RRosternomics
𝕏

Dodgers LAD

‹ ›

GM: Al Campanis

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.19× league · TAB -10.9
-10.9TAB — talent above budget23rd/26
-11.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)22nd/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars12th/26
-7.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/26
30%dead money %14th/26
0.451win %22nd/26
25.5roster fWAR22nd/26
-6surplus $M (value vs cost)22nd/26
$13Mpayroll $M8th/26

Roster

CFJohn Shelby 121GMike Ramsey 38GReggie Williams 6G
LFPedro Guerrero 109GTito Landrum 21GDanny Heep 17G
RFMike Marshall 102GKen Landreaux 45GTito Landrum 31G
SSMariano Duncan 67GDave Anderson 65GGlenn Hoffman 56G
2BSteve Sax 152GMike Sharperson 38GPhil Garner 14G
3BPhil Garner 82GMickey Hatcher 49GTracy Woodson 45G
1BFranklin Stubbs 111GPedro Guerrero 40GMickey Hatcher 37G
STARTERSOrel Hershiser 6.1WARBob Welch 4.7WARFernando Valenzuela 2.3WARTim Belcher 0.9WARAlejandro Pena 0.8WAR
CMike Scioscia 138GAlex Trevino 45GOrlando Mercado 17G
BULLPEN★ Matt Young 11svBrian Holton 0hKen Howell 0hBrad Havens 0hRon Davis 0hTim Crews 0hBill Krueger 0hJack Savage 0h
CMike Scioscia 138 · Alex Trevino 45 · Orlando Mercado 17
1BFranklin Stubbs 111 · Pedro Guerrero 40 · Mickey Hatcher 37
2BSteve Sax 152 · Mike Sharperson 38 · Phil Garner 14
3BPhil Garner 82 · Mickey Hatcher 49 · Tracy Woodson 45
SSMariano Duncan 67 · Dave Anderson 65 · Glenn Hoffman 56
LFPedro Guerrero 109 · Tito Landrum 21 · Danny Heep 17
CFJohn Shelby 121 · Mike Ramsey 38 · Reggie Williams 6
RFMike Marshall 102 · Ken Landreaux 45 · Tito Landrum 31
SPOrel Hershiser 6.1 · Bob Welch 4.7 · Fernando Valenzuela 2.3 · Tim Belcher 0.9 · Alejandro Pena 0.8
BP★ Matt Young 11 · Brian Holton 0 · Ken Howell 0 · Brad Havens 0 · Ron Davis 0 · Tim Crews 0 · Bill Krueger 0 · Jack Savage 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.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Orel Hershiser 28 arb 406.1 0.8 +1.0
Pedro Guerrero 31 FA-elig 1525.0 1.5 -0.1
Bob Welch 30 FA-elig 384.7 0.8 +0.5
Mike Scioscia 28 FA-elig 1422.7 0.9 -0.1
John Shelby↔ BAL 29 FA-elig 1202.4 0.3 +0.4
Fernando Valenzuela 26 FA-elig 382.3 1.9 -1.2
Rick Honeycutt↔ OAK 33 FA-elig 272.0 0.6 -0.0
Matt Young 28 arb 471.1 0.3 -0.0
Tim Belcher 25 – 60.9 – –
Mike Marshall 27 FA-elig 1040.8 0.7 -0.4
Mickey Hatcher 32 FA-elig 1010.8 0.1 +0.2
Alejandro Pena 28 FA-elig 370.8 0.3 -0.1
Shawn Hillegas 22 pre-arb 120.6 0.1 +0.1
Steve Sax 27 FA-elig 1570.6 0.7 -0.6
Jose Gonzalez 22 – 190.4 – –
Tim Leary 28 FA-elig 390.3 0.2 -0.1
Tim Crews 26 pre-arb 200.3 0.1 +0.0
Mike Sharperson↔ TOR 25 – 100.3 – –
Ken Howell 26 – 400.2 – –
Ralph Bryant 26 – 460.2 – –
Orlando Mercado↔ DET 25 – 70.2 – –
Alex Trevino 29 FA-elig 720.0 0.4 -0.4
Jerry Reuss↔ ANA 38 FA-elig 10.0 0.0 -0.0
Jack Savage 23 – 30.0 – –
Bill Krueger↔ OAK 29 – 20.0 – –
Brad Wellman 27 arb 3-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Tom Niedenfuer↔ BAL 27 FA-elig 15-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Dave Anderson 26 arb 108-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Brad Havens 27 FA-elig 31-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Franklin Stubbs 26 arb 129-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Ron Davis↔ CHC 31 FA-elig 4-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Glenn Hoffman↔ BOS 28 FA-elig 40-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Brian Holton 27 pre-arb 53-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Jeff Hamilton 23 pre-arb 35-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Tito Landrum↔ STL 32 FA-elig 51-0.2 0.0 -0.1
