RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: Hank Peters

Overview

REBUILD → steady
cheap & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 0.64× league · TAB -0.7
-0.7TAB — talent above budget17th/26
+1.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)13th/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars11th/26
-5.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag20th/26
50%dead money %25th/26
0.481win %17th/26
28.1roster fWAR20th/26
+1surplus $M (value vs cost)10th/26
$8Mpayroll $M23rd/26

Roster

CFJoe Carter 156GMel Hall 7GScott Jordan 5G
LFMel Hall 135GCarmen Castillo 30GReggie Williams 10G
RFCory Snyder 139GCarmen Castillo 16GDave Clark 15G
SSJay Bell 72GRon Washington 54GPaul Zuvella 49G
2BJulio Franco 151GDomingo Ramos 11GHouston Jimenez 7G
3BBrook Jacoby 151GEddie Williams 10GRon Washington 8G
1BWillie Upshaw 144GLuis Medina 16GDomingo Ramos 5G
STARTERSGreg Swindell 6.3WARTom Candiotti 4.5WARJohn Farrell 2.6WARRich Yett 1.4WARRod Nichols 0.8WAR
CAndy Allanson 133GRon Tingley 9GTom Lampkin 3G
DHRon Kittle 58GTerry Francona 38GDave Clark 21G
BULLPEN★ Doug Jones 37svDon Gordon 0hBrad Havens 0hJeff Dedmon 0hBill Laskey 0hChris Codiroli 0hJon Perlman 0hJeff Kaiser 0h
CAndy Allanson 133 · Ron Tingley 9 · Tom Lampkin 3
1BWillie Upshaw 144 · Luis Medina 16 · Domingo Ramos 5
2BJulio Franco 151 · Domingo Ramos 11 · Houston Jimenez 7
3BBrook Jacoby 151 · Eddie Williams 10 · Ron Washington 8
SSJay Bell 72 · Ron Washington 54 · Paul Zuvella 49
LFMel Hall 135 · Carmen Castillo 30 · Reggie Williams 10
CFJoe Carter 156 · Mel Hall 7 · Scott Jordan 5
RFCory Snyder 139 · Carmen Castillo 16 · Dave Clark 15
DHRon Kittle 58 · Terry Francona 38 · Dave Clark 21
SPGreg Swindell 6.3 · Tom Candiotti 4.5 · John Farrell 2.6 · Rich Yett 1.4 · Rod Nichols 0.8
BP★ Doug Jones 37 · Don Gordon 0 · Brad Havens 0 · Jeff Dedmon 0 · Bill Laskey 0 · Chris Codiroli 0 · Jon Perlman 0 · Jeff Kaiser 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.

1988 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Greg Swindell 23 pre-arb 336.3 0.1 +1.9
Tom Candiotti 31 arb 314.5 0.2 +1.2
Doug Jones 31 FA-elig 513.7 0.1 +1.0
Joe Carter 28 arb 1573.2 0.8 +0.2
Julio Franco 29 FA-elig 1523.1 1.0 -0.0
John Farrell 25 pre-arb 312.6 0.1 +0.7
Cory Snyder 25 pre-arb 1422.6 0.2 +0.6
Rich Yett 25 arb 231.4 0.1 +0.3
Andy Allanson 26 pre-arb 1331.3 0.1 +0.3
Ron Kittle 30 FA-elig 751.2 0.3 +0.1
Rod Nichols 23 – 110.8 – –
Luis Medina 25 – 160.8 – –
Brook Jacoby 28 FA-elig 1520.7 0.8 -0.6
Bill Laskey 30 – 170.6 – –
Bud Black↔ KCR 31 FA-elig 160.5 0.3 -0.2
Willie Upshaw 31 FA-elig 1490.3 0.9 -0.8
Eddie Williams 23 – 100.1 – –
Jon Perlman 31 – 100.1 – –
Terry Francona 29 – 620.1 – –
Mike Walker 21 – 30.1 – –
Jeff Kaiser 27 – 30.0 – –
Daniel Firova 31 – 10.0 – –
Ron Washington 36 FA-elig 69-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Brad Havens↔ LAD 28 FA-elig 28-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Tom Lampkin 24 – 4-0.1 – –
Scott Jordan 25 – 7-0.1 – –
Reggie Williams 27 – 11-0.1 – –
Houston Jimenez 30 – 9-0.1 – –
Don Gordon 28 – 38-0.1 – –
Domingo Ramos↔ ANA 30 – 22-0.1 – –
Ron Tingley 29 FA-elig 9-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Chris Codiroli 30 – 14-0.2 – –
Rod Allen 28 – 5-0.2 – –
Pat Tabler↔ KCR 30 FA-elig 41-0.2 0.3 -0.3
Scott Bailes 26 pre-arb 37-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Rick Rodriguez 27 – 10-0.2 – –
Dave Clark 25 pre-arb 63-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Chris Bando 32 – 32-0.3 – –
Jeff Dedmon 28 arb 21-0.3 0.3 -0.4
Mel Hall 27 FA-elig 150-0.5 0.7 -0.9
Carmen Castillo 30 FA-elig 66-0.6 0.3 -0.5
Paul Zuvella 29 FA-elig 51-0.6 0.1 -0.3
Dan Schatzeder↔ MIN 33 FA-elig 15-0.7 0.2 -0.4
Jay Bell 22 pre-arb 73-0.9 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1987)

PlayerfWAR
Ron Kittle1.2
Rod Nichols0.8
Luis Medina0.8
Bill Laskey0.6
Bud Black0.5
Willie Upshaw0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Brett Butler3.9
Phil Niekro0.5
Ed Vande Berg0.3
Mark Huismann0.1
Ernie Camacho0.1
Jamie Easterly0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$7.5M

What the front office was committed to as of 1988, 1988–1994. 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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Julio Franco296.000$975kFREE AGENT
Willie Upshaw3110.000$900kFREE AGENT
Brook Jacoby287.000$812k$962k$988k$622k$550kFREE AGENT
Mel Hall277.000$725kFREE AGENT
Carmen Castillo306.000$310kFREE AGENT
Bud Black317.000$308k$600k$702kFREE AGENT
Ron Kittle306.000$300kFREE AGENT
Pat Tabler307.000$252kFREE AGENT
Dan Schatzeder3311.000$195kFREE AGENT
Brad Havens287.000$140k$146kFREE AGENT
Doug Jones316.000$115k$308k$950k$2.0MFREE AGENT
Paul Zuvella296.000$100kFREE AGENT
Ron Washington3611.000$100kFREE AGENT
Ron Tingley296.000$62kFREE AGENT
Chris Bando327.000—FREE AGENT
Chris Codiroli306.000—FREE AGENT
Terry Francona297.000—FREE AGENT
Bill Laskey306.000—FREE AGENT
Domingo Ramos3010.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (6)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Joe Carter285.000$840kFREE AGENT
Jeff Dedmon285.000$350kFREE AGENT
Tom Candiotti315.000$230kFREE AGENT
Rich Yett253.000$90kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Kaiser273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reggie Williams273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Cory Snyder252.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Bailes262.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Allanson262.000$102kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Swindell232.000$90kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Farrell251.000$72kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Clark252.000$72kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Bell222.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rod Allen28–—
Daniel Firova31–—
Don Gordon282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Houston Jimenez30–—
Scott Jordan25–—
Tom Lampkin240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Medina25–—
Rod Nichols230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jon Perlman31–—
Rick Rodriguez27–—
Mike Walker210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eddie Williams232.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 1988; 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.