RRosternomics
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Dodgers LAD

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GM: Tommy Lasorda

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.4× league · TAB -8.8
-8.8TAB — talent above budget25th/30
-3.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)20th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars11th/30
-5.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag18th/30
28%dead money %17th/30
0.512win %13th/30
29.7roster fWAR16th/30
-26surplus $M (value vs cost)29th/30
$58Mpayroll $M4th/30

Roster

CFRaúl Mondesi 94GTrenidad Hubbard 46GRoger Cedeno 29G
LFMatt Luke 50GTodd Hollandsworth 48GRoger Cedeno 45G
RFGary Sheffield 126GRaúl Mondesi 54GMatt Luke 14G
SSMark Grudzielanek 156GJose Vizcaino 66GJuan Castro 47G
2BEric Young Sr. 113GJuan Castro 38GAlex Cora 4G
3BBobby Bonilla 85GAdrian Beltré 74GJuan Castro 12G
1BEric Karros 136GJim Eisenreich 19GMatt Luke 18G
STARTERSDarren Dreifort 4.5WARChan Ho Park 4.0WARIsmael Valdez 2.4WARRamon Martinez 2.0WARBrian Bohanon 1.6WAR
CCharles Johnson 131GTom Prince 32GAngel Pena 4G
DHPaul Konerko 3GJim Eisenreich 2GEric Karros 2G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Shaw 48svScott Radinsky 0hAntonio Osuna 0hMark Guthrie 0hFrank Lankford 0hSean Maloney 0hDarren Hall 0hEric Weaver 0h
CCharles Johnson 131 · Tom Prince 32 · Angel Pena 4
1BEric Karros 136 · Jim Eisenreich 19 · Matt Luke 18
2BEric Young Sr. 113 · Juan Castro 38 · Alex Cora 4
3BBobby Bonilla 85 · Adrian Beltré 74 · Juan Castro 12
SSMark Grudzielanek 156 · Jose Vizcaino 66 · Juan Castro 47
LFMatt Luke 50 · Todd Hollandsworth 48 · Roger Cedeno 45
CFRaúl Mondesi 94 · Trenidad Hubbard 46 · Roger Cedeno 29
RFGary Sheffield 126 · Raúl Mondesi 54 · Matt Luke 14
DHPaul Konerko 3 · Jim Eisenreich 2 · Eric Karros 2
SPDarren Dreifort 4.5 · Chan Ho Park 4.0 · Ismael Valdez 2.4 · Ramon Martinez 2.0 · Brian Bohanon 1.6
BP★ Jeff Shaw 48 · Scott Radinsky 0 · Antonio Osuna 0 · Mark Guthrie 0 · Frank Lankford 0 · Sean Maloney 0 · Darren Hall 0 · Eric Weaver 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
Darren Dreifort 26 arb 334.5 0.7 +4.2
Chan Ho Park 25 arb 344.0 0.7 +3.7
Gary Sheffield↔ MIA 29 FA-elig 903.6 10.3 -6.4
Ismael Valdez 24 arb 272.4 2.8 -0.2
Eric Karros 30 FA-elig 1392.3 4.5 -2.0
Raul Mondesi 27 arb 1482.2 5.5 -3.1
Eric Young Sr. 31 FA-elig 1172.1 4.5 -2.2
Ramon Martinez 30 FA-elig 152.0 4.8 -2.6
Brian Bohanon↔ NYM 29 FA-elig 141.6 0.1 +1.6
Matt Luke↔ CLE 27 pre-arb 1021.3 0.2 +1.2
Charles Johnson↔ MIA 26 arb 1021.1 2.5 -1.3
Dave Mlicki↔ NYM 30 FA-elig 201.0 0.8 +0.3
Trenidad Hubbard 34 arb 941.0 0.2 +0.9
Mike Piazza↔ MIA 29 FA-elig 370.9 2.0 -1.0
Hideo Nomo↔ NYM 29 arb 120.6 1.2 -0.5
Carlos Perez↔ WSN 27 arb 110.6 0.5 +0.1
Scott Radinsky 30 FA-elig 620.6 0.9 -0.3
Mark Guthrie 32 FA-elig 530.5 1.6 -1.1
Dennys Reyes↔ CIN 21 pre-arb 110.4 0.1 +0.3
Todd Zeile↔ MIA 32 FA-elig 400.4 0.8 -0.4
Jim Bruske↔ NYY 33 arb 350.3 0.2 +0.2
Antonio Osuna 25 arb 540.3 0.5 -0.1
Jose Vizcaino 30 FA-elig 670.3 3.0 -2.7
Mike Devereaux 35 FA-elig 90.2 0.2 -0.1
Adrian Beltré 19 pre-arb 770.2 0.2 +0.0
Greg McMichael↔ NYM 31 arb 120.1 0.4 -0.2
Jeff Kubenka 23 – 60.1 – –
Tom Prince 33 FA-elig 370.1 0.3 -0.2
Paul Lo Duca 26 – 60.1 – –
Angel Pena 23 – 60.0 – –
Tripp Cromer III 30 arb 60.0 0.2 -0.2
Mike Metcalfe 25 – 40.0 – –
Roger Cedeno 23 arb 1050.0 0.3 -0.3
Jeff Shaw↔ CIN 31 FA-elig 34-0.0 0.3 -0.3
Will Brunson↔ DET 28 – 2-0.0 – –
Manuel Barrios↔ MIA 23 – 1-0.0 – –
Gary Rath 25 – 3-0.0 – –
Wilton Guerrero↔ WSN 23 pre-arb 64-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Eric Weaver 24 – 7-0.1 – –
Sean Maloney 27 pre-arb 11-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Paul Konerko↔ CIN 22 pre-arb 49-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Damon Hollins↔ ATL 24 – 5-0.1 – –
Darren Hall 33 arb 11-0.1 0.7 -0.8
Todd Hollandsworth 25 arb 55-0.1 0.7 -0.8
Frank Lankford 27 pre-arb 12-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Alex Cora 22 – 29-0.2 – –
Brad Clontz↔ NYM 27 – 18-0.3 – –
Mike Judd 23 pre-arb 7-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Thomas Howard 33 FA-elig 47-0.4 0.4 -0.8
Mark Grudzielanek↔ WSN 28 arb 51-0.6 0.1 -0.7
Jim Eisenreich↔ MIA 39 FA-elig 75-0.8 1.0 -1.9
Juan Castro 26 arb 89-0.9 0.2 -1.2
Bobby Bonilla↔ MIA 35 FA-elig 72-0.9 4.2 -5.2

