Rosternomics
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Reds CIN

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GM: Jim Bowden (since 1993)

1997 roster — every player, value & surplus

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-6.0
WAB — wins above budget
-10.9
TAB — roster Talent above budget
76–86 (0.469)
record
-14M
surplus $M (value/$)
23.4
roster fWAR
$39.5M
payroll
PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Barry Larkin 33 FA-elig 73 3.5 5.3 -1.8
Mike Morgan 37 FA-elig 31 2.4 0.5 +1.9
Mike Remlinger 31 FA-elig 71 2.2 0.2 +2.1
Chris Stynes 24 pre-arb 49 2.2 0.2 +2.1
Jeff Shaw 30 FA-elig 78 2.2 0.7 +1.6
Jon Nunnally↔ KCR 25 pre-arb 65 2.2 0.2 +2.1
Reggie Sanders 29 FA-elig 86 1.9 3.7 -1.7
Willie Greene 25 arb 151 1.9 0.3 +1.6
Brett Tomko 24 pre-arb 24 1.5 0.1 +1.4
Stan Belinda 30 FA-elig 84 1.3 0.9 +0.3
Dave Burba 30 FA-elig 30 1.3 2.1 -0.8
Joe Oliver 31 FA-elig 111 1.2 0.4 +0.8
John Smiley↔ CLE 32 FA-elig 20 1.2 2.9 -1.7
Kent Mercker 29 FA-elig 31 1.1 1.7 -0.6
Mike Kelly 27 arb 73 1.1 0.2 +0.9
Lenny Harris 32 FA-elig 120 0.7 0.7 +0.1
Scott Sullivan 26 pre-arb 59 0.7 0.1 +0.5
Deion Sanders 29 FA-elig 115 0.6 1.2 -0.6
Curtis Goodwin 24 – 85 0.5 – –
Eduardo Perez 27 arb 106 0.4 0.2 +0.2
Hector Carrasco↔ KCR 27 arb 38 0.4 0.3 +0.1
Gabe White 25 arb 12 0.3 0.1 +0.2
Damian Jackson↔ CLE 23 – 12 0.1 – –
Ruben Sierra↔ TOR 31 FA-elig 25 0.1 4.3 -4.2
Ozzie Timmons 26 – 6 0.0 – –
Felix Rodriguez 24 pre-arb 26 0.0 0.2 -0.2
Joey Eischen 27 arb 1 0.0 0.2 -0.2
Danny Graves↔ CLE 23 pre-arb 10 0.0 0.1 -0.1
Eddie Taubensee 28 FA-elig 108 -0.0 0.9 -0.9
Scott Service↔ KCR 30 – 4 -0.0 – –
Scott Winchester 24 – 5 -0.0 – –
Jeff Brantley 33 FA-elig 13 -0.1 2.8 -2.9
Jeff Tabaka 33 – 3 -0.1 – –
Ricky Bones↔ KCR 28 FA-elig 9 -0.2 0.1 -0.3
Pat Watkins 24 – 17 -0.2 – –
Eric Owens 26 pre-arb 27 -0.2 0.2 -0.4
Jim Crowell 23 – 2 -0.2 – –
Terry Pendleton 36 FA-elig 50 -0.2 0.3 -0.6
Pedro Martinez 28 arb 8 -0.2 0.2 -0.5
Kevin Jarvis↔ DET 27 arb 9 -0.3 0.1 -0.3
Richie Lewis↔ OAK 31 arb 4 -0.3 0.1 -0.4
Pete Schourek 28 FA-elig 19 -0.3 2.6 -3.0
Pete Rose Jr. 27 – 11 -0.3 – –
Giovanni Carrara 29 – 2 -0.4 – –
Hal Morris 32 FA-elig 96 -0.4 3.1 -3.5
Aaron Boone 24 – 16 -0.6 – –
Brook Fordyce 27 pre-arb 47 -0.7 0.1 -0.8
Jeff Branson↔ CLE 30 arb 65 -0.7 0.4 -1.1
Pokey Reese 24 pre-arb 128 -1.0 0.1 -1.2
Bret Boone 28 arb 139 -1.0 1.7 -2.8

50 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 39 of them (78%). Players without a salary show "–" — no single historical salary source is fully complete (especially 2020–2022).

WAR = FanGraphs (fWAR). Green = produced more value than paid (bargain); red = paid more than produced. Service: pre-arb (<3 yr) / arb (3–6) / FA-eligible (6+). Click headers to sort.

History: front-office performance & develop-vs-buy (1985–2024)

Trade ledger (realized WAR, all-time)

Best acquisitions
PlayerYearWAR for CIN
Brandon Phillips200630.1
Aaron Harang200319.3
Sean Casey199815.9
Luis Castillo201713.9
Ken Griffey200010.6
Anthony DeSclafani20148.2
Dmitri Young19977.5
Norm Charlton19867.3
Ones that got away
PlayerYear tradedWAR elsewhere
Paul Konerko199824.5
Mike Cameron200019.8
Charlie Leibrandt198316.8
Jeff Montgomery198812.0
Dave Burba199811.7
Luis Castillo20228.7
John Franco19898.7
Brad Keller20177.9
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.