RRosternomics
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Brewers MIL

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GM: Sal Bando

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 7 in this regime · payroll 0.9× league · TAB -7.8
-7.8TAB — talent above budget25th/30
-6.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)20th/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/30
-8.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/30
53%dead money %29th/30
0.460win %20th/30
25.0roster fWAR23rd/30
-10surplus $M (value vs cost)19th/30
$44Mpayroll $M18th/30

Roster

CFMarquis Grissom 149GAlex Ochoa 9G
LFGeoff Jenkins 128GAlex Ochoa 50GLou Collier 9G
RFJeromy Burnitz 127GAlex Ochoa 31GBrian Banks 1G
SSJose Valentin 85GMark Loretta 74GLou Collier 31G
2BRonnie Belliard 119GFernando Viña 37GMark Loretta 17G
3BJeff Cirillo 155GMark Loretta 14GLou Collier 7G
1BMark Loretta 66GSean Berry 64GBrian Banks 44G
STARTERSSteve Woodard 3.3WARHideo Nomo 2.4WARScott Karl 2.2WARKyle Peterson 1.5WARJason Bere 0.5WAR
CDave Nilsson 101GBobby Hughes 44GBrian Banks 40G
DHJeromy Burnitz 3GRich Becker 1GBobby Hughes 1G
BULLPEN★ Bob Wickman 37svEric Plunk 17hMike Myers 13hDavid Weathers 9hRocky Coppinger 9hHector Ramirez 5hSteve Falteisek 0hReggie Harris 0h
CDave Nilsson 101 · Bobby Hughes 44 · Brian Banks 40
1BMark Loretta 66 · Sean Berry 64 · Brian Banks 44
2BRonnie Belliard 119 · Fernando Viña 37 · Mark Loretta 17
3BJeff Cirillo 155 · Mark Loretta 14 · Lou Collier 7
SSJose Valentin 85 · Mark Loretta 74 · Lou Collier 31
LFGeoff Jenkins 128 · Alex Ochoa 50 · Lou Collier 9
CFMarquis Grissom 149 · Alex Ochoa 9
RFJeromy Burnitz 127 · Alex Ochoa 31 · Brian Banks 1
DHJeromy Burnitz 3 · Rich Becker 1 · Bobby Hughes 1
SPSteve Woodard 3.3 · Hideo Nomo 2.4 · Scott Karl 2.2 · Kyle Peterson 1.5 · Jason Bere 0.5
BP★ Bob Wickman 37 · Eric Plunk 17 · Mike Myers 13 · David Weathers 9 · Rocky Coppinger 9 · Hector Ramirez 5 · Steve Falteisek 0 · Reggie Harris 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.

