RRosternomics
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Twins MIN

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GM: Terry Ryan

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.51× league · TAB +4.5
+4.5TAB — talent above budget9th/28
+4.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/28
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars13th/28
-5.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag19th/28
14%dead money %5th/28
0.481win %18th/28
30.5roster fWAR17th/28
+9surplus $M (value vs cost)2nd/28
$17Mpayroll $M27th/28

Roster

CFRich Becker 121GRoberto Kelly 40GMatt Lawton III 18G
LFMarty Cordova 145GRich Becker 15GRoberto Kelly 6G
RFMatt Lawton III 60GRoberto Kelly 54GDenny Hocking 33G
SSPat Meares 150GJeff Reboulet 37GDenny Hocking 6G
2BChuck Knoblauch 151GJeff Reboulet 22GChip Hale 14G
3BJeff Reboulet 36GTodd Walker 20GRon Coomer 9G
1BScott Stahoviak 114GRon Coomer 57GPaul Molitor 17G
STARTERSBrad Radke 2.8WARFrankie Rodriguez 2.2WARRick Aguilera 1.5WARRich Robertson 1.1WARScott Aldred 0.9WAR
CGreg Myers 90GMatt Walbeck 61GMike Durant 37G
DHPaul Molitor 143GScott Stahoviak 9GDave Hollins 3G
BULLPEN★ Dave Stevens 11svEddie Guardado 0hGreg Hansell 0hDan Naulty 0hMike Trombley 0hErik Bennett 0hScott Klingenbeck 0hDan Serafini 0h
CGreg Myers 90 · Matt Walbeck 61 · Mike Durant 37
1BScott Stahoviak 114 · Ron Coomer 57 · Paul Molitor 17
2BChuck Knoblauch 151 · Jeff Reboulet 22 · Chip Hale 14
3BJeff Reboulet 36 · Todd Walker 20 · Ron Coomer 9
SSPat Meares 150 · Jeff Reboulet 37 · Denny Hocking 6
LFMarty Cordova 145 · Rich Becker 15 · Roberto Kelly 6
CFRich Becker 121 · Roberto Kelly 40 · Matt Lawton III 18
RFMatt Lawton III 60 · Roberto Kelly 54 · Denny Hocking 33
DHPaul Molitor 143 · Scott Stahoviak 9 · Dave Hollins 3
SPBrad Radke 2.8 · Frankie Rodriguez 2.2 · Rick Aguilera 1.5 · Rich Robertson 1.1 · Scott Aldred 0.9
BP★ Dave Stevens 11 · Eddie Guardado 0 · Greg Hansell 0 · Dan Naulty 0 · Mike Trombley 0 · Erik Bennett 0 · Scott Klingenbeck 0 · Dan Serafini 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.

1996 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Chuck Knoblauch 27 arb 1538.1 4.7 +2.2
Rich Becker 24 arb 1483.8 0.2 +3.0
Brad Radke 23 pre-arb 352.8 0.2 +2.2
Paul Molitor 39 FA-elig 1612.5 2.0 +0.1
Dave Hollins↔ SEA 30 FA-elig 1212.3 1.1 +0.8
Marty Cordova 26 pre-arb 1452.2 0.5 +1.4
Frankie Rodriguez 23 pre-arb 382.2 0.1 +1.7
Mike Trombley 29 arb 431.7 0.2 +1.3
Scott Stahoviak 26 arb 1301.5 0.1 +1.1
Rick Aguilera 34 FA-elig 191.5 3.5 -2.3
Greg Myers 30 FA-elig 971.2 0.5 +0.6
Roberto Kelly 31 FA-elig 981.2 0.6 +0.4
Rich Robertson 27 arb 361.1 0.1 +0.8
Scott Aldred↔ DET 28 FA-elig 250.9 0.1 +0.7
Ron Coomer 29 pre-arb 950.9 0.1 +0.7
Dan Naulty 26 pre-arb 490.7 0.1 +0.5
Pat Meares 27 arb 1520.6 0.3 +0.3
Matt Lawton III 24 pre-arb 790.5 0.1 +0.3
Eddie Guardado 25 arb 830.3 0.2 +0.1
Chip Hale 31 FA-elig 850.1 0.2 -0.1
Brent Brede 24 – 100.0 – –
Scott Klingenbeck 25 – 100.0 – –
LaTroy Hawkins 23 pre-arb 7-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Todd Walker 23 pre-arb 25-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Dan Serafini 22 – 1-0.1 – –
Travis Miller 23 pre-arb 7-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Tom Quinlan 28 FA-elig 4-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Jose Parra 23 pre-arb 27-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Brian Raabe 28 – 7-0.2 – –
Mike Durant 26 pre-arb 40-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Pat Mahomes↔ BOS 25 arb 20-0.3 0.1 -0.4
Mike Milchin↔ BAL 28 pre-arb 26-0.4 0.1 -0.4
Greg Hansell 25 pre-arb 50-0.4 0.1 -0.5
Dave Stevens 26 pre-arb 49-0.6 0.2 -0.7
Erik Bennett 27 pre-arb 24-0.7 0.1 -0.7
Matt Walbeck 26 arb 63-0.8 0.2 -0.9
Denny Hocking 26 arb 49-0.8 0.1 -0.8
Jeff Reboulet 32 arb 107-0.8 0.3 -1.0

Key additions (new vs 1995)

PlayerfWAR
Paul Molitor2.5
Dave Hollins2.3
Greg Myers1.2
Roberto Kelly1.2
Scott Aldred0.9
Dan Naulty0.7

Key subtractions (gone from 1995)

Player1995 fWAR
Kirby Puckett2.1
Kevin Tapani1.6
Jerald Clark1.0
Scott Erickson0.8
Mark Guthrie0.8
Greg Harris0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1996 payroll
$16.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1996, 1996–2002. 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 (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Rick Aguilera3411.000$3.5M$3.1M$2.8M$3.1MFREE AGENT
Paul Molitor3918.000$2.0M$3.5M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Dave Hollins306.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Roberto Kelly319.000$550k$536kFREE AGENT
Greg Myers309.000$475k$502kFREE AGENT
Chip Hale317.000$175kFREE AGENT
Tom Quinlan286.000$125kFREE AGENT
Scott Aldred286.000$104k$225kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Chuck Knoblauch275.000$4.7MFREE AGENT
Jeff Reboulet324.000$350kARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Meares273.000$275kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Walbeck263.000$225kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Trombley294.000$162kARB 3FREE AGENT
Eddie Guardado253.000$155kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Becker243.000$152kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Stahoviak263.000$140kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Robertson273.000$140kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Mahomes254.000$131kARB 3FREE AGENT
Denny Hocking263.000$118kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Marty Cordova261.000$500kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Radke231.000$175kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Stevens262.000$172kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Frankie Rodriguez231.000$138kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Parra231.000$125kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Coomer291.000$122kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
LaTroy Hawkins231.000$118kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Hansell251.000$118kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Lawton III241.000$115kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Travis Miller230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Erik Bennett271.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Durant260.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Walker230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Naulty260.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Milchin280.000$73kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Brede240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Klingenbeck252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Raabe281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Serafini220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Twins 1996; 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.