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 1.27× league · TAB +6.6
+6.6TAB — talent above budget5th/26
+13.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)2nd/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/26
-1.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag3rd/26
16%dead money %3rd/26
0.611win %1st/26
43.9roster fWAR4th/26
-1surplus $M (value vs cost)13th/26
$17Mpayroll $M4th/26

1989: World Series champions · 99–63. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFDave Henderson 149GStan Javier 28G
LFRickey Henderson 147GStan Javier 23GTony Phillips 12G
RFStan Javier 72GJosé Canseco 56GLance Blankenship 21G
SSMike Gallego 94GWalt Weiss 84GTony Phillips 17G
2BTony Phillips 84GGlenn Hubbard 48GMike Gallego 41G
3BCarney Lansford 136GTony Phillips 49GMike Gallego 3G
1BMark McGwire 141GCarney Lansford 15GTerry Steinbach 10G
STARTERSMike Moore 4.4WARDave Stewart 3.2WARBob Welch 3.0WARStorm Davis 0.5WARCurt Young 0.4WAR
CTerry Steinbach 102GRon Hassey 78GBilly Beane 1G
DHDave Parker 136GJosé Canseco 5GTerry Steinbach 4G
BULLPEN★ Dennis Eckersley 33svRick Honeycutt 0hTodd Burns 0hGene Nelson 0hMatt Young 0hJim Corsi 0hBill Dawley 0hBrian Snyder 0h
CTerry Steinbach 102 · Ron Hassey 78 · Billy Beane 1
1BMark McGwire 141 · Carney Lansford 15 · Terry Steinbach 10
2BTony Phillips 84 · Glenn Hubbard 48 · Mike Gallego 41
3BCarney Lansford 136 · Tony Phillips 49 · Mike Gallego 3
SSMike Gallego 94 · Walt Weiss 84 · Tony Phillips 17
LFRickey Henderson 147 · Stan Javier 23 · Tony Phillips 12
CFDave Henderson 149 · Stan Javier 28
RFStan Javier 72 · José Canseco 56 · Lance Blankenship 21
DHDave Parker 136 · José Canseco 5 · Terry Steinbach 4
SPMike Moore 4.4 · Dave Stewart 3.2 · Bob Welch 3.0 · Storm Davis 0.5 · Curt Young 0.4
BP★ Dennis Eckersley 33 · Rick Honeycutt 0 · Todd Burns 0 · Gene Nelson 0 · Matt Young 0 · Jim Corsi 0 · Bill Dawley 0 · Brian Snyder 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
Rickey Henderson↔ NYY 30 FA-elig 855.2 1.2 +0.7
Carney Lansford 32 FA-elig 1484.4 1.4 +0.2
Mike Moore 29 FA-elig 354.4 1.3 +0.3
Mark McGwire 25 arb 1434.3 0.5 +1.0
Dave Henderson 30 FA-elig 1524.2 0.8 +0.6
Dave Stewart 32 FA-elig 363.2 1.2 -0.0
Bob Welch 32 FA-elig 333.0 1.2 -0.1
Tony Phillips 30 FA-elig 1432.2 0.5 +0.3
Jose Canseco 24 arb 652.1 1.6 -0.8
Mike Gallego 28 arb 1331.7 0.2 +0.4
Dennis Eckersley 34 FA-elig 511.7 1.1 -0.5
Todd Burns 25 pre-arb 501.3 0.1 +0.4
Dave Parker 38 FA-elig 1441.0 1.1 -0.8
Gene Nelson 28 FA-elig 511.0 0.6 -0.3
Luis Polonia↔ NYY 25 pre-arb 590.8 0.1 +0.2
Terry Steinbach 27 arb 1300.7 0.3 -0.1
Ron Hassey 36 FA-elig 970.7 0.6 -0.3
Rick Honeycutt 35 FA-elig 640.6 0.7 -0.4
Storm Davis 27 FA-elig 310.5 0.6 -0.4
Stan Javier 25 arb 1120.5 0.2 -0.0
Curt Young 29 FA-elig 250.4 0.6 -0.4
Eric Plunk↔ NYY 25 arb 230.3 0.1 +0.0
Walt Weiss 25 pre-arb 840.3 0.2 -0.1
Jim Corsi 27 – 220.3 – –
Dave Otto 24 – 10.2 – –
Glenn Hubbard 31 FA-elig 530.1 0.4 -0.3
Lance Blankenship 25 pre-arb 580.1 0.1 -0.0
Bill Dawley 31 FA-elig 40.0 0.1 -0.1
Chris Bando 33 – 10.0 – –
Ken Phelps↔ NYY 34 FA-elig 110.0 0.1 -0.1
Jamie Quirk↔ BAL 34 FA-elig 90.0 0.0 -0.0
Scott Hemond 23 – 40.0 – –
Greg Cadaret↔ NYY 27 pre-arb 26-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Dann Howitt 25 – 3-0.1 – –
Doug Jennings 24 – 4-0.1 – –
Matt Young 30 FA-elig 26-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Dick Scott 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Felix Jose 24 – 20-0.1 – –
Larry Arndt 26 – 2-0.2 – –
Brian Snyder 31 – 2-0.3 – –
Billy Beane 27 arb 37-0.4 0.1 -0.2

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Rickey Henderson5.2
Mike Moore4.4
Bill Dawley0.0
Chris Bando0.0
Ken Phelps0.0
Jamie Quirk0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Steve Ontiveros0.6
Rich Bordi0.2
Matt Sinatro0.1
Jeff Shaver-0.0
Ed Jurak-0.0
Don Baylor-0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$17.3M

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 (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Carney Lansford3211.000$1.4M$1.3M$1.3M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Mike Moore297.000$1.3M$1.2M$1.6M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Bob Welch3211.000$1.2M$1.1M$3.5M$3.5M$3.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Rickey Henderson3010.000$1.2M$2.4M$3.2M$3.2M$2.4M$4.8M$3.8M
Dave Stewart3211.000$1.2M$950k$3.2M$3.2MFREE AGENT$1.0M
Dave Parker3816.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Dennis Eckersley3414.000$1.1M$788k$3.0M$3.1M$3.8M$3.8M$2.9M
Dave Henderson308.000$850k$850k$2.5M$2.6M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt3512.000$650k$750k$1.4M$1.4M$725kFREE AGENT$188k
Gene Nelson288.000$615k$650k$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Ron Hassey3611.000$600k$700kFREE AGENT
Storm Davis277.000$588kFREE AGENT$502k
Curt Young296.000$572k$675k$775kFREE AGENT$325k
Tony Phillips307.000$450kFREE AGENT
Matt Young306.000$425kFREE AGENT
Glenn Hubbard3111.000$375kFREE AGENT
Bill Dawley316.000$100kFREE AGENT
Ken Phelps349.000$74k$471kFREE AGENT
Jamie Quirk3414.000$13k$150k$500k$525kFREE AGENT
Chris Bando338.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Jose Canseco244.000$1.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark McGwire253.000$510kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Steinbach273.000$350kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Gallego284.000$208kARB 3FREE AGENT
Stan Javier255.000$178kFREE AGENT
Eric Plunk253.000$107kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Beane275.000$70kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Walt Weiss252.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Burns251.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Cadaret272.000$87kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Polonia252.000$86kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance Blankenship251.000$68kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Larry Arndt26–—
Jim Corsi271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Hemond230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dann Howitt250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Jennings241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Jose241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Otto242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dick Scott26–—
Brian Snyder31–—

Graphs

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