Len Matuszek 32 FA-elig 16-0.2 0.3 -0.3
Bill Madlock↔ DET 36 FA-elig 21-0.3 0.2 -0.3
Phil Garner↔ HOU 38 FA-elig 70-0.3 0.3 -0.4
Ken Landreaux 32 FA-elig 115-0.4 0.7 -0.9
Reggie Williams 26 – 39-0.4 – –
Mariano Duncan 24 pre-arb 76-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Craig Shipley 24 pre-arb 26-0.5 0.1 -0.2
Chris Gwynn 22 – 17-0.5 – –
Mike Devereaux 24 – 19-0.5 – –
Mike Ramsey 26 – 48-0.7 – –
Danny Heep 29 FA-elig 60-0.8 0.3 -0.5
Tracy Woodson 24 pre-arb 53-1.0 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
John Shelby2.4
Matt Young1.1
Tim Belcher0.9
Mickey Hatcher0.8
Shawn Hillegas0.6
Tim Leary0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Greg Brock1.0
Dennis Powell0.2
Bill Russell0.2
Carlos Diaz0.1
Larry See0.0
Jack Fimple-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$12.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. 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 (23)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Fernando Valenzuela267.000$1.9M$2.0M$1.9M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Pedro Guerrero319.000$1.5M$985kFREE AGENT
Mike Scioscia287.000$875k$1.0M$1.1M$1.2M$2.2M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Bob Welch309.000$838kFREE AGENT
Ken Landreaux3210.000$738kFREE AGENT
Steve Sax276.000$737k$838kFREE AGENT
Mike Marshall276.000$670k$760k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt3310.000$639kFREE AGENT
Alex Trevino299.000$370kFREE AGENT
Danny Heep298.000$300k$300kFREE AGENT
Alejandro Pena286.000$280k$400k$875kFREE AGENT
Phil Garner3814.000$279kFREE AGENT
Len Matuszek326.000$265kFREE AGENT
John Shelby296.000$255k$465k$550k$379kFREE AGENT
Glenn Hoffman287.000$197kFREE AGENT
Tom Niedenfuer276.000$183kFREE AGENT
Tim Leary286.000$170k$190k$386kFREE AGENT
Bill Madlock3614.000$165kFREE AGENT
Brad Havens276.000$165k$140kFREE AGENT
Mickey Hatcher328.000$62k$300k$450k$450kFREE AGENT
Ron Davis319.000$46kFREE AGENT
Jerry Reuss3818.000$44kFREE AGENT
Tito Landrum327.000$39kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Orel Hershiser284.000$800kARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Young284.000$350kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Anderson264.000$225kARB 3FREE AGENT
Franklin Stubbs263.000$144kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Wellman275.000$100kFREE AGENT
Ken Howell263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Krueger294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Mariano Duncan242.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Hamilton231.000$65kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Holton272.000$65kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tracy Woodson240.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Crews260.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Hillegas220.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Shipley241.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Belcher250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ralph Bryant26–—
Mike Devereaux240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Gonzalez222.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Gwynn220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orlando Mercado25–—
Mike Ramsey26–—
Jack Savage23–—
Mike Sharperson250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reggie Williams262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Dodgers 1987; 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.