RRosternomics
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Athletics OAK

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GM: Sandy Alderson

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.16× league · TAB +0.8
+0.8TAB — talent above budget12th/26
-2.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)15th/26
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars21st/26
-3.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag8th/26
48%dead money %25th/26
0.500win %12th/26
36.9roster fWAR8th/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)17th/26
$13Mpayroll $M10th/26

Roster

CFDwayne Murphy 79GLuis Polonia 69GStan Javier 52G
LFJosé Canseco 130GLuis Polonia 35GStan Javier 8G
RFMike Davis 124GSteve Henderson 28GReggie Jackson 20G
SSAlfredo Griffin 137GMike Gallego 16GWalt Weiss 11G
2BTony Bernazard 137GTony Phillips 88GMike Gallego 31G
3BCarney Lansford 142GMike Gallego 24GTony Phillips 11G
1BMark McGwire 145GCarney Lansford 17GRon Cey 7G
STARTERSDave Stewart 4.8WARGene Nelson 1.8WARSteve Ontiveros 1.7WARCurt Young 1.5WAREric Plunk 1.1WAR
CTerry Steinbach 107GMickey Tettleton 80GMatt Sinatro 6G
DHReggie Jackson 63GJosé Canseco 29GRon Cey 25G
BULLPEN★ Dennis Eckersley 16svJay Howell 0hGreg Cadaret 0hGary Lavelle 0hRick Rodriguez 0hBill Caudill 0hDave Vonohlen 0hChris Codiroli 0h
CTerry Steinbach 107 · Mickey Tettleton 80 · Matt Sinatro 6
1BMark McGwire 145 · Carney Lansford 17 · Ron Cey 7
2BTony Bernazard 137 · Tony Phillips 88 · Mike Gallego 31
3BCarney Lansford 142 · Mike Gallego 24 · Tony Phillips 11
SSAlfredo Griffin 137 · Mike Gallego 16 · Walt Weiss 11
LFJosé Canseco 130 · Luis Polonia 35 · Stan Javier 8
CFDwayne Murphy 79 · Luis Polonia 69 · Stan Javier 52
RFMike Davis 124 · Steve Henderson 28 · Reggie Jackson 20
DHReggie Jackson 63 · José Canseco 29 · Ron Cey 25
SPDave Stewart 4.8 · Gene Nelson 1.8 · Steve Ontiveros 1.7 · Curt Young 1.5 · Eric Plunk 1.1
BP★ Dennis Eckersley 16 · Jay Howell 0 · Greg Cadaret 0 · Gary Lavelle 0 · Rick Rodriguez 0 · Bill Caudill 0 · Dave Vonohlen 0 · Chris Codiroli 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.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mark McGwire 23 pre-arb 1515.1 0.1 +1.4
Dave Stewart 30 FA-elig 374.8 0.6 +0.8
Carney Lansford 30 FA-elig 1514.7 1.3 +0.1
Dennis Eckersley 32 FA-elig 543.4 0.8 +0.2
Terry Steinbach 25 pre-arb 1223.2 0.1 +0.9
Jose Canseco 22 pre-arb 1591.9 0.2 +0.4
Tony Phillips 28 arb 1111.8 0.4 +0.1
Gene Nelson 26 FA-elig 541.8 0.4 +0.2
Steve Ontiveros 26 pre-arb 351.7 0.1 +0.3
Curt Young 27 arb 311.5 0.2 +0.3
Dwayne Murphy 32 FA-elig 821.4 0.8 -0.4
Mike Davis 28 FA-elig 1391.3 0.8 -0.4
Alfredo Griffin 29 FA-elig 1441.1 0.6 -0.3
Luis Polonia 23 pre-arb 1251.1 0.1 +0.2
Eric Plunk 23 pre-arb 321.1 0.1 +0.2
Jose Rijo 22 – 210.8 – –
Storm Davis↔ SDP 25 arb 50.7 0.1 +0.1
Walt Weiss 23 – 160.6 – –
Dennis Lamp 34 – 360.5 – –
Mike Gallego 26 – 720.5 – –
Dave Leiper↔ SDP 25 arb 450.3 0.1 +0.0
Gary Lavelle↔ TOR 38 FA-elig 60.2 0.0 +0.0
Moose Haas 31 FA-elig 90.1 0.6 -0.5
Tony Bernazard↔ CLE 30 FA-elig 610.1 0.3 -0.2
Mickey Tettleton 26 arb 820.1 0.1 -0.1
Rick Honeycutt↔ LAD 33 FA-elig 70.1 0.2 -0.1
Ron Cey 39 FA-elig 450.0 1.1 -1.0
Jay Howell 31 FA-elig 360.0 0.5 -0.5
Dave Vonohlen 28 – 4-0.0 – –
Dave Otto 22 – 3-0.0 – –
Chris Codiroli 29 – 3-0.0 – –
Jerry Willard 27 – 7-0.0 – –
Rick Rodriguez 26 – 15-0.0 – –
Steve Henderson 34 FA-elig 46-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Matt Sinatro 27 – 6-0.1 – –
Joaquin Andujar 34 FA-elig 13-0.1 1.4 -1.4
Alejandro Sanchez 28 – 2-0.1 – –
Bill Caudill 30 FA-elig 6-0.1 1.6 -1.7
Bill Krueger↔ LAD 29 – 9-0.1 – –
Brian Harper 27 FA-elig 11-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Rob Nelson↔ SDP 23 – 7-0.3 – –
Greg Cadaret 25 pre-arb 29-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Johnnie LeMaster 33 – 20-0.4 – –
Reggie Jackson 41 – 115-0.6 – –
Stan Javier 23 arb 81-0.7 0.1 -0.3