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Gary Sheffield3.6
Brian Bohanon1.6
Matt Luke1.3
Charles Johnson1.1
Dave Mlicki1.0
Trenidad Hubbard1.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Pedro Astacio2.3
Darren Lewis0.3
Garey Ingram0.2
Greg Gagne0.2
Eric Anthony0.1
Henry Blanco0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$58.5M

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
Gary Sheffield2910.000$10.3M$10.0M$9.9M$9.9MFREE AGENT
Ramon Martinez3010.000$4.8MFREE AGENT
Eric Karros307.000$4.5M$5.5M$5.4M$7.5M$6.9MFREE AGENT
Eric Young Sr.316.000$4.5M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Bobby Bonilla3512.000$4.2MFREE AGENT
Jose Vizcaino309.000$3.0M$3.0M$2.3MFREE AGENT
Mike Piazza296.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Mark Guthrie329.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Jim Eisenreich3916.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Scott Radinsky308.000$900kFREE AGENT
Dave Mlicki306.000$833k$2.1MFREE AGENT
Todd Zeile329.000$810kFREE AGENT
Thomas Howard338.000$425kFREE AGENT
Tom Prince3311.000$350kFREE AGENT
Jeff Shaw318.000$303k$3.4M$5.4M$6.4MFREE AGENT
Mike Devereaux3511.000$250kFREE AGENT
Brian Bohanon298.000$126kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Raul Mondesi275.000$5.5MFREE AGENT
Ismael Valdez244.000$2.8MARB 3FREE AGENT
Charles Johnson264.000$2.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Hideo Nomo293.000$1.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Hollandsworth253.000$700kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chan Ho Park254.000$700kARB 3FREE AGENT
Darren Dreifort264.000$685kARB 3FREE AGENT
Darren Hall334.000$650kARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Perez273.000$485kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Antonio Osuna253.000$450kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg McMichael315.000$356kFREE AGENT
Roger Cedeno233.000$280kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Trenidad Hubbard344.000$250kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tripp Cromer III305.000$245kFREE AGENT
Juan Castro263.000$240kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Bruske333.000$167kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Grudzielanek283.000$114kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Clontz273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Mike Judd231.000$170kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Frank Lankford270.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adrian Beltré190.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Maloney271.000$170kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Luke272.000$167kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wilton Guerrero232.000$146kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Konerko221.000$111kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dennys Reyes211.000$98kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Manuel Barrios23–—
Damon Hollins240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Rath25–—
Alex Cora220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Will Brunson28–—
Paul Lo Duca260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Weaver240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Kubenka23–—
Angel Pena230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Metcalfe25–—

Graphs

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