RRosternomics
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Reds CIN

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GM: Murray Cook

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.86× league · TAB -5.2
-5.2TAB — talent above budget19th/26
-5.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)19th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars19th/26
-5.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag16th/26
29%dead money %13th/26
0.463win %18th/26
27.2roster fWAR22nd/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)15th/26
$12Mpayroll $M16th/26

Roster

CFEric Davis 118GHerm Winningham 41GRolando Roomes 29G
LFKen Griffey Sr. 58GRolando Roomes 45GJoel Youngblood 35G
RFPaul O'Neill 115GRolando Roomes 37GHerm Winningham 13G
SSBarry Larkin 82GMariano Duncan 60GJeff Richardson 39G
2BRon Oester 102GLuis Quinones 53GMariano Duncan 13G
3BChris Sabo 76GLuis Quinones 50GScotti Madison 26G
1BTodd Benzinger 158GKen Griffey Sr. 9GManny Trillo 3G
STARTERSRick Mahler 3.4WARJose Rijo 2.2WARTim Leary 1.5WARTom Browning 1.3WARDanny Jackson 1.1WAR
CJeff Reed 99GJoe Oliver 47GBo Diaz 43G
BULLPEN★ John Franco 32svRob Dibble 0hNorm Charlton 0hTim Birtsas 0hKent Tekulve 0hMike Roesler 0hRosario Rodriguez 0hMike Griffin 0h
CJeff Reed 99 · Joe Oliver 47 · Bo Diaz 43
1BTodd Benzinger 158 · Ken Griffey Sr. 9 · Manny Trillo 3
2BRon Oester 102 · Luis Quinones 53 · Mariano Duncan 13
3BChris Sabo 76 · Luis Quinones 50 · Scotti Madison 26
SSBarry Larkin 82 · Mariano Duncan 60 · Jeff Richardson 39
LFKen Griffey Sr. 58 · Rolando Roomes 45 · Joel Youngblood 35
CFEric Davis 118 · Herm Winningham 41 · Rolando Roomes 29
RFPaul O'Neill 115 · Rolando Roomes 37 · Herm Winningham 13
SPRick Mahler 3.4 · Jose Rijo 2.2 · Tim Leary 1.5 · Tom Browning 1.3 · Danny Jackson 1.1
BP★ John Franco 32 · Rob Dibble 0 · Norm Charlton 0 · Tim Birtsas 0 · Kent Tekulve 0 · Mike Roesler 0 · Rosario Rodriguez 0 · Mike Griffin 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
Rob Dibble 25 pre-arb 743.6 0.1 +1.2
Rick Mahler 35 FA-elig 403.4 0.8 +0.4
Barry Larkin 25 arb 973.3 0.3 +0.9
Eric Davis 27 arb 1313.1 1.5 -0.4
Paul O'Neill 26 arb 1172.8 0.2 +0.8
Jose Rijo 24 arb 192.2 0.5 +0.3
Tim Leary↔ LAD 30 FA-elig 141.5 0.3 +0.3
John Franco 28 arb 601.4 1.1 -0.6
Norm Charlton 26 pre-arb 691.3 0.1 +0.4
Luis Quinones 27 FA-elig 971.3 0.1 +0.4
Tom Browning 29 arb 411.3 1.0 -0.6
Danny Jackson 27 FA-elig 211.1 1.1 -0.8
Joe Oliver 23 pre-arb 490.9 0.1 +0.3
Ken Griffey Sr. 39 FA-elig 1060.9 0.3 -0.0
Ron Robinson 27 arb 150.8 0.3 -0.1
Jeff Reed 26 arb 1020.6 0.2 +0.1
Rolando Roomes 27 pre-arb 1070.6 0.1 +0.2
Herm Winningham 27 arb 1150.6 0.2 -0.0
Tim Birtsas 28 arb 420.5 0.1 +0.1
Chris Sabo 27 pre-arb 820.4 0.2 -0.0
Kal Daniels↔ LAD 25 arb 440.3 0.3 -0.1
Ron Oester 33 FA-elig 1090.3 0.7 -0.6
Jack Armstrong 24 – 100.0 – –
Mike Griffin 32 – 30.0 – –
Rosario Rodriguez 19 – 7-0.0 – –
Kent Tekulve 42 – 37-0.0 – –
Terry McGriff 25 – 6-0.1 – –
Van Snider 25 – 8-0.1 – –
Skeeter Barnes 32 – 5-0.1 – –
Dave Collins 36 FA-elig 78-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Scott Scudder 21 pre-arb 23-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Mike Roesler 25 pre-arb 17-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Mariano Duncan↔ LAD 26 arb 45-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Scotti Madison 29 arb 40-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Marty Brown 26 – 16-0.3 – –
Lenny Harris↔ LAD 24 pre-arb 61-0.3 0.0 -0.1
Bob Sebra↔ PHI 27 – 15-0.3 – –
Manny Trillo 38 FA-elig 17-0.4 0.3 -0.4
Todd Benzinger 26 pre-arb 161-0.4 0.2 -0.3
Joel Youngblood 37 FA-elig 76-0.5 0.3 -0.5
Bo Diaz 36 FA-elig 43-0.7 0.9 -1.1
Jeff Richardson 23 pre-arb 53-1.0 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Rick Mahler3.4
Tim Leary1.5
Joe Oliver0.9
Rolando Roomes0.6
Mike Griffin0.0
Rosario Rodriguez-0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Jeff Treadway1.8
Nick Esasky1.2
Rob Murphy1.2
Mario Soto0.4
Keith Brown0.1
Candy Sierra0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$11.7M

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 (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Danny Jackson276.000$1.1M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Bo Diaz3612.000$900kFREE AGENT
Rick Mahler3510.000$790k$790kFREE AGENT
Ron Oester3311.000$650k$650kFREE AGENT
Joel Youngblood3713.000$320kFREE AGENT
Ken Griffey Sr.3916.000$320k$350kFREE AGENT
Manny Trillo3816.000$320kFREE AGENT
Tim Leary308.000$284kFREE AGENT
Dave Collins3614.000$225kFREE AGENT
Luis Quinones276.000$85k$150k$300kFREE AGENT
Skeeter Barnes326.000—FREE AGENT
Mike Griffin3210.000—FREE AGENT
Kent Tekulve4215.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Eric Davis275.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
John Franco285.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Tom Browning295.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Jose Rijo245.000$458kFREE AGENT
Ron Robinson275.000$350kFREE AGENT
Barry Larkin253.000$302kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kal Daniels253.000$260kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Herm Winningham275.000$230kFREE AGENT
Paul O'Neill264.000$215kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Reed265.000$175kFREE AGENT
Mariano Duncan264.000$96kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Birtsas284.000$85kARB 3FREE AGENT
Scotti Madison294.000$70kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Sebra274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Todd Benzinger262.000$160kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Sabo271.000$155kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Dibble251.000$85kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Norm Charlton261.000$72kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rolando Roomes271.000$70kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Richardson230.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Roesler250.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Oliver230.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Scudder210.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lenny Harris241.000$38kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack Armstrong241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marty Brown261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry McGriff252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rosario Rodriguez190.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Van Snider25–—

Graphs

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