RRosternomics
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Athletics OAK

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GM: Sandy Alderson

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.68× league · TAB -11.4
-11.4TAB — talent above budget26th/26
-4.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)19th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/26
-6.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag21st/26
23%dead money %9th/26
0.519win %8th/26
29.3roster fWAR17th/26
-20surplus $M (value vs cost)26th/26
$38Mpayroll $M1st/26

Roster

CFDave Henderson 136GWillie Wilson 33GBrad Komminsk 8G
LFRickey Henderson 119GWillie Wilson 41GLance Blankenship 18G
RFJosé Canseco 131GWillie Wilson 19GLance Blankenship 11G
SSMike Bordick 84GMike Gallego 55GWalt Weiss 40G
2BMike Gallego 135GLance Blankenship 45GScott Brosius 18G
3BErnest Riles 69GVance Law 67GBrook Jacoby 67G
1BMark McGwire 152GBrook Jacoby 58GTerry Steinbach 9G
STARTERSMike Moore 3.4WARDave Stewart 1.5WARRon Darling 0.8WARAndy Hawkins 0.7WARBob Welch 0.6WAR
CTerry Steinbach 117GJamie Quirk 54GScott Hemond 8G
DHHarold Baines 122GJosé Canseco 23GRickey Henderson 8G
BULLPEN★ Dennis Eckersley 43svJoe Klink 0hSteve Chitren 0hGene Nelson 0hRick Honeycutt 0hCurt Young 0hKevin Campbell 0hBruce Walton 0h
CTerry Steinbach 117 · Jamie Quirk 54 · Scott Hemond 8
1BMark McGwire 152 · Brook Jacoby 58 · Terry Steinbach 9
2BMike Gallego 135 · Lance Blankenship 45 · Scott Brosius 18
3BErnest Riles 69 · Vance Law 67 · Brook Jacoby 67
SSMike Bordick 84 · Mike Gallego 55 · Walt Weiss 40
LFRickey Henderson 119 · Willie Wilson 41 · Lance Blankenship 18
CFDave Henderson 136 · Willie Wilson 33 · Brad Komminsk 8
RFJosé Canseco 131 · Willie Wilson 19 · Lance Blankenship 11
DHHarold Baines 122 · José Canseco 23 · Rickey Henderson 8
SPMike Moore 3.4 · Dave Stewart 1.5 · Ron Darling 0.8 · Andy Hawkins 0.7 · Bob Welch 0.6
BP★ Dennis Eckersley 43 · Joe Klink 0 · Steve Chitren 0 · Gene Nelson 0 · Rick Honeycutt 0 · Curt Young 0 · Kevin Campbell 0 · Bruce Walton 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.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jose Canseco 26 FA-elig 1545.3 3.5 -0.4
Dave Henderson 32 FA-elig 1504.9 2.5 +0.4
Rickey Henderson 32 FA-elig 1343.8 3.2 -1.0
Mike Gallego 30 FA-elig 1593.4 0.6 +1.5
Mike Moore 31 FA-elig 333.4 1.6 +0.4
Harold Baines 32 FA-elig 1412.5 1.4 +0.1
Dennis Eckersley 36 FA-elig 671.7 3.0 -2.0
Terry Steinbach 29 arb 1291.6 1.1 -0.1
Dave Stewart 34 FA-elig 351.5 3.2 -2.3
Mark McGwire 27 arb 1541.4 2.9 -2.0
Lance Blankenship 27 arb 901.2 0.1 +0.6
Willie Wilson 35 FA-elig 1130.9 1.0 -0.5
Ron Darling↔ NYM 30 FA-elig 120.8 0.7 -0.2
Andy Hawkins↔ NYY 31 FA-elig 150.7 1.2 -0.8
Bob Welch 34 FA-elig 350.6 3.5 -3.1
Jamie Quirk 36 FA-elig 760.4 0.5 -0.2
Ernest Riles 30 FA-elig 1080.4 0.8 -0.6
Joe Klink 29 arb 620.3 0.1 +0.0
Walt Weiss 27 arb 400.2 0.8 -0.7
Mike Bordick 25 – 900.2 – –
Eric Show 35 FA-elig 230.1 0.8 -0.7
Joe Slusarski 24 – 200.1 – –
Dana Allison 24 – 110.1 – –
Johnny Guzman 20 – 50.1 – –
Todd Van Poppel 19 – 10.0 – –
Vance Law 34 FA-elig 74-0.0 0.5 -0.5
Reggie Harris 22 – 2-0.0 – –
Scott Brosius 24 – 36-0.0 – –
Rick Honeycutt 37 FA-elig 43-0.0 1.4 -1.4
Fred Manrique 29 – 9-0.0 – –
Scott Hemond 25 – 23-0.1 – –
Dann Howitt 27 – 21-0.1 – –
Troy Afenir 27 – 5-0.2 – –
Kirk Dressendorfer 22 – 7-0.2 – –
Bruce Walton 28 – 12-0.2 – –
Doug Jennings 26 – 8-0.2 – –
John Briscoe 23 – 11-0.2 – –
Brad Komminsk 30 – 24-0.2 – –
Todd Burns 27 arb 9-0.3 0.3 -0.5
Carney Lansford 34 FA-elig 5-0.3 1.3 -1.5
Ron Witmeyer 24 – 11-0.4 – –
Kevin Campbell 26 – 14-0.5 – –
Steve Chitren 24 pre-arb 56-0.5 0.1 -0.4
Brook Jacoby↔ CLE 31 FA-elig 56-0.5 0.5 -0.8
Curt Young 31 FA-elig 41-0.7 0.8 -1.2
Gene Nelson 30 FA-elig 44-1.6 1.1 -2.0