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Dennis Eckersley3.4
Gene Nelson1.8
Luis Polonia1.1
Storm Davis0.7
Walt Weiss0.6
Dennis Lamp0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Donnie Hill1.5
Bruce Bochte0.8
Bill Mooneyham0.7
Doug Bair0.4
Lenn Sakata0.3
Fernando Arroyo0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$12.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. 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 (21)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Bill Caudill308.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Joaquin Andujar3411.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Carney Lansford309.000$1.3M$1.3M$1.4M$1.3M$1.3M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Ron Cey3916.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Dennis Eckersley3212.000$833k$650k$1.1M$788k$3.0M$3.1M$3.8M
Mike Davis287.000$780kFREE AGENT
Dwayne Murphy329.000$759kFREE AGENT
Alfredo Griffin2911.000$608kFREE AGENT
Moose Haas3111.000$579kFREE AGENT
Dave Stewart309.000$550k$600k$1.2M$950k$3.2M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Jay Howell317.000$530kFREE AGENT
Gene Nelson266.000$365k$450k$615k$650k$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Tony Bernazard308.000$274kFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt3310.000$166k$855k$650k$750k$1.4M$1.4M$725k
Steve Henderson3410.000$75kFREE AGENT
Brian Harper278.000$70kFREE AGENT
Gary Lavelle3813.000$13kFREE AGENT
Reggie Jackson4120.000—FREE AGENT
Dennis Lamp3410.000—FREE AGENT
Johnnie LeMaster3312.000—FREE AGENT
Matt Sinatro276.000—$700kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Tony Phillips285.000$425kFREE AGENT
Curt Young274.000$172kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mickey Tettleton263.000$120kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Storm Davis255.000$116kFREE AGENT
Stan Javier233.000$75kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Leiper253.000$58kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Codiroli295.000—FREE AGENT
Bill Krueger294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Rijo223.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jerry Willard273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Jose Canseco222.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Ontiveros262.000$132kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Plunk231.000$78kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark McGwire231.000$72kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Cadaret250.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Polonia230.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Steinbach251.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Gallego262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Nelson231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Otto220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Rodriguez26–—
Alejandro Sanchez28–—
Dave Vonohlen28–—
Walt Weiss230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Athletics 1987; 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.