RRosternomics
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Rockies COL

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GM: Bob Gebhard

Overview

FORCED-SPEND → steady
expensive & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.19× league · TAB -6.9
-6.9TAB — talent above budget24th/30
-7.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)23rd/30
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars15th/30
-5.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag19th/30
27%dead money %15th/30
0.475win %17th/30
29.5roster fWAR17th/30
-16surplus $M (value vs cost)25th/30
$50Mpayroll $M13th/30

Roster

CFDarryl Hamilton 144GCurtis Goodwin 74GJeff Barry 8G
LFDante Bichette 134GEllis Burks 45GCurtis Goodwin 14G
RFLarry Walker 123GDante Bichette 29GCurtis Goodwin 7G
SSNeifi Perez 162GKurt Abbott 35GJason Bates 3G
2BMike Lansing 153GJason Bates 17GKurt Abbott 7G
3BVinny Castilla 162GKurt Abbott 4GJason Bates 3G
1BTodd Helton 146GAngel Echevarria 4G
STARTERSDarryl Kile 3.7WARBobby Jones 2.2WARJohn Thomson 2.1WARJamey Wright 1.6WARPedro Astacio 1.2WAR
CKirt Manwaring 108GJeff Reed 99GMark Strittmatter 3G
DHKurt Abbott 4GJohn Vander Wal 2GDante Bichette 1G
BULLPEN★ Jerry Dipoto 19svChuck McElroy 0hCurt Leskanic 0hDave Veres 0hMike DeJean 0hMike Munoz 0hDavid Wainhouse 0hJim Stoops 0h
CKirt Manwaring 108 · Jeff Reed 99 · Mark Strittmatter 3
1BTodd Helton 146 · Angel Echevarria 4
2BMike Lansing 153 · Jason Bates 17 · Kurt Abbott 7
3BVinny Castilla 162 · Kurt Abbott 4 · Jason Bates 3
SSNeifi Perez 162 · Kurt Abbott 35 · Jason Bates 3
LFDante Bichette 134 · Ellis Burks 45 · Curtis Goodwin 14
CFDarryl Hamilton 144 · Curtis Goodwin 74 · Jeff Barry 8
RFLarry Walker 123 · Dante Bichette 29 · Curtis Goodwin 7
DHKurt Abbott 4 · John Vander Wal 2 · Dante Bichette 1
SPDarryl Kile 3.7 · Bobby Jones 2.2 · John Thomson 2.1 · Jamey Wright 1.6 · Pedro Astacio 1.2
BP★ Jerry Dipoto 19 · Chuck McElroy 0 · Curt Leskanic 0 · Dave Veres 0 · Mike DeJean 0 · Mike Munoz 0 · David Wainhouse 0 · Jim Stoops 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.

