RRosternomics
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Twins MIN

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GM: Andy MacPhail

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.12× league · TAB +6.5
+6.5TAB — talent above budget7th/26
+7.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars11th/26
-5.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag18th/26
20%dead money %5th/26
0.562win %4th/26
42.2roster fWAR4th/26
+0surplus $M (value vs cost)14th/26
$13Mpayroll $M9th/26

Roster

CFKirby Puckett 158GJohn Moses 21GMark Davidson 4G
LFDan Gladden 140GJohn Moses 28GMark Davidson 4G
RFRandy Bush 108GMark Davidson 84GJohn Moses 43G
SSGreg Gagne 146GAl Newman 28GSteve Lombardozzi Sr. 11G
2BSteve Lombardozzi Sr. 90GTom Herr 88GAl Newman 23G
3BGary Gaetti 115GAl Newman 60GSteve Lombardozzi Sr. 5G
1BKent Hrbek 105GGene Larkin 60GRandy Bush 6G
STARTERSFrank Viola 6.3WARAllan Anderson 3.5WARBert Blyleven 3.2WARFreddie Toliver 1.5WARLes Straker 0.5WAR
CTim Laudner 109GBrian Harper 48GTom Nieto 24G
DHGene Larkin 85GKent Hrbek 34GJim Dwyer 24G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Reardon 42svJuan Berenguer 0hKeith Atherton 0hMark Portugal 0hDan Schatzeder 0hGerman Gonzalez 0hKarl Best 0hRoy Smith 0h
CTim Laudner 109 · Brian Harper 48 · Tom Nieto 24
1BKent Hrbek 105 · Gene Larkin 60 · Randy Bush 6
2BSteve Lombardozzi Sr. 90 · Tom Herr 88 · Al Newman 23
3BGary Gaetti 115 · Al Newman 60 · Steve Lombardozzi Sr. 5
SSGreg Gagne 146 · Al Newman 28 · Steve Lombardozzi Sr. 11
LFDan Gladden 140 · John Moses 28 · Mark Davidson 4
CFKirby Puckett 158 · John Moses 21 · Mark Davidson 4
RFRandy Bush 108 · Mark Davidson 84 · John Moses 43
DHGene Larkin 85 · Kent Hrbek 34 · Jim Dwyer 24
SPFrank Viola 6.3 · Allan Anderson 3.5 · Bert Blyleven 3.2 · Freddie Toliver 1.5 · Les Straker 0.5
BP★ Jeff Reardon 42 · Juan Berenguer 0 · Keith Atherton 0 · Mark Portugal 0 · Dan Schatzeder 0 · German Gonzalez 0 · Karl Best 0 · Roy Smith 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.

