RRosternomics
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Brewers MIL

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GM: Harry Dalton

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.16× league · TAB -8.4
-8.4TAB — talent above budget22nd/26
-9.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)22nd/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/26
-3.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag4th/26
19%dead money %3rd/26
0.457win %22nd/26
27.6roster fWAR19th/26
-7surplus $M (value vs cost)22nd/26
$20Mpayroll $M9th/26

Roster

CFRobin Yount 157GMike Felder 15GDarryl Hamilton 6G
LFGreg Vaughn 106GMike Felder 62GDarryl Hamilton 41G
RFRob Deer 117GMike Felder 44GDarryl Hamilton 25G
SSBill Spiers 111GEdgar Diaz 65GDale Sveum 5G
2BJim Gantner 80GPaul Molitor 60GDale Sveum 16G
3BGary Sheffield 125GDale Sveum 22GGus Polidor 14G
1BGreg Brock 115GPaul Molitor 37GRob Deer 21G
STARTERSTeddy Higuera 3.0WARRon Robinson 2.8WARJaime Navarro 2.1WARMark Knudson 1.8WARChris Bosio 1.4WAR
CB.J. Surhoff 125GTim McIntosh 4G
DHDave Parker 153GPaul Molitor 4GGreg Vaughn 3G
BULLPEN★ Dan Plesac 24svChuck Crim 0hPaul Mirabella 0hJulio Machado 0hTony Fossas 0hRandy Veres 0hMark Lee 0hBob Sebra 0h
CB.J. Surhoff 125 · Tim McIntosh 4
1BGreg Brock 115 · Paul Molitor 37 · Rob Deer 21
2BJim Gantner 80 · Paul Molitor 60 · Dale Sveum 16
3BGary Sheffield 125 · Dale Sveum 22 · Gus Polidor 14
SSBill Spiers 111 · Edgar Diaz 65 · Dale Sveum 5
LFGreg Vaughn 106 · Mike Felder 62 · Darryl Hamilton 41
CFRobin Yount 157 · Mike Felder 15 · Darryl Hamilton 6
RFRob Deer 117 · Mike Felder 44 · Darryl Hamilton 25
DHDave Parker 153 · Paul Molitor 4 · Greg Vaughn 3
SPTeddy Higuera 3.0 · Ron Robinson 2.8 · Jaime Navarro 2.1 · Mark Knudson 1.8 · Chris Bosio 1.4
BP★ Dan Plesac 24 · Chuck Crim 0 · Paul Mirabella 0 · Julio Machado 0 · Tony Fossas 0 · Randy Veres 0 · Mark Lee 0 · Bob Sebra 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Teddy Higuera 32 arb 273.0 2.1 -0.8
Gary Sheffield 21 pre-arb 1252.9 0.1 +1.2
Paul Molitor 33 FA-elig 1032.8 2.6 -1.3
Ron Robinson↔ CIN 28 FA-elig 222.8 0.4 +0.9
Jaime Navarro 23 pre-arb 322.1 0.1 +0.8
Robin Yount 34 FA-elig 1582.0 3.2 -2.3
B.J. Surhoff 25 arb 1351.9 0.6 +0.3
Mark Knudson 29 arb 301.8 0.1 +0.6
Chris Bosio 27 arb 201.4 0.7 -0.1
Dave Parker 39 FA-elig 1571.2 1.2 -0.6
Rob Deer 29 FA-elig 1341.2 0.9 -0.4
Glenn Braggs↔ CIN 27 arb 370.9 0.2 +0.2
Dan Plesac 28 arb 660.9 1.5 -1.1
Dennis Powell↔ SEA 26 arb 90.8 0.1 +0.3
Bill Krueger 32 FA-elig 300.8 0.3 +0.0
Jim Gantner 37 FA-elig 880.8 0.7 -0.4
Mike Felder 28 arb 1210.6 0.3 +0.0
Greg Brock 33 FA-elig 1230.6 0.8 -0.5
Darryl Hamilton 25 pre-arb 890.4 0.1 +0.1
Chuck Crim 28 arb 670.3 0.6 -0.4
Bill Spiers 24 pre-arb 1120.3 0.1 +0.0
Mark Lee 25 pre-arb 110.3 0.1 +0.0
Kevin Brown↔ NYM 24 pre-arb 50.3 0.1 +0.1
Julio Machado↔ NYM 24 pre-arb 100.2 0.0 +0.1
Tom Filer 33 FA-elig 70.1 0.3 -0.2
Greg Vaughn 24 pre-arb 1200.1 0.1 -0.1
Don August 26 pre-arb 50.0 0.2 -0.2
Tom Edens 29 arb 350.0 0.1 -0.1
Bill Wegman 27 arb 80.0 0.6 -0.5
Narciso Elvira 22 pre-arb 40.0 0.1 -0.1
Tim McIntosh 25 pre-arb 5-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Mike Capel 28 – 2-0.0 – –
Gus Polidor 28 arb 18-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Billy Bates↔ CIN 26 pre-arb 14-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Bob Sebra 28 – 10-0.1 – –
Terry Francona 31 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Tony Fossas 32 pre-arb 32-0.1 0.1 -0.2
George Canale 24 pre-arb 10-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Charlie O'Brien↔ NYM 30 arb 46-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Edgar Diaz 26 arb 86-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Randy Veres 24 pre-arb 26-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Paul Mirabella 36 FA-elig 44-0.7 0.2 -0.5
Dale Sveum 26 arb 48-0.9 0.2 -0.6

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Ron Robinson2.8
Dave Parker1.2
Dennis Powell0.8
Darryl Hamilton0.4
Mark Lee0.3
Kevin Brown0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Mike Birkbeck0.3
Ray Krawczyk0.1
Jeff Peterek0.1
Bryan Clutterbuck0.0
Dave Engle-0.0
LaVel Freeman-0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$19.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Robin Yount3416.000$3.2M$3.2M$3.2M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Paul Molitor3312.000$2.6M$3.2M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Dave Parker3917.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Rob Deer296.000$885kFREE AGENT
Greg Brock338.000$788k$938kFREE AGENT
Jim Gantner3714.000$700k$1.0M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Ron Robinson286.000$393kFREE AGENT$1.1M
Bill Krueger327.000$325kFREE AGENT
Tom Filer338.000$255kFREE AGENT
Paul Mirabella3612.000$230kFREE AGENT
Terry Francona319.000$150kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Teddy Higuera325.000$2.1MFREE AGENT
Dan Plesac284.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Bosio274.000$710kARB 3FREE AGENT
Chuck Crim283.000$600kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
B.J. Surhoff253.000$575kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Wegman275.000$550kFREE AGENT
Mike Felder285.000$260kFREE AGENT
Dale Sveum264.000$230kARB 3FREE AGENT
Glenn Braggs274.000$195kARB 3FREE AGENT
Gus Polidor285.000$185kFREE AGENT
Mark Knudson295.000$150kFREE AGENT
Dennis Powell265.000$102kFREE AGENT
Edgar Diaz264.000$100kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Edens293.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Charlie O'Brien305.000$93kFREE AGENT
Bob Sebra285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Don August262.000$170kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Spiers241.000$135kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jaime Navarro231.000$120kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Sheffield212.000$115kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Fossas322.000$105kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
George Canale241.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim McIntosh250.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Narciso Elvira220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Vaughn241.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Veres241.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Lee252.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darryl Hamilton252.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Brown240.000$71kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Bates261.000$64kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Julio Machado241.000$27kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Capel282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Brewers 1990; 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.