RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: Hank Peters

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 5 in this regime · payroll 0.72× league · TAB -1.6
-1.6TAB — talent above budget15th/26
-4.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)18th/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/26
-6.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag21st/26
30%dead money %14th/26
0.451win %21st/26
28.6roster fWAR20th/26
+1surplus $M (value vs cost)7th/26
$10Mpayroll $M21st/26

Roster

CFJoe Carter 102GBrad Komminsk 66GDion James 11G
LFOddibe McDowell 63GJoe Carter 56GDion James 51G
RFCory Snyder 125GAlbert Belle 31GDave Clark 11G
SSFelix Fermin 153GPaul Zuvella 15GLuis Aguayo 15G
2BJerry Browne 151GLuis Aguayo 10GTommy Hinzo 6G
3BBrook Jacoby 144GLuis Aguayo 19GPaul Zuvella 5G
1BPete O'Brien 154GJoe Carter 11GDion James 10G
STARTERSTom Candiotti 4.4WARBud Black 3.4WARGreg Swindell 3.3WARJohn Farrell 3.2WARScott Bailes 1.2WAR
CAndy Allanson 111GJoel Skinner 79GTom Magrann 9G
DHDave Clark 47GDion James 27GLuis Medina 21G
BULLPEN★ Doug Jones 32svJesse Orosco 0hKeith Atherton 0hSteve Olin 0hTim Stoddard 0hSteve Davis 0hEd Wojna 0hJeff Kaiser 0h
CAndy Allanson 111 · Joel Skinner 79 · Tom Magrann 9
1BPete O'Brien 154 · Joe Carter 11 · Dion James 10
2BJerry Browne 151 · Luis Aguayo 10 · Tommy Hinzo 6
3BBrook Jacoby 144 · Luis Aguayo 19 · Paul Zuvella 5
SSFelix Fermin 153 · Paul Zuvella 15 · Luis Aguayo 15
LFOddibe McDowell 63 · Joe Carter 56 · Dion James 51
CFJoe Carter 102 · Brad Komminsk 66 · Dion James 11
RFCory Snyder 125 · Albert Belle 31 · Dave Clark 11
DHDave Clark 47 · Dion James 27 · Luis Medina 21
SPTom Candiotti 4.4 · Bud Black 3.4 · Greg Swindell 3.3 · John Farrell 3.2 · Scott Bailes 1.2
BP★ Doug Jones 32 · Jesse Orosco 0 · Keith Atherton 0 · Steve Olin 0 · Tim Stoddard 0 · Steve Davis 0 · Ed Wojna 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.

1989 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Tom Candiotti 32 FA-elig 314.4 0.5 +1.1
Jerry Browne 23 arb 1533.8 0.1 +1.2
Bud Black 32 FA-elig 333.4 0.6 +0.6
Brook Jacoby 29 FA-elig 1473.4 1.0 +0.2
Greg Swindell 24 arb 283.3 0.3 +0.9
John Farrell 26 pre-arb 313.2 0.2 +1.0
Doug Jones 32 FA-elig 592.6 0.3 +0.6
Joe Carter 29 FA-elig 1621.8 1.6 -1.0
Pete O'Brien 31 FA-elig 1551.5 0.7 -0.2
Felix Fermin 25 pre-arb 1561.3 0.1 +0.4
Scott Bailes 27 arb 341.2 0.3 +0.1
Brad Komminsk 28 FA-elig 711.2 0.1 +0.3
Jesse Orosco 32 FA-elig 691.1 0.8 -0.4
Dion James↔ ATL 26 FA-elig 710.9 0.2 +0.1
Steve Olin 23 pre-arb 250.5 0.1 +0.1
Ed Wojna 28 arb 90.3 0.1 +0.0
Rod Nichols 24 pre-arb 150.3 0.1 +0.0
Beau Allred 24 – 130.2 – –
Andy Allanson 27 arb 1110.2 0.2 -0.2
Tim Stoddard 36 FA-elig 140.1 0.1 -0.1
Paul Zuvella 30 – 240.1 – –
Albert Belle 22 pre-arb 620.1 0.1 -0.0
Rudy Seanez 20 – 50.1 – –
Pat Keedy 31 – 90.0 – –
Joe Skalski 24 – 20.0 – –
Denny Gonzalez 25 – 8-0.0 – –
Kevin Wickander 24 – 2-0.0 – –
Steve Davis 28 – 12-0.1 – –
Pete Dalena 29 – 5-0.1 – –
Joel Skinner 28 FA-elig 79-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Neil Allen 31 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Mark Higgins 25 – 6-0.1 – –
Mark Salas 28 – 30-0.1 – –
Rich Yett 26 arb 32-0.2 0.2 -0.2
Luis Aguayo 30 FA-elig 47-0.2 0.3 -0.3
Danny Sheaffer 27 – 7-0.2 – –
Brad Havens↔ DET 29 FA-elig 7-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Cory Snyder 26 arb 132-0.3 0.3 -0.4
Tom Magrann 25 – 9-0.3 – –
Jeff Kaiser 28 – 6-0.3 – –
Luis Medina 26 – 30-0.4 – –
Dave Clark 26 arb 102-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Mike Young 29 FA-elig 32-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Tommy Hinzo 25 pre-arb 18-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Dave Hengel 27 – 12-0.5 – –
Keith Atherton 30 FA-elig 32-0.6 0.5 -0.7
Oddibe McDowell↔ ATL 26 arb 69-0.8 0.2 -0.5

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Jerry Browne3.8
Pete O'Brien1.5
Felix Fermin1.3
Brad Komminsk1.2
Jesse Orosco1.1
Dion James0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Julio Franco3.1
Ron Kittle1.2
Bill Laskey0.6
Willie Upshaw0.3
Eddie Williams0.1
Jon Perlman0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$9.8M

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 (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Joe Carter296.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Brook Jacoby298.000$962k$988k$622k$550kFREE AGENT
Jesse Orosco3210.000$825k$850k$900kFREE AGENT
Pete O'Brien317.000$700kFREE AGENT
Bud Black328.000$600k$702kFREE AGENT$350k
Tom Candiotti326.000$505k$1.1M$1.4MFREE AGENT
Keith Atherton306.000$450kFREE AGENT
Neil Allen3110.000$325kFREE AGENT
Doug Jones327.000$308k$950k$2.0MFREE AGENT
Luis Aguayo309.000$275kFREE AGENT
Dion James266.000$212k$650kFREE AGENT
Joel Skinner286.000$200k$280k$610kFREE AGENT
Mike Young297.000$150kFREE AGENT
Tim Stoddard3614.000$125kFREE AGENT
Brad Komminsk286.000$80kFREE AGENT
Brad Havens298.000$79kFREE AGENT
Paul Zuvella307.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Cory Snyder263.000$340kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Bailes273.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Swindell243.000$285kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Allanson273.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Oddibe McDowell264.000$178kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Yett264.000$155kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jerry Browne233.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Clark263.000$98kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Wojna284.000$78kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Kaiser284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Keedy314.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Salas285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
John Farrell262.000$175kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Fermin252.000$85kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Hinzo252.000$75kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rod Nichols241.000$74kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Albert Belle220.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Olin230.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Beau Allred240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Dalena29–—
Steve Davis28–—
Denny Gonzalez25–—
Dave Hengel27–—
Mark Higgins25–—
Tom Magrann25–—
Luis Medina26–—
Rudy Seanez200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Sheaffer272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Skalski24–—
Kevin Wickander240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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