RRosternomics
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Reds CIN

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GM: Jim Bowden

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.77× league · TAB +7.1
+7.1TAB — talent above budget8th/30
+6.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)9th/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars3rd/30
-2.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag5th/30
12%dead money %4th/30
0.525win %11th/30
38.2roster fWAR10th/30
+7surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/30
$42Mpayroll $M21st/30

Roster

CFKen Griffey Jr. 141GBrian L. Hunter 50GMichael Tucker 28G
LFDmitri Young 111GAlex Ochoa 74GMichael Tucker 41G
RFDante Bichette 121GMichael Tucker 67GAlex Ochoa 37G
SSBarry Larkin 102GJuan Castro 57GGookie Dawkins 14G
2BPokey Reese 133GJuan Castro 21GChris Stynes 15G
3BAaron Boone 84GChris Stynes 77GMike Bell 13G
1BSean Casey 129GDmitri Young 36GD.T. Cromer 13G
STARTERSElmer Dessens 3.0WARScott Williamson 2.6WARSteve Parris 1.7WAROsvaldo Fernandez 1.2WARPete Harnisch 1.0WAR
CBenito Santiago 84GEddie Taubensee 76GJason LaRue 31G
DHDmitri Young 4GBarry Larkin 1GHal Morris 1G
BULLPEN★ Danny Graves 30svScott Sullivan 22hDennys Reyes 10hLarry Luebbers 4hJohn Riedling 2hHector Mercado 1hMark Wohlers 0hScott Winchester 0h
CBenito Santiago 84 · Eddie Taubensee 76 · Jason LaRue 31
1BSean Casey 129 · Dmitri Young 36 · D.T. Cromer 13
2BPokey Reese 133 · Juan Castro 21 · Chris Stynes 15
3BAaron Boone 84 · Chris Stynes 77 · Mike Bell 13
SSBarry Larkin 102 · Juan Castro 57 · Gookie Dawkins 14
LFDmitri Young 111 · Alex Ochoa 74 · Michael Tucker 41
CFKen Griffey Jr. 141 · Brian L. Hunter 50 · Michael Tucker 28
RFDante Bichette 121 · Michael Tucker 67 · Alex Ochoa 37
DHDmitri Young 4 · Barry Larkin 1 · Hal Morris 1
SPElmer Dessens 3.0 · Scott Williamson 2.6 · Steve Parris 1.7 · Osvaldo Fernandez 1.2 · Pete Harnisch 1.0
BP★ Danny Graves 30 · Scott Sullivan 22 · Dennys Reyes 10 · Larry Luebbers 4 · John Riedling 2 · Hector Mercado 1 · Mark Wohlers 0 · Scott Winchester 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.