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Willie Wilson0.9
Ron Darling0.8
Andy Hawkins0.7
Ernest Riles0.4
Eric Show0.1
Joe Slusarski0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Willie Randolph1.8
Felix Jose1.7
Scott Sanderson1.4
Willie McGee0.6
Ron Hassey0.5
Darren Lewis0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$38.3M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. 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 (23)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Jose Canseco266.000$3.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT$4.2M
Bob Welch3413.000$3.5M$3.5M$3.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Rickey Henderson3212.000$3.2M$3.2M$2.4M$4.8M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Dave Stewart3413.000$3.2M$3.2MFREE AGENT$1.0M
Dennis Eckersley3616.000$3.0M$3.1M$3.8M$3.8M$2.9MFREE AGENT
Dave Henderson3210.000$2.5M$2.6M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Mike Moore319.000$1.6M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Harold Baines3211.000$1.4M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt3714.000$1.4M$1.4M$725kFREE AGENT$188k
Carney Lansford3413.000$1.3M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Andy Hawkins319.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Gene Nelson3010.000$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Willie Wilson3515.000$1.0M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Eric Show3510.000$800kFREE AGENT
Ernest Riles306.000$792kFREE AGENT
Curt Young318.000$775kFREE AGENT$325k
Ron Darling308.000$738k$2.2M$2.2M$2.2M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Mike Gallego306.000$565kFREE AGENT$300k
Brook Jacoby3110.000$528kFREE AGENT
Jamie Quirk3616.000$500k$525kFREE AGENT
Vance Law3411.000$500kFREE AGENT
Brad Komminsk308.000—FREE AGENT
Fred Manrique2910.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Mark McGwire275.000$2.9MFREE AGENT
Terry Steinbach295.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Walt Weiss274.000$780kARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Burns273.000$325kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Klink294.000$140kARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance Blankenship273.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Troy Afenir274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Jennings263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Steve Chitren241.000$105kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dana Allison24–—
Mike Bordick251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Briscoe230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Brosius240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Campbell260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kirk Dressendorfer22–—
Johnny Guzman200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reggie Harris221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Hemond252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dann Howitt272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Slusarski240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Van Poppel190.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bruce Walton280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Witmeyer24–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Athletics 1991; 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.