RRosternomics
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Athletics OAK

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GM: Sandy Alderson

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.05× league · TAB -8.8
-8.8TAB — talent above budget23rd/28
-7.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)25th/28
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/28
-5.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag20th/28
33%dead money %16th/28
0.447win %23rd/28
18.3roster fWAR18th/28
-10surplus $M (value vs cost)19th/28
$34Mpayroll $M13th/28

Roster

CFStan Javier 102GEric Fox 16GRickey Henderson 10G
LFRickey Henderson 66GGerónimo Berroa 36GMike Aldrete 21G
RFRuben Sierra 97GMike Aldrete 15GEric Fox 8G
SSMike Bordick 112GFausto Cruz 10GJeff Schaefer 2G
2BBrent Gates 63GScott Hemond 25GJunior Noboa 14G
3BScott Brosius 93GCraig Paquette 14GScott Hemond 12G
1BTroy Neel 45GMark McGwire 40GMike Aldrete 27G
STARTERSSteve Ontiveros 2.3WARRon Darling 2.3WARBobby Witt 0.9WARCarlos Reyes 0.4WARBob Welch -0.2WAR
CTerry Steinbach 93GScott Hemond 39GEric Helfand 6G
DHGerónimo Berroa 44GTroy Neel 35GRickey Henderson 13G
BULLPEN★ Dennis Eckersley 19svBilly Taylor 0hJohn Briscoe 0hMark Acre 0hVince Horsman 0hDave Leiper 0hEd Vosberg 0hEd Nunez 0h
CTerry Steinbach 93 · Scott Hemond 39 · Eric Helfand 6
1BTroy Neel 45 · Mark McGwire 40 · Mike Aldrete 27
2BBrent Gates 63 · Scott Hemond 25 · Junior Noboa 14
3BScott Brosius 93 · Craig Paquette 14 · Scott Hemond 12
SSMike Bordick 112 · Fausto Cruz 10 · Jeff Schaefer 2
LFRickey Henderson 66 · Gerónimo Berroa 36 · Mike Aldrete 21
CFStan Javier 102 · Eric Fox 16 · Rickey Henderson 10
RFRuben Sierra 97 · Mike Aldrete 15 · Eric Fox 8
DHGerónimo Berroa 44 · Troy Neel 35 · Rickey Henderson 13
SPSteve Ontiveros 2.3 · Ron Darling 2.3 · Bobby Witt 0.9 · Carlos Reyes 0.4 · Bob Welch -0.2
BP★ Dennis Eckersley 19 · Billy Taylor 0 · John Briscoe 0 · Mark Acre 0 · Vince Horsman 0 · Dave Leiper 0 · Ed Vosberg 0 · Ed Nunez 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.

