RRosternomics
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Athletics OAK

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GM: Sandy Alderson

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.4× league · TAB +2.2
+2.2TAB — talent above budget13th/26
+9.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/26
-3.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag7th/26
19%dead money %6th/26
0.593win %2nd/26
40.6roster fWAR7th/26
-12surplus $M (value vs cost)21st/26
$42Mpayroll $M4th/26

1992: made playoffs · 96–66. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFWillie Wilson 118GJerry Browne 23GEric Fox 19G
LFRickey Henderson 108GRandy Ready 22GLance Blankenship 22G
RFRuben Sierra 144GLance Blankenship 20GScott Brosius 19G
SSWalt Weiss 103GMike Bordick 70GScott Hemond 3G
2BMike Bordick 95GLance Blankenship 78GJerry Browne 19G
3BCarney Lansford 119GJerry Browne 58GScott Brosius 12G
1BMark McGwire 139GCarney Lansford 18GJamie Quirk 9G
STARTERSRon Darling 2.5WARMike Moore 1.4WARDave Stewart 1.2WARBob Welch 0.6WARKelly Downs 0.4WAR
CTerry Steinbach 124GJamie Quirk 59GHenry Mercedes 9G
DHHarold Baines 110GRandy Ready 10GTroy Neel 8G
BULLPEN★ Dennis Eckersley 51svJeff Parrett 0hJeff Russell 0hVince Horsman 0hRick Honeycutt 0hJim Corsi 0hRich Gossage 0hGene Nelson 0h
CTerry Steinbach 124 · Jamie Quirk 59 · Henry Mercedes 9
1BMark McGwire 139 · Carney Lansford 18 · Jamie Quirk 9
2BMike Bordick 95 · Lance Blankenship 78 · Jerry Browne 19
3BCarney Lansford 119 · Jerry Browne 58 · Scott Brosius 12
SSWalt Weiss 103 · Mike Bordick 70 · Scott Hemond 3
LFRickey Henderson 108 · Randy Ready 22 · Lance Blankenship 22
CFWillie Wilson 118 · Jerry Browne 23 · Eric Fox 19
RFRuben Sierra 144 · Lance Blankenship 20 · Scott Brosius 19
DHHarold Baines 110 · Randy Ready 10 · Troy Neel 8
SPRon Darling 2.5 · Mike Moore 1.4 · Dave Stewart 1.2 · Bob Welch 0.6 · Kelly Downs 0.4
BP★ Dennis Eckersley 51 · Jeff Parrett 0 · Jeff Russell 0 · Vince Horsman 0 · Rick Honeycutt 0 · Jim Corsi 0 · Rich Gossage 0 · Gene Nelson 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.

