RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: Hank Peters

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 7 in this regime · payroll 0.64× league · TAB -3.1
-3.1TAB — talent above budget18th/26
-19.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)26th/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars8th/26
-9.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag26th/26
42%dead money %22nd/26
0.352win %26th/26
25.6roster fWAR24th/26
+1surplus $M (value vs cost)5th/26
$15Mpayroll $M24th/26

Roster

CFAlex Cole 101GGlenallen Hill 26GJose Gonzalez 17G
LFAlbert Belle 88GChris James 26GMike Aldrete 21G
RFMark Whiten 105GJose Gonzalez 41GBeau Allred 27G
SSFelix Fermin 129GMark Lewis 36GTony Perezchica 19G
2BCarlos Baerga 75GMark Lewis 50GJerry Browne 47G
3BCarlos Baerga 89GJeff Manto 32GJim Thome 27G
1BMike Aldrete 47GCarlos Martinez 31GReggie Jefferson 28G
STARTERSGreg Swindell 5.9WARCharles Nagy 3.2WARRod Nichols 2.9WAREric King 2.6WARDave Otto 1.4WAR
CJoel Skinner 99GSandy Alomar Jr. 46GEddie Taubensee 25G
DHChris James 58GCarlos Martinez 41GAlbert Belle 31G
BULLPEN★ Steve Olin 17svShawn Hillegas 0hJesse Orosco 0hDoug Jones 0hJeff Shaw 0hMike York 0hEric Bell 0hEfrain Valdez 0h
CJoel Skinner 99 · Sandy Alomar Jr. 46 · Eddie Taubensee 25
1BMike Aldrete 47 · Carlos Martinez 31 · Reggie Jefferson 28
2BCarlos Baerga 75 · Mark Lewis 50 · Jerry Browne 47
3BCarlos Baerga 89 · Jeff Manto 32 · Jim Thome 27
SSFelix Fermin 129 · Mark Lewis 36 · Tony Perezchica 19
LFAlbert Belle 88 · Chris James 26 · Mike Aldrete 21
CFAlex Cole 101 · Glenallen Hill 26 · Jose Gonzalez 17
RFMark Whiten 105 · Jose Gonzalez 41 · Beau Allred 27
DHChris James 58 · Carlos Martinez 41 · Albert Belle 31
SPGreg Swindell 5.9 · Charles Nagy 3.2 · Rod Nichols 2.9 · Eric King 2.6 · Dave Otto 1.4
BP★ Steve Olin 17 · Shawn Hillegas 0 · Jesse Orosco 0 · Doug Jones 0 · Jeff Shaw 0 · Mike York 0 · Eric Bell 0 · Efrain Valdez 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.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Greg Swindell 26 arb 335.9 2.0 +1.5
Charles Nagy 24 pre-arb 333.2 0.1 +1.8
Tom Candiotti↔ TOR 33 FA-elig 153.0 1.1 +0.7
Albert Belle 24 pre-arb 1232.9 0.1 +1.6
Rod Nichols 26 arb 312.9 0.1 +1.6
Carlos Baerga 22 pre-arb 1582.7 0.2 +1.4
Eric King 27 arb 252.6 1.4 +0.1
Alex Cole 25 pre-arb 1221.5 0.2 +0.7
Dave Otto 26 – 181.4 – –
Mark Whiten↔ TOR 24 pre-arb 701.4 0.1 +0.7
Glenallen Hill↔ TOR 26 pre-arb 371.1 0.1 +0.6
Steve Olin 25 pre-arb 480.9 0.2 +0.4
Felix Fermin 27 arb 1290.8 0.6 -0.1
Beau Allred 26 pre-arb 480.8 0.1 +0.4
Doug Jones 34 FA-elig 360.8 2.0 -1.6
Mike Huff↔ CHW 27 pre-arb 510.7 0.1 +0.3
Jesse Orosco 34 FA-elig 470.5 0.9 -0.6
Mike Aldrete↔ SDP 30 arb 850.3 0.4 -0.3
Eric Bell 27 – 100.3 – –
Shawn Hillegas 26 – 510.3 – –
Tony Perezchica↔ SFG 25 – 170.3 – –
Joel Skinner 30 FA-elig 990.2 0.6 -0.5
Jose Gonzalez↔ LAD 26 FA-elig 330.2 0.1 -0.0
Mike York 26 – 140.1 – –
Turner Ward↔ TOR 26 pre-arb 400.1 0.1 -0.0
Bruce Egloff 26 pre-arb 60.1 0.1 -0.0
Jeff Mutis 24 pre-arb 30.1 0.1 -0.1
Mike Walker 24 – 50.0 – –
Ever Magallanes 25 – 3-0.0 – –
Efrain Valdez 24 – 7-0.0 – –
Garland Kiser 22 – 7-0.0 – –
Jeff Shaw 24 – 29-0.0 – –
Mauro Gozzo 25 – 2-0.0 – –
Jose Escobar 30 – 10-0.1 – –
Jim Thome 20 pre-arb 27-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Sergio Valdez 26 – 6-0.1 – –
Tom Kramer 23 pre-arb 4-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Rudy Seanez 22 – 5-0.2 – –
Willie Blair 25 – 11-0.2 – –
Denis Boucher↔ TOR 23 – 5-0.2 – –
Wayne Kirby 27 pre-arb 21-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Jeff Manto 26 pre-arb 47-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Carlos Martinez 25 – 72-0.3 – –
Luis Medina 28 – 5-0.3 – –
Brook Jacoby↔ OAK 31 FA-elig 66-0.4 0.6 -0.8
Eddie Taubensee 22 pre-arb 26-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Mitch Webster↔ LAD 32 FA-elig 13-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Luis Lopez 26 – 35-0.4 – –
Mark Lewis 21 – 84-0.6 – –
Sandy Alomar Jr. 25 arb 51-0.6 0.4 -0.7
Reggie Jefferson↔ CIN 22 pre-arb 26-0.8 0.1 -0.6
Jerry Browne 25 arb 107-1.2 0.8 -1.5
Chris James 28 arb 115-2.1 1.4 -2.6

