Rosternomics
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Athletics OAK

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GM: Sandy Alderson (since 1983)

1997 roster — every player, value & surplus

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-8.1
WAB — wins above budget
-9.1
TAB — roster Talent above budget
65–97 (0.401)
record
-2M
surplus $M (value/$)
16.8
roster fWAR
$19.9M
payroll
PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mark McGwire↔ STL 33 FA-elig 105 3.2 4.8 -1.6
Matt Stairs 29 arb 133 2.0 0.2 +1.9
Dave Magadan 34 FA-elig 128 1.9 0.3 +1.7
Brent Mayne 29 FA-elig 85 1.8 0.2 +1.6
Jason Giambi 26 pre-arb 142 1.7 0.2 +1.5
George Williams 28 pre-arb 76 1.5 0.2 +1.4
Scott Spiezio 24 pre-arb 147 1.4 0.2 +1.3
Billy Taylor 35 arb 72 1.3 0.6 +0.8
Geronimo Berroa↔ BAL 32 FA-elig 73 1.2 1.5 -0.3
Jimmy Haynes 24 pre-arb 13 1.0 0.2 +0.9
Steve Karsay 25 arb 25 1.0 0.2 +0.9
Mike Oquist 29 arb 20 0.9 0.2 +0.7
Aaron Small 25 arb 71 0.7 0.2 +0.6
Ariel Prieto 27 pre-arb 22 0.7 0.2 +0.5
Dave Telgheder 30 arb 20 0.6 0.2 +0.5
Andrew Lorraine 24 arb 12 0.3 0.2 +0.2
Damon Mashore 27 pre-arb 92 0.3 0.2 +0.2
Jason McDonald 25 – 78 0.2 – –
Mike Mohler 28 arb 64 0.2 0.2 -0.0
Jose Canseco 32 FA-elig 108 0.2 4.2 -4.0
Mark Acre 28 arb 15 0.1 0.2 -0.0
Brad Rigby 24 pre-arb 14 0.1 0.1 -0.0
Dane Johnson 34 arb 38 0.1 0.2 -0.1
Mark Bellhorn 22 pre-arb 68 0.1 0.1 -0.1
Steve Wojciechowski 26 pre-arb 2 0.1 0.2 -0.1
Buddy Groom 31 arb 78 0.1 0.4 -0.3
Tilson Brito↔ TOR 25 pre-arb 17 0.0 0.0 -0.0
Ben Grieve 21 – 24 0.0 – –
Rafael Bournigal 31 arb 79 0.0 0.2 -0.2
John Johnstone↔ SFG 28 – 5 -0.0 – –
Scott Sheldon 28 – 13 -0.0 – –
Willie Adams 24 pre-arb 13 -0.0 0.2 -0.2
Tim Kubinski 25 pre-arb 11 -0.1 0.1 -0.2
Don Wengert 27 pre-arb 49 -0.1 0.2 -0.3
Jay Witasick 24 – 8 -0.1 – –
T.J. Mathews↔ STL 27 pre-arb 24 -0.1 0.1 -0.2
Billy Brewer↔ PHI 29 arb 3 -0.1 0.0 -0.2
Carlos Reyes 28 arb 37 -0.2 0.2 -0.4
Gary Haught 26 – 6 -0.2 – –
Scott Brosius 30 FA-elig 129 -0.3 2.5 -2.8
Tony Batista 23 pre-arb 68 -0.3 0.2 -0.5
Pat Lennon 29 FA-elig 56 -0.4 0.1 -0.5
Steve Montgomery 26 – 4 -0.4 – –
Miguel Tejada 23 pre-arb 26 -0.5 0.1 -0.6
Eric Ludwick↔ STL 25 pre-arb 6 -0.5 0.1 -0.6
Izzy Molina 26 pre-arb 48 -0.5 0.2 -0.7
Brian Lesher 26 pre-arb 46 -0.8 0.2 -0.9
Richie Lewis↔ CIN 31 arb 14 -0.8 0.2 -1.1
Ernie Young 27 arb 71 -0.9 0.2 -1.1

49 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 42 of them (86%). Players without a salary show "–" — no single historical salary source is fully complete (especially 2020–2022).

WAR = FanGraphs (fWAR). Green = produced more value than paid (bargain); red = paid more than produced. Service: pre-arb (<3 yr) / arb (3–6) / FA-eligible (6+). Click headers to sort.

History: front-office performance & develop-vs-buy (1985–2024)

Trade ledger (realized WAR, all-time)

Best acquisitions
PlayerYearWAR for OAK
Rickey Henderson198926.8
Mark Ellis200122.1
Dennis Eckersley198719.3
Carney Lansford198216.7
Josh Donaldson200813.8
Jed Lowrie201313.0
Brett Anderson200711.5
Sean Manaea201511.2
Ones that got away
PlayerYear tradedWAR elsewhere
Rickey Henderson198426.6
Carlos González200824.7
Andre Ethier200524.4
Gio Gonzalez201120.8
Josh Donaldson201420.4
Mark McGwire199719.7
Aaron Harang200319.3
Jeremy Bonderman200215.8
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.