1999 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jeff Cirillo 29 arb 1574.8 3.0 +3.1
Geoff Jenkins 24 pre-arb 1354.5 0.2 +5.5
Jeromy Burnitz 30 FA-elig 1303.7 3.6 +1.1
Steve Woodard 24 pre-arb 313.3 0.3 +3.8
Dave Nilsson 29 FA-elig 1152.9 5.7 -2.1
Ronnie Belliard 24 pre-arb 1242.5 0.2 +3.0
Hideo Nomo 30 arb 292.4 0.2 +2.7
Alex Ochoa 27 arb 1192.2 0.2 +2.5
Scott Karl 27 arb 332.2 2.9 -0.2
Kyle Peterson 23 pre-arb 171.5 0.2 +1.7
Rich Becker↔ OAK 27 FA-elig 890.9 0.3 +0.8
Bob Wickman 30 FA-elig 710.8 3.3 -2.3
Jason Bere↔ CIN 28 FA-elig 50.5 0.4 +0.3
Mark Loretta 27 arb 1530.3 1.5 -1.1
Lou Collier 25 pre-arb 740.2 0.2 +0.0
Fernando Viña 30 FA-elig 370.1 2.0 -1.8
David Weathers 29 FA-elig 630.1 0.4 -0.3
Hector Ramirez 27 pre-arb 150.1 0.2 -0.1
Rocky Coppinger↔ BAL 25 – 290.1 – –
Chad Fox 28 pre-arb 60.1 0.3 -0.2
Jeff D'Amico 23 arb 10.0 0.2 -0.2
Mike Myers 30 arb 710.0 0.8 -0.8
Marquis Grissom 32 FA-elig 1540.0 5.0 -5.0
Jose Valentin 29 FA-elig 890.0 3.0 -3.0
Reggie Harris 30 – 80.0 – –
Eddie Zosky 31 – 8-0.1 – –
Jim Pittsley↔ KCR 25 arb 15-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Al Reyes↔ BAL 29 – 26-0.1 – –
Lyle Mouton 30 – 14-0.1 – –
Valerio De Los Santos 26 pre-arb 7-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Steve Falteisek 27 – 11-0.2 – –
Charlie Greene 28 – 32-0.2 – –
Bobby Hughes 28 pre-arb 48-0.2 0.2 -0.5
Carl Dale 26 – 4-0.2 – –
Kevin Barker 23 pre-arb 38-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Horacio Estrada 23 – 4-0.3 – –
Jim Abbott 31 FA-elig 20-0.4 0.4 -0.9
Robinson Cancel 23 – 15-0.4 – –
Rafael Roque 27 pre-arb 43-0.4 0.2 -0.7
Cal Eldred 31 FA-elig 23-0.5 4.8 -5.4
Bill Pulsipher 25 arb 19-0.5 0.3 -0.9
Brian Banks 28 arb 105-0.9 0.2 -1.3
Eric Plunk 35 FA-elig 68-1.0 1.9 -3.1
Sean Berry 33 FA-elig 106-2.2 1.1 -3.8

Key additions (new vs 1998)

PlayerfWAR
Hideo Nomo2.4
Alex Ochoa2.2
Kyle Peterson1.5
Rich Becker0.9
Jason Bere0.5
Lou Collier0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1998)

Player1998 fWAR
Bronswell Patrick0.4
Jeff Juden0.4
Jesse Levis0.3
Darrin Jackson0.1
John Jaha0.1
Bobby Chouinard0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1999 payroll
$43.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1999, 1999–2005. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Dave Nilsson297.000$5.7MFREE AGENT
Marquis Grissom3210.000$5.0M$5.0MFREE AGENT
Cal Eldred318.000$4.8MFREE AGENT
Jeromy Burnitz306.000$3.6M$4.5M$5.5MFREE AGENT
Bob Wickman307.000$3.3M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Jose Valentin297.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Fernando Viña306.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Eric Plunk3513.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Sean Berry339.000$1.1M$2.3MFREE AGENT
David Weathers298.000$405k$650k$780kFREE AGENT
Jim Abbott3110.000$400kFREE AGENT
Jason Bere286.000$353k$516kFREE AGENT
Rich Becker276.000$328kFREE AGENT
Reggie Harris309.000—FREE AGENT
Eddie Zosky318.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Jeff Cirillo295.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Scott Karl274.000$2.9MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Loretta274.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Myers304.000$800kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Pulsipher254.000$258kARB 3FREE AGENT
Hideo Nomo304.000$250kARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Ochoa274.000$245kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff D'Amico233.000$242kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Banks283.000$203kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Pittsley254.000$191kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rocky Coppinger253.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lyle Mouton304.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Reyes294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Steve Woodard242.000$270kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Fox282.000$255kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Hughes281.000$217kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Geoff Jenkins241.000$216kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lou Collier252.000$215kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Roque271.000$212kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Valerio De Los Santos261.000$210kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Barker230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Peterson230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ronnie Belliard241.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Ramirez270.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Falteisek27–—
Charlie Greene28–—
Carl Dale26–—
Horacio Estrada230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robinson Cancel23–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Brewers 1999; 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.