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Eric King2.6
Dave Otto1.4
Mark Whiten1.4
Glenallen Hill1.1
Mike Huff0.7
Mike Aldrete0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Candy Maldonado3.1
Bud Black2.4
John Farrell0.7
Stan Jefferson0.3
Kevin Wickander0.3
Tom Brookens0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$14.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. 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 (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Doug Jones349.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Tom Candiotti338.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Jesse Orosco3412.000$900kFREE AGENT
Brook Jacoby3110.000$622k$550kFREE AGENT
Joel Skinner308.000$610kFREE AGENT
Jose Gonzalez266.000$102kFREE AGENT
Mitch Webster328.000$91kFREE AGENT
Eric Bell276.000—$158kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Greg Swindell265.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Eric King275.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Chris James285.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Jerry Browne255.000$800kFREE AGENT
Felix Fermin274.000$575kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Aldrete305.000$447kFREE AGENT
Sandy Alomar Jr.253.000$360kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rod Nichols263.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Hillegas264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Martinez253.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Otto264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Perezchica253.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sergio Valdez265.000—FREE AGENT
Mike Walker243.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (31)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Carlos Baerga221.000$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Olin252.000$175kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Cole251.000$155kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Albert Belle242.000$130kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Charles Nagy241.000$115kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Manto261.000$110kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Beau Allred262.000$102kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Mutis240.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Kramer230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wayne Kirby270.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bruce Egloff260.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Thome200.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eddie Taubensee220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Glenallen Hill262.000$87kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reggie Jefferson220.000$84kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Turner Ward261.000$83kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Whiten241.000$69kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Huff272.000$50kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Willie Blair251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Denis Boucher230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Escobar30–—
Mauro Gozzo252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Garland Kiser22–—
Mark Lewis210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Lopez26–—
Ever Magallanes25–—
Luis Medina28–—
Rudy Seanez222.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Shaw241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Efrain Valdez24–—
Mike York261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 1991; 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.