2000 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Ken Griffey Jr. 30 FA-elig 1455.4 9.3 -1.7
Sean Casey 25 arb 1333.7 0.4 +4.9
Elmer Dessens 29 – 403.0 – –
Scott Williamson 24 pre-arb 482.6 0.3 +3.4
Barry Larkin 36 FA-elig 1022.5 5.3 -1.7
Chris Stynes 27 arb 1192.5 0.4 +3.1
Alex Ochoa 28 arb 1182.4 0.9 +2.5
Michael Tucker 29 arb 1482.2 1.7 +1.5
Pokey Reese 27 arb 1352.1 1.9 +1.0
Aaron Boone 27 arb 841.9 0.3 +2.4
Denny Neagle↔ NYY 31 FA-elig 191.8 2.6 +0.0
Dmitri Young 26 arb 1521.7 1.9 +0.5
Steve Parris 32 arb 351.7 1.4 +1.0
Osvaldo Fernandez 31 – 151.2 – –
Dante Bichette↔ BOS 36 FA-elig 1251.1 5.6 -4.1
Pete Harnisch 33 FA-elig 241.0 3.2 -1.8
Scott Sullivan 29 arb 801.0 1.1 +0.3
Danny Graves 26 arb 661.0 0.4 +1.0
Brian L. Hunter↔ COL 29 FA-elig 320.4 0.1 +0.5
Mike Bell 25 – 190.3 – –
Hal Morris↔ DET 35 FA-elig 590.3 0.3 +0.1
John Riedling 24 – 130.2 – –
Larry Luebbers 30 – 140.2 – –
Ron Villone 30 arb 350.1 1.6 -1.5
Keith Glauber 28 – 40.1 – –
Jason LaRue 26 – 310.1 – –
Brady Clark 27 – 110.1 – –
Dennys Reyes 23 arb 620.0 0.2 -0.1
D.T. Cromer 29 pre-arb 350.0 0.2 -0.1
Mark Wohlers 30 – 200.0 – –
Benito Santiago 35 FA-elig 890.0 0.7 -0.6
Hector Mercado 26 pre-arb 120.0 0.2 -0.2
Scott Winchester 27 – 50.0 – –
Andy Larkin↔ KCR 26 – 3-0.0 – –
Manny Aybar↔ COL 28 arb 32-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Kimera Bartee 27 – 11-0.0 – –
Gabe White↔ COL 28 FA-elig 1-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Norm Charlton 37 – 2-0.1 – –
Gookie Dawkins 21 – 14-0.1 – –
Mark Lewis↔ BAL 30 FA-elig 11-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Brooks Kieschnick 28 – 14-0.3 – –
Chris Sexton 28 – 35-0.3 – –
Rob Bell 23 pre-arb 26-0.3 0.2 -0.6
Juan Castro 28 – 82-0.4 – –
Eddie Taubensee 31 FA-elig 81-0.6 1.4 -2.2

Key additions (new vs 1999)

PlayerfWAR
Ken Griffey Jr.5.4
Elmer Dessens3.0
Alex Ochoa2.4
Osvaldo Fernandez1.2
Dante Bichette1.1
Brian L. Hunter0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1999)

Player1999 fWAR
Mike Cameron5.3
Greg Vaughn3.5
Jeffrey Hammonds2.4
Brett Tomko1.7
Juan Guzman1.3
Mark Sweeney0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

2000 payroll
$42.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2000, 2000–2006. 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 (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Ken Griffey Jr.3011.000$9.3M$12.5M$8.6M$12.5M$12.5M$12.5M$10.5M
Dante Bichette3612.000$5.6MFREE AGENT
Barry Larkin3614.000$5.3M$9.0M$9.0M$9.0M$700kFREE AGENT
Pete Harnisch3312.000$3.2M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Denny Neagle319.000$2.6MFREE AGENT
Eddie Taubensee319.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Benito Santiago3514.000$650kFREE AGENT
Hal Morris3512.000$298kFREE AGENT
Brian L. Hunter296.000$92kFREE AGENT
Mark Lewis309.000$80kFREE AGENT
Gabe White286.000$9kFREE AGENT$2.5M$2.5M$1.2M
Norm Charlton3712.000—FREE AGENT
Larry Luebbers307.000—FREE AGENT
Mark Wohlers309.000—$254kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (20)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Pokey Reese273.000$1.9MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dmitri Young264.000$1.9MARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Tucker295.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Ron Villone305.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Steve Parris325.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Scott Sullivan295.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Alex Ochoa285.000$862kFREE AGENT
Danny Graves264.000$400kARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Casey253.000$400kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Stynes275.000$375kFREE AGENT
Aaron Boone273.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dennys Reyes233.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Manny Aybar283.000$160kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kimera Bartee274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Castro285.000—FREE AGENT
Elmer Dessens294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Osvaldo Fernandez314.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brooks Kieschnick284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Larkin264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Winchester273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (11)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Scott Williamson241.000$300kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Mercado260.000$220kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
D.T. Cromer290.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Bell230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Sexton281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Glauber282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason LaRue261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Riedling240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gookie Dawkins21–—
Brady Clark270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Bell25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Reds 2000; 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.