA-elig 1492.2 0.7 +1.7
Brant Brown 27 pre-arb 1241.8 0.2 +1.7
Terry Mulholland 35 FA-elig 701.7 0.6 +1.3
Gary Gaetti↔ STL 39 FA-elig 371.5 0.3 +1.4
Glenallen Hill↔ SEA 33 FA-elig 481.4 0.1 +1.4
Geremi Gonzalez 23 pre-arb 211.1 0.2 +1.0
Rod Beck 29 FA-elig 811.1 3.6 -2.4
Henry Rodriguez 30 FA-elig 1281.0 2.7 -1.6
Terry Adams 25 arb 630.5 0.3 +0.2
Sandy Martinez 27 arb 450.4 0.2 +0.2
Felix Heredia↔ MIA 23 pre-arb 300.4 0.1 +0.3
Tyler Houston 27 pre-arb 950.3 0.2 +0.1
Lance Johnson 34 FA-elig 850.3 4.9 -4.6
Jason Maxwell 26 – 70.1 – –
Kurt Miller 25 – 30.1 – –
Orlando Merced↔ BOS 31 FA-elig 120.1 0.1 -0.0
Justin Speier↔ MIA 24 pre-arb 10.0 0.0 +0.0
Ben Van Ryn↔ SDP 26 pre-arb 90.0 0.1 -0.1
Bob Patterson 39 FA-elig 330.0 0.9 -0.9
Tony Fossas↔ SEA 40 FA-elig 8-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Rodney Myers 29 – 12-0.0 – –
Pedro Valdes 25 pre-arb 14-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Jose Nieves 23 – 2-0.0 – –
Kevin Foster 29 arb 3-0.1 1.4 -1.5
Derrick White↔ COL 28 – 11-0.1 – –
Jason Hardtke 26 – 18-0.1 – –
Kennie Steenstra 27 – 4-0.1 – –
Scott Servais 31 FA-elig 113-0.1 1.6 -1.8
Dave Stevens 28 arb 31-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Chris Haney↔ KCR 29 FA-elig 5-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Don Wengert↔ SDP 28 arb 23-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Matt Mieske 30 arb 77-0.2 0.6 -0.7
Marc Pisciotta 27 pre-arb 43-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Amaury Telemaco↔ ARI 24 pre-arb 14-0.3 0.1 -0.4
Terrell Lowery 27 – 24-0.3 – –
Jeff Blauser 32 FA-elig 119-0.3 4.0 -4.3
Mike Morgan↔ MIN 38 FA-elig 5-0.4 0.3 -0.7
Matt Karchner↔ CHW 31 arb 29-0.6 0.1 -0.8
Kevin Orie↔ MIA 25 pre-arb 64-0.6 0.1 -0.8
Manny Alexander 27 FA-elig 108-0.9 0.4 -1.4

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Kerry Wood4.4
Mickey Morandini4.0
Gary Gaetti1.5
Glenallen Hill1.4
Rod Beck1.1
Henry Rodriguez1.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Brian McRae2.3
Doug Glanville1.5
Frank Castillo1.1
Ryne Sandberg0.7
Dave Hansen0.5
Dave Clark0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$51.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1998, 1998–2004. 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 (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Sammy Sosa299.000$8.3M$9.0M$11.0M$12.5M$15.0M$16.0M$16.0M
Mark Clark307.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
Lance Johnson3411.000$4.9M$5.1MFREE AGENT
Mark Grace3410.000$4.2M$4.1M$5.3MFREE AGENT
Kevin Tapani349.000$4.0M$3.5M$6.0M$6.5MFREE AGENT
Jeff Blauser3211.000$4.0M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Rod Beck297.000$3.6M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Henry Rodriguez306.000$2.7M$3.7M$3.1MFREE AGENT
Mickey Morandini328.000$2.0M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Scott Servais317.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Bob Patterson3913.000$900kFREE AGENT
José Hernández287.000$725k$1.6MFREE AGENT$460k
Terry Mulholland3512.000$600k$1.8MFREE AGENT
Manny Alexander276.000$425k$475kFREE AGENT
Gary Gaetti3917.000$289k$2.0MFREE AGENT
Mike Morgan3820.000$283kFREE AGENT
Chris Haney297.000$237kFREE AGENT
Glenallen Hill339.000$128k$1.1M$923kFREE AGENT
Tony Fossas4010.000$127kFREE AGENT
Orlando Merced318.000$114kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Steve Trachsel275.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Kevin Foster295.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Matt Mieske305.000$550kFREE AGENT
Terry Adams253.000$295kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Stevens284.000$225kARB 3FREE AGENT
Sandy Martinez273.000$174kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Don Wengert283.000$167kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Karchner313.000$143kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kurt Miller254.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derrick White285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Tyler Houston272.000$225kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Geremi Gonzalez231.000$210kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brant Brown272.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Pisciotta271.000$180kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kerry Wood210.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pedro Valdes252.000$170kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Orie251.000$137kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Heredia232.000$95kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Van Ryn262.000$61kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Amaury Telemaco242.000$59kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Justin Speier240.000$9kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Hardtke26–—
Terrell Lowery271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rodney Myers292.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kennie Steenstra27–—
Jose Nieves230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Maxwell260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cubs 1998; 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.