RRosternomics
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Brewers MIL

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GM: Harry Dalton

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.78× league · TAB -7.1
-7.1TAB — talent above budget21st/26
-1.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)14th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/26
-6.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/26
33%dead money %12th/26
0.478win %15th/26
23.9roster fWAR24th/26
-1surplus $M (value vs cost)12th/26
$9Mpayroll $M21st/26

Roster

CFRobin Yount 131GRick Manning 29GMike Felder 7G
LFGlenn Braggs 51GBen Oglivie 50GRick Manning 40G
RFRob Deer 131GRick Manning 18GPaul Householder 8G
SSErnest Riles 142GDale Sveum 13GEdgar Diaz 5G
2BJim Gantner 135GJuan Castillo 17GDale Sveum 13G
3BPaul Molitor 91GDale Sveum 65GJim Gantner 3G
1BCecil Cooper 90GBilly Jo Robidoux 43GBill Schroeder 19G
STARTERSTeddy Higuera 5.1WARTim Leary 2.5WARJuan Nieves 2.5WARBill Wegman 0.8WARPete Vuckovich 0.3WAR
CCharlie Moore 72GRick Cerone 68GBill Schroeder 35G
DHGorman Thomas 76GCecil Cooper 43GBen Oglivie 41G
BULLPEN★ Mark Clear 16svDan Plesac 0hBryan Clutterbuck 0hJohn Henry Johnson 0hJaime Cocanower 0hBob Gibson 0hChris Bosio 0hMike Birkbeck 0h
CCharlie Moore 72 · Rick Cerone 68 · Bill Schroeder 35
1BCecil Cooper 90 · Billy Jo Robidoux 43 · Bill Schroeder 19
2BJim Gantner 135 · Juan Castillo 17 · Dale Sveum 13
3BPaul Molitor 91 · Dale Sveum 65 · Jim Gantner 3
SSErnest Riles 142 · Dale Sveum 13 · Edgar Diaz 5
LFGlenn Braggs 51 · Ben Oglivie 50 · Rick Manning 40
CFRobin Yount 131 · Rick Manning 29 · Mike Felder 7
RFRob Deer 131 · Rick Manning 18 · Paul Householder 8
DHGorman Thomas 76 · Cecil Cooper 43 · Ben Oglivie 41
SPTeddy Higuera 5.1 · Tim Leary 2.5 · Juan Nieves 2.5 · Bill Wegman 0.8 · Pete Vuckovich 0.3
BP★ Mark Clear 16 · Dan Plesac 0 · Bryan Clutterbuck 0 · John Henry Johnson 0 · Jaime Cocanower 0 · Bob Gibson 0 · Chris Bosio 0 · Mike Birkbeck 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.

1986 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Teddy Higuera 28 pre-arb 345.1 0.2 +1.3
Tim Leary 27 arb 332.5 0.1 +0.7
Dan Plesac 24 pre-arb 512.5 0.1 +0.7
Juan Nieves 21 pre-arb 352.5 0.1 +0.7
Robin Yount 30 FA-elig 1402.4 0.9 -0.2
Paul Molitor 29 FA-elig 1052.1 1.2 -0.5
Danny Darwin↔ HOU 30 FA-elig 271.9 0.4 +0.1
Mark Clear 30 FA-elig 591.6 0.7 -0.2
Rob Deer 25 pre-arb 1341.5 0.1 +0.3
Rick Cerone 32 FA-elig 681.4 0.7 -0.3
Jim Gantner 33 FA-elig 1391.4 0.9 -0.5
John Henry Johnson 29 FA-elig 191.2 0.1 +0.3
Charlie Moore 33 FA-elig 801.2 0.4 -0.0
Bill Wegman 23 pre-arb 370.8 0.1 +0.2
Ernest Riles 25 pre-arb 1450.4 0.2 -0.0
Ben Oglivie 37 FA-elig 1030.4 0.8 -0.6
Mike Birkbeck 25 pre-arb 70.4 0.1 +0.1
Rick Manning 31 FA-elig 890.3 0.5 -0.4
Pete Vuckovich 33 – 60.3 – –
Mike Felder 24 – 440.3 – –
Bryan Clutterbuck 26 pre-arb 200.0 0.1 -0.0
Bill Schroeder 27 arb 64-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Jaime Cocanower 29 – 17-0.1 – –
Bob McClure↔ WSN 34 FA-elig 13-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Randy Ready↔ SDP 26 – 23-0.1 – –
Steve Kiefer 25 – 2-0.1 – –
Jim Adduci 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Cecil Cooper 36 FA-elig 134-0.2 0.6 -0.7
Chris Bosio 23 pre-arb 10-0.3 0.1 -0.1
Billy Jo Robidoux 22 – 56-0.3 – –
Edgar Diaz 22 – 5-0.3 – –
Mark Knudson↔ HOU 25 – 4-0.4 – –
Gorman Thomas↔ SEA 35 FA-elig 44-0.4 0.3 -0.4
Bob Gibson 29 – 11-0.5 – –
Juan Castillo 24 – 26-0.5 – –
Ray Searage↔ CHW 31 arb 17-0.6 0.0 -0.2
Paul Householder 27 – 26-0.7 – –
Dale Sveum 22 pre-arb 91-0.7 0.1 -0.3
Glenn Braggs 23 pre-arb 58-1.2 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1985)

PlayerfWAR
Dan Plesac2.5
Juan Nieves2.5
Mark Clear1.6
Rob Deer1.5
Rick Cerone1.4
John Henry Johnson1.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1985)

Player1985 fWAR
Moose Haas2.1
Ted Simmons1.0
Ray Burris0.8
Chuck Porter0.2
Rick Waits0.2
Pete Ladd0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1986 payroll
$8.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1986, 1986–1992. 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 (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Paul Molitor298.000$1.2M$1.3M$1.4M$2.1M$2.6M$3.2M$3.5M
Robin Yount3012.000$950k$1.1M$1.1M$1.1M$3.2M$3.2M$3.2M
Jim Gantner3310.000$888k$375k$938k$900k$700k$1.0M$1.1M
Ben Oglivie3715.000$767kFREE AGENT
Rick Cerone3211.000$675kFREE AGENT
Mark Clear307.000$672k$685k$535kFREE AGENT
Cecil Cooper3615.000$607k$493kFREE AGENT
Rick Manning3111.000$495k$560kFREE AGENT
Danny Darwin308.000$422kFREE AGENT
Charlie Moore3313.000$402kFREE AGENT
Gorman Thomas3513.000$261kFREE AGENT
Bob McClure3411.000$97kFREE AGENT
John Henry Johnson298.000$60kFREE AGENT
Paul Householder276.000—FREE AGENT
Pete Vuckovich3311.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (5)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Bill Schroeder273.000$155kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Leary275.000$90kFREE AGENT
Ray Searage315.000$45kFREE AGENT
Jim Adduci263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Ready263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Teddy Higuera281.000$195kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ernest Riles251.000$175kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Deer252.000$95kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Wegman231.000$70kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Nieves210.000$70kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Clutterbuck260.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Birkbeck250.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Bosio230.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Glenn Braggs230.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Plesac240.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dale Sveum220.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Castillo240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jaime Cocanower29–—
Edgar Diaz220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Felder241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Gibson29–—
Steve Kiefer252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Knudson251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Jo Robidoux22–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Brewers 1986; 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.