RRosternomics
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Rockies COL

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GM: Bob Gebhard

Overview

FORCED-SPEND → steady
expensive & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.12× league · TAB -5.4
-5.4TAB — talent above budget21st/28
-0.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)16th/28
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars13th/28
-5.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag16th/28
43%dead money %24th/28
0.512win %12th/28
30.2roster fWAR17th/28
-14surplus $M (value vs cost)20th/28
$44Mpayroll $M11th/28

Roster

CFQuinton McCracken 132GEllis Burks 89GAngel Echevarria 2G
LFDante Bichette 128GEllis Burks 66GHarvey Pulliam 24G
RFLarry Walker 150GDante Bichette 16GHarvey Pulliam 10G
SSWalt Weiss 119GNeifi Perez 45GJason Bates 16G
2BNeifi Perez 41GJason Bates 22GBrian Raabe 2G
3BVinny Castilla 157GJason Bates 6GDarnell Coles 3G
1BAndres Galarraga 154GTodd Helton 8GJohn Vander Wal 5G
STARTERSJohn Thomson 3.4WARRoger Bailey 1.3WARDarren Holmes 0.8WARPedro Astacio 0.5WARKevin Ritz 0.5WAR
CKirt Manwaring 100GJeff Reed 78G
DHDante Bichette 5GJohn Vander Wal 2GLarry Walker 1G
BULLPEN★ Jerry Dipoto 16svMike Munoz 0hSteve Reed 0hCurt Leskanic 0hMike DeJean 0hMark Hutton 0hJeff McCurry 0hBruce Ruffin 0h
CKirt Manwaring 100 · Jeff Reed 78
1BAndres Galarraga 154 · Todd Helton 8 · John Vander Wal 5
2BNeifi Perez 41 · Jason Bates 22 · Brian Raabe 2
3BVinny Castilla 157 · Jason Bates 6 · Darnell Coles 3
SSWalt Weiss 119 · Neifi Perez 45 · Jason Bates 16
LFDante Bichette 128 · Ellis Burks 66 · Harvey Pulliam 24
CFQuinton McCracken 132 · Ellis Burks 89 · Angel Echevarria 2
RFLarry Walker 150 · Dante Bichette 16 · Harvey Pulliam 10
DHDante Bichette 5 · John Vander Wal 2 · Larry Walker 1
SPJohn Thomson 3.4 · Roger Bailey 1.3 · Darren Holmes 0.8 · Pedro Astacio 0.5 · Kevin Ritz 0.5
BP★ Jerry Dipoto 16 · Mike Munoz 0 · Steve Reed 0 · Curt Leskanic 0 · Mike DeJean 0 · Mark Hutton 0 · Jeff McCurry 0 · Bruce Ruffin 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.