1998 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Larry Walker 31 FA-elig 1305.0 6.0 -0.6
Vinny Castilla 30 FA-elig 1624.5 5.0 -0.2
Darryl Kile 29 FA-elig 393.7 5.5 -1.5
Todd Helton 24 pre-arb 1522.9 0.2 +2.9
Bobby Jones 26 pre-arb 352.2 0.2 +2.2
John Thomson 24 pre-arb 262.1 0.2 +2.1
Chuck McElroy 30 FA-elig 781.9 0.8 +1.2
Jamey Wright 23 pre-arb 341.6 0.2 +1.5
Jeff Reed 35 FA-elig 1131.6 1.5 +0.2
Dave Veres 31 arb 631.5 1.1 +0.6
Dante Bichette 34 FA-elig 1611.4 5.3 -3.8
Pedro Astacio 29 FA-elig 351.2 3.4 -2.0
Darryl Hamilton↔ SFG 33 FA-elig 511.2 0.9 +0.4
John Vander Wal↔ SDP 32 FA-elig 891.0 0.5 +0.6
Ellis Burks↔ SFG 33 FA-elig 1000.7 3.5 -2.7
Mike DeJean 27 pre-arb 590.6 0.2 +0.5
Jerry Dipoto 30 arb 680.6 1.8 -1.2
Mike Munoz 32 FA-elig 400.4 0.6 -0.1
Derrick Gibson 23 – 70.3 – –
Greg Colbrunn↔ ATL 28 FA-elig 620.2 0.5 -0.3
Kevin Ritz 33 FA-elig 20.1 3.5 -3.4
Mike Lansing 30 arb 1530.1 4.0 -3.8
Mark Brownson 23 – 20.1 – –
Curt Leskanic 30 arb 660.1 0.7 -0.6
Angel Echevarria 27 pre-arb 190.1 0.2 -0.1
Lariel Gonzalez 22 – 10.0 – –
Fred Rath Jr. 25 – 20.0 – –
Edgard Clemente 22 – 11-0.0 – –
David Wainhouse 30 – 10-0.1 – –
Terry Shumpert 31 FA-elig 23-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Mark Strittmatter 29 – 4-0.1 – –
Kurt Abbott↔ OAK 29 arb 42-0.1 0.5 -0.7
Jim Stoops 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Jeff Barry 28 – 15-0.2 – –
Derrick White↔ CHC 28 – 9-0.3 – –
Mike Saipe 24 – 2-0.3 – –
Kirt Manwaring 32 FA-elig 110-0.3 2.1 -2.5
Curtis Goodwin 25 arb 119-0.5 0.2 -0.8
Mark Thompson 27 arb 6-0.5 0.3 -0.9
Nelson Liriano 34 – 12-0.6 – –
Jason Bates 27 arb 53-0.8 0.3 -1.1
Neifi Perez 25 pre-arb 162-1.6 0.2 -1.9

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Darryl Kile3.7
Chuck McElroy1.9
Dave Veres1.5
Darryl Hamilton1.2
Derrick Gibson0.3
Greg Colbrunn0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Andres Galarraga3.1
Eric Young Sr.2.1
Walt Weiss1.7
Roger Bailey1.3
Darren Holmes0.8
Bill Swift0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$49.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1998, 1998–2004. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Larry Walker319.000$6.0M$5.4M$12.1M$12.2M$12.7M$12.7M$6.8M
Darryl Kile297.000$5.5M$8.4MFREE AGENT
Dante Bichette3410.000$5.3M$7.2MFREE AGENT
Vinny Castilla307.000$5.0M$6.0MFREE AGENT$2.1M
Kevin Ritz339.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
Ellis Burks3311.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
Pedro Astacio296.000$3.4M$6.2M$6.3M$5.8MFREE AGENT
Kirt Manwaring3211.000$2.1M$700kFREE AGENT
Jeff Reed3514.000$1.5M$719kFREE AGENT
Darryl Hamilton3310.000$948k$2.3MFREE AGENT
Chuck McElroy309.000$817k$769kFREE AGENT
Mike Munoz329.000$585kFREE AGENT
Greg Colbrunn286.000$506kFREE AGENT
John Vander Wal327.000$457kFREE AGENT
Terry Shumpert318.000$210k$220k$650k$725k$775kFREE AGENT
Nelson Liriano3411.000—FREE AGENT
David Wainhouse307.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Mike Lansing305.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Jerry Dipoto305.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Dave Veres314.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Curt Leskanic305.000$730kFREE AGENT
Kurt Abbott295.000$545kFREE AGENT
Jason Bates273.000$325kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Thompson274.000$300kARB 3FREE AGENT
Curtis Goodwin253.000$208kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Barry283.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derrick White285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Jamey Wright232.000$240kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike DeJean271.000$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Neifi Perez252.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Thomson241.000$210kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Helton241.000$190kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Angel Echevarria272.000$175kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Jones261.000$170kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Saipe24–—
Mark Brownson23–—
Mark Strittmatter29–—
Edgard Clemente220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derrick Gibson23–—
Lariel Gonzalez22–—
Jim Stoops26–—
Fred Rath Jr.25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Rockies 1998; 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.