RRosternomics
𝕏

Guardians CLE

‹ ›

GM: John Hart

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.96× league · TAB +15.4
+15.4TAB — talent above budget5th/28
+9.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)3rd/28
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/28
-3.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag12th/28
37%dead money %21st/28
0.584win %5th/28
34.2roster fWAR7th/28
+8surplus $M (value vs cost)4th/28
$31Mpayroll $M18th/28

Roster

CFKenny Lofton 112GRuben Amaro Jr. 10GWayne Kirby 6G
LFAlbert Belle 104GWayne Kirby 8GCandy Maldonado 5G
RFManny Ramirez 84GWayne Kirby 55GRuben Amaro Jr. 1G
SSOmar Vizquel 69GAlvaro Espinoza 36GMark Lewis 13G
2BCarlos Baerga 102GAlvaro Espinoza 20GRene Gonzales 1G
3BJim Thome 94GAlvaro Espinoza 37GRene Gonzales 13G
1BPaul Sorrento 86GEddie Murray 26GRene Gonzales 4G
STARTERSDennis Martinez 3.6WARCharles Nagy 3.5WARJack Morris 2.0WARMark Clark 1.6WARJason Grimsley 1.4WAR
CSandy Alomar Jr. 78GTony Peña Sr. 40GMatt Merullo 4G
DHEddie Murray 82GCandy Maldonado 22GManny Ramirez 5G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Russell 17svJose Mesa 0hEric Plunk 0hLarry Casian 0hDerek Lilliquist 0hPaul Shuey 0hRuss Swan 0hMatt Turner 0h
CSandy Alomar Jr. 78 · Tony Peña Sr. 40 · Matt Merullo 4
1BPaul Sorrento 86 · Eddie Murray 26 · Rene Gonzales 4
2BCarlos Baerga 102 · Alvaro Espinoza 20 · Rene Gonzales 1
3BJim Thome 94 · Alvaro Espinoza 37 · Rene Gonzales 13
SSOmar Vizquel 69 · Alvaro Espinoza 36 · Mark Lewis 13
LFAlbert Belle 104 · Wayne Kirby 8 · Candy Maldonado 5
CFKenny Lofton 112 · Ruben Amaro Jr. 10 · Wayne Kirby 6
RFManny Ramirez 84 · Wayne Kirby 55 · Ruben Amaro Jr. 1
DHEddie Murray 82 · Candy Maldonado 22 · Manny Ramirez 5
SPDennis Martinez 3.6 · Charles Nagy 3.5 · Jack Morris 2.0 · Mark Clark 1.6 · Jason Grimsley 1.4
BP★ Jeff Russell 17 · Jose Mesa 0 · Eric Plunk 0 · Larry Casian 0 · Derek Lilliquist 0 · Paul Shuey 0 · Russ Swan 0 · Matt Turner 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.