1997 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Larry Walker 30 FA-elig 1539.1 6.3 +3.0
John Thomson 23 pre-arb 273.4 0.1 +3.3
Andres Galarraga 36 FA-elig 1543.1 5.0 -1.7
Vinny Castilla 29 FA-elig 1593.0 2.2 +0.9
Jeff Reed 34 FA-elig 902.1 0.7 +1.5
Eric Young Sr.↔ LAD 30 arb 1182.1 2.4 -0.3
Ellis Burks 32 FA-elig 1191.7 4.0 -2.3
Walt Weiss 33 FA-elig 1211.7 2.7 -1.0
Jerry Dipoto 29 arb 741.7 0.6 +1.1
Roger Bailey 26 pre-arb 301.3 0.2 +1.1
Mike DeJean 26 pre-arb 550.8 0.1 +0.7
Darren Holmes 31 – 420.8 – –
Mike Munoz 31 FA-elig 640.6 0.3 +0.2
Pedro Astacio↔ LAD 28 arb 70.5 0.6 -0.1
Kevin Ritz 32 FA-elig 180.5 2.5 -2.0
Bill Swift 35 FA-elig 160.5 4.6 -4.1
Neifi Perez 24 pre-arb 830.5 0.1 +0.3
Frank Castillo↔ CHC 28 FA-elig 140.4 0.7 -0.3
Jamey Wright 22 pre-arb 260.4 0.2 +0.3
Curt Leskanic 29 arb 550.4 0.5 -0.1
Dante Bichette 33 FA-elig 1510.4 5.2 -4.8
Bruce Ruffin 33 – 230.2 – –
Harvey Pulliam 29 FA-elig 590.1 0.1 -0.1
Brian Raabe↔ SEA 29 pre-arb 20.1 0.1 +0.0
Bobby Jones 25 – 40.1 – –
Darnell Coles 35 FA-elig 210.1 0.2 -0.1
Robbie Beckett 24 – 20.0 – –
Nate Minchey 27 – 20.0 – –
Tim Scott↔ SDP 30 FA-elig 30.0 0.1 -0.1
Rene Gonzales 36 – 20.0 – –
Angel Echevarria 26 – 15-0.1 – –
Todd Helton 23 pre-arb 35-0.1 0.1 -0.3
Bryan Rekar 25 – 2-0.2 – –
Mark Hutton↔ MIA 27 arb 8-0.2 0.0 -0.3
Quinton McCracken 26 pre-arb 146-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Steve Reed 32 arb 63-0.3 1.2 -1.5
Mark Thompson 26 arb 6-0.3 0.3 -0.6
John Burke 27 pre-arb 18-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Jeff McCurry 27 pre-arb 33-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Jason Bates 26 pre-arb 62-0.5 0.2 -0.7
John Vander Wal 31 FA-elig 76-0.7 0.5 -1.3
Kirt Manwaring 31 FA-elig 104-1.9 1.7 -3.6

Key additions (new vs 1996)

PlayerfWAR
John Thomson3.4
Jerry Dipoto1.7
Mike DeJean0.8
Pedro Astacio0.5
Frank Castillo0.4
Brian Raabe0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1996)

Player1996 fWAR
Armando Reynoso1.4
Marvin Freeman0.3
Steve Decker0.3
Trenidad Hubbard0.3
John Habyan-0.0
Ryan Hawblitzel-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1997 payroll
$44.2M

What the front office was committed to as of 1997, 1997–2003. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Larry Walker308.000$6.3M$6.0M$5.4M$12.1M$12.2M$12.7M$12.7M
Dante Bichette339.000$5.2M$5.3M$7.2MFREE AGENT
Andres Galarraga3612.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
Bill Swift3512.000$4.6MFREE AGENT
Ellis Burks3210.000$4.0M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Walt Weiss3310.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
Kevin Ritz328.000$2.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Vinny Castilla296.000$2.2M$5.0M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Kirt Manwaring3110.000$1.7M$2.1M$700kFREE AGENT
Frank Castillo286.000$716kFREE AGENT
Jeff Reed3413.000$650k$1.5M$719kFREE AGENT
John Vander Wal316.000$500k$457kFREE AGENT
Mike Munoz318.000$350k$585kFREE AGENT
Darnell Coles3514.000$200kFREE AGENT
Harvey Pulliam296.000$150kFREE AGENT
Tim Scott306.000$73kFREE AGENT
Rene Gonzales3613.000—FREE AGENT
Darren Holmes317.000—FREE AGENT
Bruce Ruffin3311.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Eric Young Sr.305.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Steve Reed325.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Pedro Astacio285.000$615kFREE AGENT
Jerry Dipoto294.000$550kARB 3FREE AGENT
Curt Leskanic294.000$517kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Thompson263.000$252kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Hutton274.000$41kARB 3FREE AGENT
Nate Minchey274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Roger Bailey262.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Quinton McCracken262.000$198kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Bates262.000$195kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff McCurry272.000$175kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jamey Wright221.000$170kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Burke271.000$152kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Helton230.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike DeJean260.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Neifi Perez241.000$150kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Thomson230.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Raabe292.000$80kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robbie Beckett24–—
Angel Echevarria261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Jones250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Rekar252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Rockies 1997; 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.