RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: John Hart

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 5 in this regime · payroll 1.52× league · TAB +10.5
+10.5TAB — talent above budget5th/30
+9.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/30
-4.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag13th/30
20%dead money %6th/30
0.599win %4th/30
49.9roster fWAR3rd/30
-11surplus $M (value vs cost)21st/30
$74Mpayroll $M5th/30

1999: made playoffs · 97–65. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFKenny Lofton 119GDave Roberts 38GJacob Cruz 15G
LFDavid Justice 79GRichie Sexson 48GWil Cordero 29G
RFManny Ramirez 145GAlex Ramirez 23GDavid Justice 15G
SSOmar Vizquel 143GEnrique Wilson 35GJohn McDonald 6G
2BRoberto Alomar 156GEnrique Wilson 21GCarlos Baerga 19G
3BTravis Fryman 85GTyler Houston 73GEnrique Wilson 61G
1BJim Thome 111GRichie Sexson 61G
STARTERSBartolo Colon 3.8WARCharles Nagy 3.2WARDave Burba 3.1WARJaret Wright 1.0WARDwight Gooden 0.7WAR
CEinar Díaz 119GSandy Alomar Jr. 35GTyler Houston 19G
DHHarold Baines 117GJim Thome 34GDavid Justice 34G
BULLPEN★ Mike Jackson 39svPaul Shuey 19hJim Poole 12hRicardo Rincon 11hSteve Reed 9hSteve Karsay 9hPaul Assenmacher 7hChris Haney 0h
CEinar Díaz 119 · Sandy Alomar Jr. 35 · Tyler Houston 19
1BJim Thome 111 · Richie Sexson 61
2BRoberto Alomar 156 · Enrique Wilson 21 · Carlos Baerga 19
3BTravis Fryman 85 · Tyler Houston 73 · Enrique Wilson 61
SSOmar Vizquel 143 · Enrique Wilson 35 · John McDonald 6
LFDavid Justice 79 · Richie Sexson 48 · Wil Cordero 29
CFKenny Lofton 119 · Dave Roberts 38 · Jacob Cruz 15
RFManny Ramirez 145 · Alex Ramirez 23 · David Justice 15
DHHarold Baines 117 · Jim Thome 34 · David Justice 34
SPBartolo Colon 3.8 · Charles Nagy 3.2 · Dave Burba 3.1 · Jaret Wright 1.0 · Dwight Gooden 0.7
BP★ Mike Jackson 39 · Paul Shuey 19 · Jim Poole 12 · Ricardo Rincon 11 · Steve Reed 9 · Steve Karsay 9 · Paul Assenmacher 7 · Chris Haney 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.

1999 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Manny Ramirez 27 FA-elig 1477.5 4.3 +5.0
Roberto Alomar 31 FA-elig 1597.3 7.0 +2.1
Omar Vizquel 32 FA-elig 1446.0 3.0 +4.5
Kenny Lofton 32 FA-elig 1204.8 7.5 -1.5
Jim Thome 28 FA-elig 1464.2 8.2 -2.9
Bartolo Colon 26 pre-arb 323.8 0.6 +4.1
David Justice 33 FA-elig 1333.2 7.0 -3.0
Charles Nagy 32 FA-elig 343.2 6.0 -2.0
Dave Burba 32 FA-elig 343.1 4.7 -0.7
Paul Shuey 28 arb 721.8 1.1 +1.2
Steve Karsay 27 FA-elig 501.6 0.5 +1.5
Einar Díaz 26 arb 1191.2 0.2 +1.3
Jaret Wright 23 pre-arb 261.0 0.8 +0.4
Dwight Gooden 34 FA-elig 260.7 2.6 -1.7
Travis Fryman 30 FA-elig 850.7 5.2 -4.4
Jacob Cruz 26 arb 320.6 0.2 +0.6
Sean DePaula 25 pre-arb 110.5 0.2 +0.4
Chris Haney 30 FA-elig 130.5 0.6 +0.0
Richie Sexson 24 pre-arb 1340.4 0.2 +0.3
Sandy Alomar Jr. 33 FA-elig 370.4 2.8 -2.3
Mark Langston 38 FA-elig 250.3 0.3 +0.1
Mike Jackson 34 FA-elig 720.3 2.1 -1.8
Wil Cordero 27 FA-elig 540.3 0.5 -0.2
Jeff Manto↔ NYY 34 – 120.2 – –
John McDonald 24 – 180.2 – –
David Riske 22 pre-arb 120.1 0.2 -0.0
Alex Ramirez 24 pre-arb 480.1 0.2 -0.1
Steve Reed 34 FA-elig 630.1 1.4 -1.2
Dave Roberts 27 pre-arb 410.1 0.2 -0.1
Tom Martin 29 pre-arb 6-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Jeff Tam↔ NYM 28 pre-arb 1-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Ricardo Rincon 29 pre-arb 59-0.0 0.5 -0.5
Tyler Houston↔ CHC 28 arb 13-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Paul Wagner 31 – 3-0.1 – –
Jim Poole↔ PHI 33 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Dave Stevens 29 – 5-0.1 – –
Jerry Spradlin↔ SFG 32 FA-elig 4-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Tom Candiotti↔ OAK 42 FA-elig 7-0.1 1.2 -1.3
Paul Assenmacher 38 FA-elig 55-0.1 1.5 -1.6
Russell Branyan 23 pre-arb 11-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Jason Rakers 26 pre-arb 1-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Chris Turner 30 FA-elig 12-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Jolbert Cabrera 26 pre-arb 30-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Harold Baines↔ BAL 40 FA-elig 28-0.2 0.4 -0.6
Mark Whiten 32 FA-elig 8-0.2 0.5 -0.7
Jesse Levis 31 FA-elig 10-0.3 0.4 -0.7
Pat Borders↔ TOR 36 FA-elig 6-0.3 0.1 -0.5
Jim Brower 26 – 9-0.3 – –
Rich DeLucia 34 – 6-0.3 – –
Carlos Baerga↔ SDP 30 FA-elig 22-0.5 0.2 -0.9
Enrique Wilson 25 pre-arb 113-0.9 0.2 -1.3

