RRosternomics
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Twins MIN

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GM: Andy MacPhail

Overview

FORCED-SPEND → steady
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.17× league · TAB -5.5
-5.5TAB — talent above budget21st/26
-4.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)17th/26
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars21st/26
-2.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag5th/26
30%dead money %15th/26
0.494win %16th/26
30.8roster fWAR17th/26
-5surplus $M (value vs cost)24th/26
$16Mpayroll $M8th/26

Roster

CFKirby Puckett 157GJohn Moses 26GDan Gladden 2G
LFDan Gladden 116GJohn Moses 39GRandy Bush 34G
RFRandy Bush 88GJohn Moses 63GCarmen Castillo 61G
SSGreg Gagne 146GAl Newman 31GDoug Baker 19G
2BWally Backman 84GAl Newman 84GDoug Baker 25G
3BGary Gaetti 125GAl Newman 37GTerry Jorgensen 9G
1BKent Hrbek 89GGene Larkin 67GRandy Bush 25G
STARTERSAllan Anderson 2.0WARRick Aguilera 1.8WARRoy Smith 0.9WARMike Dyer 0.9WARKevin Tapani 0.7WAR
CBrian Harper 101GTim Laudner 68GOrlando Mercado 19G
DHJim Dwyer 59GGene Larkin 39GKent Hrbek 17G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Reardon 31svGary Wayne 0hJuan Berenguer 0hGerman Gonzalez 0hGreg Booker 0hMike Cook 0hRandy St. Claire 0hSteve Shields 0h
CBrian Harper 101 · Tim Laudner 68 · Orlando Mercado 19
1BKent Hrbek 89 · Gene Larkin 67 · Randy Bush 25
2BWally Backman 84 · Al Newman 84 · Doug Baker 25
3BGary Gaetti 125 · Al Newman 37 · Terry Jorgensen 9
SSGreg Gagne 146 · Al Newman 31 · Doug Baker 19
LFDan Gladden 116 · John Moses 39 · Randy Bush 34
CFKirby Puckett 157 · John Moses 26 · Dan Gladden 2
RFRandy Bush 88 · John Moses 63 · Carmen Castillo 61
DHJim Dwyer 59 · Gene Larkin 39 · Kent Hrbek 17
SPAllan Anderson 2.0 · Rick Aguilera 1.8 · Roy Smith 0.9 · Mike Dyer 0.9 · Kevin Tapani 0.7
BP★ Jeff Reardon 31 · Gary Wayne 0 · Juan Berenguer 0 · German Gonzalez 0 · Greg Booker 0 · Mike Cook 0 · Randy St. Claire 0 · Steve Shields 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.

1989 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Kirby Puckett 29 arb 1594.7 2.0 -0.3
Kent Hrbek 29 FA-elig 1093.8 1.6 -0.2
Greg Gagne 27 FA-elig 1493.5 0.6 +0.7
Frank Viola↔ NYM 29 FA-elig 243.2 1.8 -0.7
Brian Harper 29 FA-elig 1262.8 0.1 +0.9
Allan Anderson 25 arb 342.0 0.2 +0.5
Rick Aguilera↔ NYM 27 arb 111.8 0.1 +0.6
Gary Gaetti 30 FA-elig 1301.6 2.4 -1.8
Al Newman 29 arb 1411.1 0.2 +0.2
Dan Gladden 31 FA-elig 1210.9 0.6 -0.3
Roy Smith 27 arb 320.9 0.1 +0.2
Mike Dyer 22 pre-arb 160.9 0.1 +0.2
Jim Dwyer↔ WSN 39 FA-elig 880.8 0.2 +0.1
Kevin Tapani↔ NYM 25 – 50.7 – –
Doug Baker 28 – 430.6 – –
Jeff Reardon 33 FA-elig 650.6 1.3 -1.1
Randy Bush 30 FA-elig 1410.5 0.6 -0.4
Gene Larkin 26 pre-arb 1360.5 0.1 +0.0
Juan Berenguer 34 FA-elig 560.3 0.6 -0.5
Mark Guthrie 23 pre-arb 130.3 0.1 +0.0
David West↔ NYM 24 pre-arb 100.2 0.0 +0.1
Terry Jorgensen 22 – 100.2 – –
Victor Rodríguez 27 – 60.2 – –
Tim Laudner 31 FA-elig 1000.1 0.7 -0.7
German Gonzalez 27 – 220.1 – –
Shane Rawley 33 FA-elig 270.1 0.9 -0.9
Freddie Toliver↔ SDP 28 – 70.1 – –
Tim Drummond 24 pre-arb 80.1 0.1 -0.0
Carmen Castillo 31 FA-elig 940.1 0.4 -0.4
Gary Wayne 26 pre-arb 600.1 0.1 -0.0
Greg Olson 28 – 30.0 – –
Lenny Webster 24 – 14-0.0 – –
Francisco Oliveras 26 – 12-0.0 – –
Greg Booker↔ SDP 29 – 6-0.0 – –
Lee Tunnell 28 – 10-0.0 – –
John Moses 31 FA-elig 129-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Paul Sorrento 23 – 14-0.1 – –
Mike Cook 25 – 15-0.1 – –
Steve Shields 30 arb 11-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Randy St. Claire 28 – 14-0.3 – –
Orlando Mercado 27 – 19-0.3 – –
Chip Hale 24 pre-arb 28-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Wally Backman 29 FA-elig 87-0.6 0.8 -1.0

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Rick Aguilera1.8
Mike Dyer0.9
Kevin Tapani0.7
Mark Guthrie0.3
David West0.2
Terry Jorgensen0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Bert Blyleven3.2
Tom Herr1.1
Les Straker0.5
Mark Davidson0.2
Charlie Lea0.2
Eric Bullock0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$16.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1989, 1989–1995. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Gary Gaetti308.000$2.4M$500kFREE AGENT
Frank Viola297.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Kent Hrbek298.000$1.6M$2.1M$2.6M$3.1M$3.1M$3.1MFREE AGENT
Jeff Reardon3310.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Shane Rawley3311.000$950kFREE AGENT
Wally Backman299.000$750kFREE AGENT
Tim Laudner318.000$700kFREE AGENT
Juan Berenguer3411.000$625k$750kFREE AGENT
Dan Gladden316.000$610k$700k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Greg Gagne276.000$570k$833k$1.7M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Randy Bush307.000$550k$350k$500k$450k$250kFREE AGENT
Carmen Castillo317.000$432k$550k$600kFREE AGENT
John Moses317.000$180k$395kFREE AGENT
Jim Dwyer3916.000$174k$240kFREE AGENT
Brian Harper2910.000$148k$500k$625k$2.5M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Greg Booker296.000—FREE AGENT
Lee Tunnell287.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Kirby Puckett295.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Allan Anderson253.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Newman294.000$180kARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Shields304.000$125kARB 3FREE AGENT
Roy Smith275.000$100kFREE AGENT
Rick Aguilera274.000$73kARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Baker285.000—FREE AGENT
Randy St. Claire285.000—FREE AGENT
Freddie Toliver285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Gene Larkin262.000$145kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Dyer220.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Drummond242.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chip Hale240.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Guthrie230.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Wayne260.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David West241.000$32kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Cook25–—
German Gonzalez271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Jorgensen220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orlando Mercado27–—
Francisco Oliveras260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Olson280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Victor Rodríguez27–—
Paul Sorrento230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Tapani250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lenny Webster240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Twins 1989; 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.