1988 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Kirby Puckett 28 arb 1587.1 1.1 +1.1
Frank Viola 28 FA-elig 356.3 1.4 +0.6
Gary Gaetti 29 FA-elig 1334.3 1.7 -0.3
Kent Hrbek 28 FA-elig 1434.3 1.4 -0.1
Allan Anderson 24 pre-arb 303.5 0.1 +1.0
Bert Blyleven 37 FA-elig 333.2 1.0 +0.0
Dan Gladden 30 arb 1412.9 0.4 +0.5
Greg Gagne 26 arb 1491.8 0.4 +0.1
Jeff Reardon 32 FA-elig 631.6 0.8 -0.4
Freddie Toliver 27 arb 211.5 0.1 +0.4
Tim Laudner 30 FA-elig 1171.5 0.3 +0.2
John Moses 30 FA-elig 1051.5 0.1 +0.4
Randy Bush 29 FA-elig 1361.4 0.3 +0.1
Brian Harper 28 FA-elig 601.4 0.1 +0.3
Gene Larkin 25 pre-arb 1491.3 0.1 +0.3
Tom Herr↔ STL 32 FA-elig 861.1 0.7 -0.4
Juan Berenguer 33 FA-elig 570.8 0.5 -0.2
Les Straker 28 pre-arb 160.5 0.1 +0.1
Jim Dwyer↔ BAL 38 FA-elig 200.4 0.1 +0.0
Roy Smith 26 arb 90.2 0.1 +0.0
Mark Davidson 27 pre-arb 1000.2 0.1 -0.0
Charlie Lea 31 FA-elig 240.2 0.1 +0.0
Eric Bullock 28 – 160.2 – –
John Christensen 27 arb 230.1 0.1 -0.0
Karl Best 29 – 11-0.0 – –
Dan Schatzeder↔ CLE 33 FA-elig 10-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Kelvin Torve 28 – 12-0.1 – –
Tippy Martinez 38 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.1 -0.1
German Gonzalez 26 pre-arb 16-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Steve Lombardozzi Sr. 28 arb 103-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Doug Baker 27 – 11-0.1 – –
Dwight Lowry 30 arb 7-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Mike Mason 29 – 5-0.2 – –
Joe Niekro 43 FA-elig 5-0.2 0.8 -0.9
Keith Atherton 29 arb 49-0.2 0.3 -0.4
Jim Winn 28 arb 9-0.3 0.2 -0.3
Steve Carlton 43 FA-elig 4-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Mark Portugal 25 arb 26-0.7 0.1 -0.3
Tom Brunansky↔ STL 27 FA-elig 14-0.7 0.1 -0.3
Al Newman 28 arb 105-0.9 0.1 -0.4
Tom Nieto 27 arb 24-0.9 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1987)

PlayerfWAR
Freddie Toliver1.5
John Moses1.5
Brian Harper1.4
Tom Herr1.1
Jim Dwyer0.4
Charlie Lea0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Mike Smithson0.5
Mark Salas0.2
Roy Smalley III0.2
Jeff Bittiger0.1
Don Baylor-0.0
Chris Pittaro-0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$13.3M

What the front office was committed to as of 1988, 1988–1994. 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 (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Gary Gaetti297.000$1.7M$2.4M$500kFREE AGENT
Kent Hrbek287.000$1.4M$1.6M$2.1M$2.6M$3.1M$3.1M$3.1M
Frank Viola286.000$1.4M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Bert Blyleven3718.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Jeff Reardon329.000$850k$1.3MFREE AGENT
Joe Niekro4321.000$800kFREE AGENT
Tom Herr329.000$745kFREE AGENT
Juan Berenguer3310.000$500k$625k$750kFREE AGENT
Randy Bush296.000$350k$550k$350k$500k$450k$250kFREE AGENT
Tim Laudner307.000$295k$700kFREE AGENT
Dan Schatzeder3311.000$130kFREE AGENT
Steve Carlton4323.000$115kFREE AGENT
Jim Dwyer3815.000$109k$174k$240kFREE AGENT
Tom Brunansky277.000$102kFREE AGENT
John Moses306.000$100k$180k$395kFREE AGENT
Tippy Martinez3814.000$90kFREE AGENT
Brian Harper289.000$90k$148k$500k$625k$2.5M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Charlie Lea318.000$62kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Kirby Puckett284.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Gagne265.000$440kFREE AGENT
Dan Gladden305.000$360kFREE AGENT
Keith Atherton295.000$345kFREE AGENT
Jim Winn285.000$165kFREE AGENT
Steve Lombardozzi Sr.283.000$152kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Nieto274.000$104kARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Newman283.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Christensen274.000$70kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Portugal253.000$69kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dwight Lowry304.000$68kARB 3FREE AGENT
Roy Smith264.000$65kARB 3FREE AGENT
Freddie Toliver274.000$65kARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Baker274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Karl Best295.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Les Straker281.000$93kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Davidson272.000$89kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gene Larkin251.000$83kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Allan Anderson242.000$70kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
German Gonzalez260.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Bullock28–—
Mike Mason29–—
Kelvin Torve28–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Twins 1988; 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.