RRosternomics
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Athletics OAK

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GM: Sandy Alderson

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.2× league · TAB +14.4
+14.4TAB — talent above budget1st/26
+18.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)2nd/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/26
-2.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag2nd/26
14%dead money %1st/26
0.636win %1st/26
50.9roster fWAR1st/26
+2surplus $M (value vs cost)6th/26
$20Mpayroll $M6th/26

1990: won pennant · 103–59. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFWillie McGee 146GDave Henderson 110GDarren Lewis 16G
LFRickey Henderson 118GDoug Jennings 33GLance Blankenship 10G
RFJosé Canseco 88GLance Blankenship 17GDoug Jennings 15G
SSWalt Weiss 137GMike Gallego 38GMike Bordick 9G
2BWillie Randolph 110GMike Gallego 83GLance Blankenship 20G
3BCarney Lansford 126GLance Blankenship 28GMike Gallego 27G
1BMark McGwire 154GJamie Quirk 8GDann Howitt 5G
STARTERSDave Stewart 4.9WARBob Welch 1.8WARScott Sanderson 1.4WARMike Moore 1.3WARCurt Young -0.3WAR
CTerry Steinbach 83GRon Hassey 59GJamie Quirk 37G
DHHarold Baines 113GJosé Canseco 41GTerry Steinbach 21G
BULLPEN★ Dennis Eckersley 48svRick Honeycutt 0hGene Nelson 0hTodd Burns 0hJoe Klink 0hReggie Harris 0hMike Norris 0hSteve Chitren 0h
CTerry Steinbach 83 · Ron Hassey 59 · Jamie Quirk 37
1BMark McGwire 154 · Jamie Quirk 8 · Dann Howitt 5
2BWillie Randolph 110 · Mike Gallego 83 · Lance Blankenship 20
3BCarney Lansford 126 · Lance Blankenship 28 · Mike Gallego 27
SSWalt Weiss 137 · Mike Gallego 38 · Mike Bordick 9
LFRickey Henderson 118 · Doug Jennings 33 · Lance Blankenship 10
CFWillie McGee 146 · Dave Henderson 110 · Darren Lewis 16
RFJosé Canseco 88 · Lance Blankenship 17 · Doug Jennings 15
DHHarold Baines 113 · José Canseco 41 · Terry Steinbach 21
SPDave Stewart 4.9 · Bob Welch 1.8 · Scott Sanderson 1.4 · Mike Moore 1.3 · Curt Young -0.3
BP★ Dennis Eckersley 48 · Rick Honeycutt 0 · Gene Nelson 0 · Todd Burns 0 · Joe Klink 0 · Reggie Harris 0 · Mike Norris 0 · Steve Chitren 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Rickey Henderson 31 FA-elig 13610.2 2.4 +2.2
Mark McGwire 26 arb 1565.7 1.5 +1.0
Jose Canseco 25 arb 1315.2 2.0 +0.3
Dave Stewart 33 FA-elig 364.9 0.9 +1.2
Dave Henderson 31 FA-elig 1274.4 0.8 +1.1
Walt Weiss 26 arb 1383.6 0.2 +1.4
Dennis Eckersley 35 FA-elig 633.2 0.8 +0.6
Bob Welch 33 FA-elig 351.8 1.1 -0.3
Willie Randolph↔ LAD 35 FA-elig 931.8 0.7 +0.1
Felix Jose↔ STL 25 pre-arb 1011.7 0.1 +0.7
Scott Sanderson 33 FA-elig 341.4 0.8 -0.1
Mike Moore 30 FA-elig 331.3 1.2 -0.6
Jamie Quirk 35 FA-elig 560.8 0.1 +0.2
Terry Steinbach 28 arb 1140.8 0.8 -0.4
Rick Honeycutt 36 FA-elig 660.8 0.8 -0.4
Mike Gallego 29 arb 1400.7 0.5 -0.2
Carney Lansford 33 FA-elig 1340.6 1.3 -1.0
Willie McGee↔ STL 31 FA-elig 290.6 0.3 -0.0
Gene Nelson 29 FA-elig 510.6 0.7 -0.4
Ron Hassey 37 FA-elig 940.5 0.7 -0.5
Darren Lewis 22 pre-arb 250.4 0.1 +0.1
Steve Chitren 23 – 80.4 – –
Harold Baines↔ TEX 31 FA-elig 320.4 0.3 -0.1
Stan Javier↔ LAD 26 FA-elig 190.4 0.0 +0.1
Mike Norris 35 FA-elig 140.3 0.1 +0.0
Dann Howitt 26 pre-arb 140.3 0.1 +0.0
Joe Klink 28 arb 400.2 0.1 -0.0
Lance Blankenship 26 pre-arb 860.1 0.1 -0.1
Joe Bitker↔ TEX 26 – 10.0 – –
Dave Otto 25 arb 2-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Troy Afenir 26 arb 14-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Mike Bordick 24 – 25-0.1 – –
Todd Burns 26 pre-arb 43-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Reggie Harris 21 pre-arb 16-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Scott Hemond 24 pre-arb 7-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Curt Young 30 FA-elig 28-0.3 0.7 -0.8
Ozzie Canseco 25 pre-arb 9-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Ken Phelps↔ CLE 35 FA-elig 32-0.3 0.5 -0.6
Steve Howard 26 pre-arb 21-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Doug Jennings 25 pre-arb 64-0.5 0.1 -0.3

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Willie Randolph1.8
Scott Sanderson1.4
Willie McGee0.6
Darren Lewis0.4
Steve Chitren0.4
Harold Baines0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Tony Phillips2.2
Dave Parker1.0
Luis Polonia0.8
Storm Davis0.5
Eric Plunk0.3
Jim Corsi0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$20.5M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Rickey Henderson3111.000$2.4M$3.2M$3.2M$2.4M$4.8M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Carney Lansford3312.000$1.3M$1.3M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Mike Moore308.000$1.2M$1.6M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Bob Welch3312.000$1.1M$3.5M$3.5M$3.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Dave Stewart3312.000$950k$3.2M$3.2MFREE AGENT$1.0M
Dave Henderson319.000$850k$2.5M$2.6M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Dennis Eckersley3515.000$788k$3.0M$3.1M$3.8M$3.8M$2.9MFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt3613.000$750k$1.4M$1.4M$725kFREE AGENT$188k
Scott Sanderson3312.000$750kFREE AGENT
Ron Hassey3712.000$700kFREE AGENT
Willie Randolph3515.000$684kFREE AGENT
Curt Young307.000$675k$775kFREE AGENT$325k
Gene Nelson299.000$650k$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Ken Phelps3510.000$471kFREE AGENT
Willie McGee318.000$282kFREE AGENT
Harold Baines3110.000$271k$1.4M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Jamie Quirk3515.000$150k$500k$525kFREE AGENT
Mike Norris3515.000$100kFREE AGENT
Stan Javier266.000$48kFREE AGENT$650k$722k

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Jose Canseco255.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Mark McGwire264.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Steinbach284.000$750kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Gallego295.000$500kFREE AGENT
Walt Weiss263.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Otto253.000$102kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Troy Afenir263.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Klink283.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Todd Burns262.000$235kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance Blankenship262.000$105kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Jennings252.000$103kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reggie Harris210.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Hemond241.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Howard260.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ozzie Canseco250.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dann Howitt261.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darren Lewis220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Jose252.000$82kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Bitker26–—
Mike Bordick240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Chitren230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Athletics 1990; 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.