1994 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Rickey Henderson 35 FA-elig 872.8 4.8 -1.5
Terry Steinbach 32 FA-elig 1032.7 2.8 +0.3
Geronimo Berroa 29 arb 962.3 0.1 +2.6
Ron Darling 33 FA-elig 272.3 2.2 +0.4
Steve Ontiveros 33 FA-elig 272.3 0.2 +2.4
Stan Javier 30 FA-elig 1092.2 0.7 +1.9
Troy Neel 28 pre-arb 831.2 0.2 +1.2
Mark McGwire 30 FA-elig 471.2 3.0 -1.6
Dennis Eckersley 39 FA-elig 450.9 3.8 -2.7
Bobby Witt 30 FA-elig 250.9 3.2 -2.3
Mike Bordick 28 arb 1140.8 1.1 -0.1
Steve Karsay 22 pre-arb 40.7 0.1 +0.7
Scott Brosius 27 arb 960.7 0.2 +0.7
Billy Taylor 32 pre-arb 410.7 0.1 +0.7
Dave Leiper 32 FA-elig 260.5 0.1 +0.4
Carlos Reyes 25 pre-arb 270.4 0.1 +0.3
Brent Gates 24 pre-arb 640.3 0.2 +0.2
Vince Horsman 27 – 330.3 – –
Eric Fox 30 – 260.1 – –
Ed Vosberg 32 FA-elig 160.1 0.1 -0.0
Steve Phoenix 26 – 20.1 – –
Ed Nunez 31 FA-elig 150.0 0.4 -0.4
Mike Aldrete 33 FA-elig 76-0.0 0.4 -0.4
Roger Smithberg 28 – 2-0.0 – –
Mike Mohler 25 pre-arb 1-0.0 0.1 -0.2
Scott Hemond 28 arb 91-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Eric Helfand 25 pre-arb 7-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Steve Sax 34 FA-elig 7-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Ernie Young 24 – 11-0.1 – –
Jim Bowie 29 – 6-0.1 – –
Bob Welch 37 FA-elig 26-0.2 3.5 -3.6
Mark Acre 25 pre-arb 34-0.2 0.1 -0.4
Jeff Schaefer 34 – 6-0.2 – –
Junior Noboa↔ PIT 29 FA-elig 17-0.2 0.1 -0.4
Craig Paquette 25 pre-arb 14-0.3 0.1 -0.5
Francisco Matos 24 – 14-0.3 – –
Dave Righetti↔ TOR 35 FA-elig 7-0.4 0.0 -0.5
John Briscoe 26 arb 37-0.4 0.1 -0.6
Mike Brumley 31 – 11-0.4 – –
Todd Van Poppel 22 arb 23-0.4 0.4 -0.9
Fausto Cruz 22 – 17-0.5 – –
Ruben Sierra 28 FA-elig 110-0.5 4.7 -5.3
Miguel Jimenez 24 – 8-0.6 – –

Key additions (new vs 1993)

PlayerfWAR
Geronimo Berroa2.3
Steve Ontiveros2.3
Stan Javier2.2
Billy Taylor0.7
Dave Leiper0.5
Carlos Reyes0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1993)

Player1993 fWAR
Lance Blankenship1.3
Storm Davis0.4
Rick Honeycutt0.2
Kurt Abbott0.2
Kevin Seitzer0.2
Marcos Armas0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1994 payroll
$33.5M

What the front office was committed to as of 1994, 1994–2000. 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 (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Rickey Henderson3515.000$4.8M$3.8MFREE AGENT$1.1M
Ruben Sierra288.000$4.7M$3.4MFREE AGENT
Dennis Eckersley3919.000$3.8M$2.9MFREE AGENT
Bob Welch3716.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
Bobby Witt308.000$3.2MFREE AGENT
Mark McGwire308.000$3.0M$6.9M$7.0M$4.8MFREE AGENT
Terry Steinbach328.000$2.8M$4.2M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Ron Darling3311.000$2.2M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Stan Javier3010.000$650k$722kFREE AGENT
Mike Aldrete338.000$430k$331kFREE AGENT
Ed Nunez3112.000$430kFREE AGENT
Steve Ontiveros339.000$175k$965kFREE AGENT
Ed Vosberg328.000$115kFREE AGENT
Dave Leiper3210.000$109k$101kFREE AGENT
Steve Sax3413.000$109kFREE AGENT
Junior Noboa2910.000$107kFREE AGENT
Dave Righetti3515.000$38kFREE AGENT
Mike Brumley317.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Mike Bordick284.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Van Poppel223.000$397kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Hemond285.000$210kFREE AGENT
Scott Brosius273.000$165kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Geronimo Berroa295.000$140kFREE AGENT
John Briscoe263.000$114kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vince Horsman273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Schaefer345.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Troy Neel282.000$225kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Gates241.000$190kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Paquette251.000$140kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Taylor320.000$132kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Karsay221.000$119kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Mohler251.000$115kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Helfand251.000$110kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Acre250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Reyes250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Bowie29–—
Fausto Cruz22–—
Eric Fox302.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Jimenez24–—
Francisco Matos24–—
Steve Phoenix26–—
Roger Smithberg28–—
Ernie Young240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Athletics 1994; 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.