1994 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Kenny Lofton 27 arb 1126.6 0.9 +6.8
Albert Belle 27 arb 1065.3 2.8 +3.3
Dennis Martinez 40 FA-elig 243.6 4.5 -0.4
Charles Nagy 27 arb 233.5 1.2 +2.8
Carlos Baerga 25 arb 1032.2 2.4 +0.2
Jack Morris 39 FA-elig 232.0 0.3 +2.0
Sandy Alomar Jr. 28 FA-elig 802.0 2.2 +0.1
Jim Thome 23 arb 981.8 0.3 +1.8
Jose Mesa 28 FA-elig 511.7 0.6 +1.4
Mark Clark 26 arb 201.6 0.3 +1.6
Eric Plunk 30 FA-elig 411.6 0.6 +1.2
Manny Ramirez 22 pre-arb 911.5 0.1 +1.6
Jason Grimsley 26 – 141.4 – –
Omar Vizquel 27 arb 690.7 2.4 -1.5
Paul Sorrento 28 arb 950.6 0.7 +0.0
Tony Peña Sr. 37 FA-elig 400.5 0.4 +0.1
Rene Gonzales 33 FA-elig 220.4 0.3 +0.1
Albie Lopez 22 pre-arb 40.2 0.1 +0.2
Ruben Amaro Jr. 29 arb 260.1 0.2 +0.0
Jeff Russell↔ BOS 32 FA-elig 130.1 0.9 -0.8
Alvaro Espinoza 32 FA-elig 900.1 0.5 -0.4
Chad Ogea 23 pre-arb 40.1 0.1 +0.0
Matt Turner 27 pre-arb 90.1 0.1 -0.1
Bill Wertz 27 – 10.0 – –
Jesse Levis 26 pre-arb 10.0 0.1 -0.1
Paul Shuey 23 pre-arb 140.0 0.1 -0.1
Candy Maldonado 33 FA-elig 420.0 1.6 -1.6
Jerry Dipoto 26 pre-arb 70.0 0.1 -0.1
Chris Nabholz↔ BOS 27 arb 6-0.0 0.4 -0.4
Wayne Kirby 30 arb 78-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Larry Casian↔ MIN 28 arb 7-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Julian Tavarez 21 pre-arb 1-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Russ Swan 30 arb 12-0.2 0.4 -0.6
Herbert Perry Jr. 24 pre-arb 4-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Matt Merullo 28 arb 4-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Derek Lilliquist 28 arb 36-0.3 1.4 -1.7
Brian Barnes↔ LAD 27 – 6-0.4 – –
Steve Farr↔ BOS 37 FA-elig 19-0.4 0.6 -1.1
Eddie Murray 38 FA-elig 108-0.7 3.0 -3.8
Mark Lewis 24 arb 20-0.9 0.2 -1.2

Key additions (new vs 1993)

PlayerfWAR
Dennis Martinez3.6
Jack Morris2.0
Omar Vizquel0.7
Tony Peña Sr.0.5
Rene Gonzales0.4
Ruben Amaro Jr.0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1993)

Player1993 fWAR
Randy Milligan1.1
Mike Bielecki0.7
Sam Horn0.7
Jeff Treadway0.6
Bob Ojeda0.3
Junior Ortiz0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1994 payroll
$30.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1994, 1994–2000. 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 (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Dennis Martinez4018.000$4.5M$4.5M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Eddie Murray3817.000$3.0M$3.0M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Sandy Alomar Jr.286.000$2.2M$2.5M$2.6M$2.6M$2.7M$2.8M$2.7M
Candy Maldonado3313.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Jeff Russell3211.000$921kFREE AGENT
Eric Plunk308.000$625k$725k$750k$1.9M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Jose Mesa287.000$600k$1.4M$1.9M$1.9M$984kFREE AGENT
Steve Farr3710.000$570kFREE AGENT
Alvaro Espinoza3210.000$475k$450k$221kFREE AGENT
Tony Peña Sr.3714.000$400k$517k$558kFREE AGENT
Rene Gonzales3310.000$350kFREE AGENT
Jack Morris3917.000$350kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Albert Belle275.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Carlos Baerga254.000$2.4MARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Vizquel275.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Derek Lilliquist285.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Charles Nagy274.000$1.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Kenny Lofton273.000$925kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Sorrento285.000$675kFREE AGENT
Chris Nabholz274.000$407kARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Swan305.000$400kFREE AGENT
Mark Clark263.000$325kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Thome233.000$325kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wayne Kirby303.000$190kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Lewis243.000$182kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ruben Amaro Jr.293.000$163kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Merullo285.000$160kFREE AGENT
Larry Casian284.000$32kARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Barnes274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Grimsley265.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Jerry Dipoto261.000$140kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Turner271.000$139kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jesse Levis262.000$125kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Julian Tavarez211.000$115kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Albie Lopez221.000$113kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Manny Ramirez221.000$111kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Herbert Perry Jr.240.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Ogea230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Shuey230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Wertz271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 1994; 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.