Key additions (new vs 1998)

PlayerfWAR
Roberto Alomar7.3
Sean DePaula0.5
Chris Haney0.5
Mark Langston0.3
Wil Cordero0.3
John McDonald0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1998)

Player1998 fWAR
Brian Giles4.0
Doug Jones0.7
David Bell0.5
Chad Ogea0.4
Alvin Morman0.3
Eric Plunk0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1999 payroll
$74.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 1999, 1999–2005. 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 (30)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Jim Thome288.000$8.2M$8.2M$7.9M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Kenny Lofton328.000$7.5M$7.5M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Roberto Alomar3111.000$7.0M$7.2M$7.8MFREE AGENT
David Justice3310.000$7.0M$3.7MFREE AGENT
Charles Nagy329.000$6.0M$6.0M$6.0M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Travis Fryman309.000$5.2M$5.5M$5.8M$5.8MFREE AGENT
Dave Burba329.000$4.7M$5.0M$5.0M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Manny Ramirez276.000$4.3M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Omar Vizquel3210.000$3.0M$3.0M$3.0M$4.5M$5.5M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Sandy Alomar Jr.3311.000$2.8M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Dwight Gooden3415.000$2.6MFREE AGENT
Mike Jackson3413.000$2.1MFREE AGENT
Paul Assenmacher3813.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Steve Reed347.000$1.4M$1.6M$891kFREE AGENT
Tom Candiotti4216.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Chris Haney308.000$550kFREE AGENT
Steve Karsay276.000$500k$1.2M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Wil Cordero277.000$500k$1.5M$2.7M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Mark Whiten329.000$450kFREE AGENT
Jesse Levis317.000$400kFREE AGENT
Harold Baines4019.000$359kFREE AGENT
Mark Langston3815.000$350kFREE AGENT
Chris Turner306.000$300kFREE AGENT
Carlos Baerga309.000$200kFREE AGENT
Pat Borders3611.000$135kFREE AGENT
Jerry Spradlin326.000$44kFREE AGENT
Jim Poole339.000$28kFREE AGENT
Rich DeLucia349.000—FREE AGENT
Jeff Manto349.000—FREE AGENT
Paul Wagner317.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (5)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Paul Shuey285.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Einar Díaz263.000$209kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jacob Cruz263.000$205kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Houston283.000$82kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Stevens295.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Jaret Wright232.000$812kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bartolo Colon262.000$625kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricardo Rincon292.000$450kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Martin292.000$225kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Richie Sexson242.000$219kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Enrique Wilson252.000$214kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Ramirez241.000$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Rakers261.000$203kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jolbert Cabrera261.000$203kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russell Branyan231.000$202kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean DePaula250.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Roberts270.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Riske220.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Tam281.000$21kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Brower260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John McDonald240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 1999; 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.