1992 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mark McGwire 28 FA-elig 1396.3 2.7 +2.3
Rickey Henderson 33 FA-elig 1175.6 3.2 +1.1
Terry Steinbach 30 FA-elig 1284.0 2.0 +1.1
Mike Bordick 26 pre-arb 1543.8 0.2 +2.7
Lance Blankenship 28 arb 1233.3 0.2 +2.4
Dennis Eckersley 37 FA-elig 693.1 3.1 -0.8
Ron Darling 31 FA-elig 342.5 2.2 -0.3
Jerry Browne 26 – 1112.1 – –
Jose Canseco↔ TEX 27 FA-elig 971.9 3.5 -2.0
Carney Lansford 35 FA-elig 1351.9 1.1 +0.3
Willie Wilson 36 FA-elig 1321.9 1.1 +0.4
Mike Moore 32 FA-elig 361.4 3.5 -2.4
Dave Stewart 35 FA-elig 311.2 3.2 -2.3
Jeff Parrett 30 FA-elig 660.8 0.4 +0.2
Ruben Sierra↔ TEX 26 FA-elig 270.8 0.9 -0.3
Rick Honeycutt 38 FA-elig 540.8 1.4 -0.8
Bob Welch 35 FA-elig 200.6 3.5 -3.0
Harold Baines 33 FA-elig 1400.5 1.6 -1.2
Kelly Downs↔ SFG 31 FA-elig 180.4 0.5 -0.1
Bobby Witt↔ TEX 28 FA-elig 60.4 0.5 -0.1
Jeff Russell↔ TEX 30 FA-elig 80.2 0.4 -0.2
Henry Mercedes 22 – 90.2 – –
Jim Corsi 30 arb 320.2 0.1 -0.0
Randy Ready 32 FA-elig 610.1 0.5 -0.4
Troy Neel 26 – 240.1 – –
Eric Fox 28 – 510.1 – –
Scott Brosius 25 pre-arb 380.1 0.1 -0.1
Bruce Walton 29 pre-arb 70.0 0.1 -0.1
Todd Revenig 23 – 20.0 – –
Johnny Guzman 21 pre-arb 20.0 0.1 -0.1
Mike Raczka 29 – 8-0.0 – –
Jamie Quirk 37 FA-elig 78-0.0 0.5 -0.6
John Briscoe 24 – 2-0.0 – –
Dann Howitt↔ SEA 28 – 22-0.1 – –
Shawn Hillegas↔ NYY 27 – 5-0.1 – –
Scott Hemond↔ CHW 26 arb 17-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Kevin Campbell 27 pre-arb 32-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Gene Nelson 31 FA-elig 29-0.1 1.2 -1.3
Vince Horsman 25 pre-arb 58-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Rich Gossage 40 FA-elig 30-0.3 0.3 -0.5
Mike Kingery 31 – 12-0.4 – –
Joe Slusarski 25 pre-arb 15-0.6 0.1 -0.6
Walt Weiss 28 arb 103-0.8 0.8 -1.4
Dave Henderson 33 FA-elig 20-0.8 2.6 -3.2

Key additions (new vs 1991)

PlayerfWAR
Jerry Browne2.1
Jeff Parrett0.8
Ruben Sierra0.8
Kelly Downs0.4
Bobby Witt0.4
Jeff Russell0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1991)

Player1991 fWAR
Mike Gallego3.4
Andy Hawkins0.7
Ernest Riles0.4
Joe Klink0.3
Eric Show0.1
Dana Allison0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1992 payroll
$42.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1992, 1992–1998. 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 (25)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Jose Canseco277.000$3.5MFREE AGENT$4.2M
Mike Moore3210.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
Bob Welch3514.000$3.5M$3.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Rickey Henderson3313.000$3.2M$2.4M$4.8M$3.8MFREE AGENT$1.1M
Dave Stewart3514.000$3.2MFREE AGENT$1.0M
Dennis Eckersley3717.000$3.1M$3.8M$3.8M$2.9MFREE AGENT
Mark McGwire286.000$2.7M$4.0M$3.0M$6.9M$7.0M$4.8MFREE AGENT
Dave Henderson3311.000$2.6M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Ron Darling319.000$2.2M$2.2M$2.2M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Terry Steinbach306.000$2.0M$2.8M$2.8M$4.2M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Harold Baines3312.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt3815.000$1.4M$725kFREE AGENT$188k
Gene Nelson3111.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Carney Lansford3514.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Willie Wilson3616.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Ruben Sierra266.000$894k$4.2M$4.7M$3.4MFREE AGENT
Jamie Quirk3717.000$525kFREE AGENT
Randy Ready329.000$500kFREE AGENT
Bobby Witt286.000$461k$3.0M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Kelly Downs316.000$450k$675kFREE AGENT
Jeff Parrett306.000$425kFREE AGENT
Jeff Russell309.000$353kFREE AGENT
Rich Gossage4020.000$300k$325kFREE AGENT
Jerry Browne266.000—$625kFREE AGENT
Mike Kingery316.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (6)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Walt Weiss285.000$760kFREE AGENT
Lance Blankenship284.000$205kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Corsi304.000$130kARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Hemond263.000$82kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Hillegas275.000—FREE AGENT
Dann Howitt283.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Mike Bordick262.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Slusarski251.000$125kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Campbell271.000$116kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Brosius251.000$113kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bruce Walton291.000$111kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Johnny Guzman211.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vince Horsman251.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Briscoe241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Fox280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Henry Mercedes220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Troy Neel260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Raczka29–—
Todd Revenig23–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Athletics 1992; 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.