RRosternomics
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Phillies PHI

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GM: Woody Woodward

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.16× league · TAB -21.8
-21.8TAB — talent above budget24th/26
-18.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)24th/26
3.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars24th/26
-6.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag22nd/26
32%dead money %13th/26
0.404win %24th/26
14.2roster fWAR24th/26
-9surplus $M (value vs cost)26th/26
$14Mpayroll $M7th/26

Roster

CFMilt Thompson 112GBob Dernier 53GChris James 27G
LFPhil Bradley 153GGreg Gross 20GChris James 8G
RFChris James 101GRon Jones 32GGreg Gross 19G
SSSteve Jeltz 148GJackie Gutierrez 22GShane Turner 5G
2BJuan Samuel 152GTom Barrett 10G
3BMike Schmidt 104GChris James 31GJackie Gutierrez 13G
1BVon Hayes 85GRicky Jordan 69GGreg Gross 14G
STARTERSKevin Gross 2.6WARDavid Palmer 2.5WARMike Maddux 0.7WARDon Carman 0.6WARBruce Ruffin 0.4WAR
CLance Parrish 117GDarren Daulton 44GJohn Russell 15G
BULLPEN★ Steve Bedrosian 28svKent Tekulve 0hGreg Harris 0hWally Ritchie 0hDanny Clay 0hTodd Frohwirth 0hBill Scherrer 0hBill Dawley 0h
CLance Parrish 117 · Darren Daulton 44 · John Russell 15
1BVon Hayes 85 · Ricky Jordan 69 · Greg Gross 14
2BJuan Samuel 152 · Tom Barrett 10
3BMike Schmidt 104 · Chris James 31 · Jackie Gutierrez 13
SSSteve Jeltz 148 · Jackie Gutierrez 22 · Shane Turner 5
LFPhil Bradley 153 · Greg Gross 20 · Chris James 8
CFMilt Thompson 112 · Bob Dernier 53 · Chris James 27
RFChris James 101 · Ron Jones 32 · Greg Gross 19
SPKevin Gross 2.6 · David Palmer 2.5 · Mike Maddux 0.7 · Don Carman 0.6 · Bruce Ruffin 0.4
BP★ Steve Bedrosian 28 · Kent Tekulve 0 · Greg Harris 0 · Wally Ritchie 0 · Danny Clay 0 · Todd Frohwirth 0 · Bill Scherrer 0 · Bill Dawley 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.

1988 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Kevin Gross 27 arb 332.6 0.5 +0.4
David Palmer 30 FA-elig 222.5 0.7 +0.1
Phil Bradley 29 arb 1542.2 0.9 -0.2
Mike Schmidt 38 FA-elig 1082.0 2.2 -1.6
Von Hayes 29 FA-elig 1041.9 1.3 -0.7
Ricky Jordan 23 – 691.5 – –
Milt Thompson 29 arb 1221.4 0.2 +0.2
Lance Parrish 32 FA-elig 1231.0 1.0 -0.7
Ron Jones 24 – 330.9 – –
Chris James 25 pre-arb 1500.7 0.1 +0.1
Kent Tekulve 41 FA-elig 700.7 0.8 -0.6
Mike Maddux 26 pre-arb 260.7 0.1 +0.1
Steve Bedrosian 30 FA-elig 570.6 0.9 -0.7
Don Carman 28 arb 360.6 0.5 -0.3
Bruce Ruffin 24 pre-arb 550.4 0.1 -0.0
Luis Aguayo↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 490.3 0.2 -0.1
Mike Young↔ MIL 28 FA-elig 750.3 0.4 -0.3
Bob Dernier 31 FA-elig 680.2 0.4 -0.3
Marvin Freeman 25 pre-arb 110.1 0.1 -0.0
Alex Madrid 25 – 50.1 – –
Scott Service 21 – 50.1 – –
Greg Harris 32 – 660.1 – –
Bill Scherrer↔ BAL 30 – 80.0 – –
Tom Barrett 28 – 360.0 – –
Juan Samuel 27 arb 157-0.0 1.1 -1.1
Bob Sebra 26 – 3-0.0 – –
Brad Moore 24 – 5-0.0 – –
Al Pardo 25 – 2-0.0 – –
John Russell 27 arb 22-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Bill Almon 35 FA-elig 20-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Shane Turner 25 – 18-0.3 – –
Wally Ritchie 22 pre-arb 19-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Jeff Calhoun 30 arb 3-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Jackie Gutierrez 28 – 33-0.3 – –
Todd Frohwirth 25 pre-arb 12-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Salome Barojas 31 – 6-0.3 – –
Bill Dawley 30 – 8-0.4 – –
Darren Daulton 26 arb 58-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Keith Miller 25 – 47-0.4 – –
Greg Gross 35 FA-elig 98-0.7 0.3 -0.5
Danny Clay 26 – 17-0.8 – –
Shane Rawley 32 FA-elig 32-0.9 0.9 -1.2
Steve Jeltz 29 arb 148-1.3 0.2 -0.6

Key additions (new vs 1987)

PlayerfWAR
David Palmer2.5
Phil Bradley2.2
Ricky Jordan1.5
Ron Jones0.9
Mike Young0.3
Bob Dernier0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Glenn Wilson1.0
Freddie Toliver0.2
Dan Schatzeder0.2
Mike Easler0.2
Rick Schu0.2
Greg Jelks0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$13.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1988, 1988–1994. 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 (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Mike Schmidt3816.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Von Hayes297.000$1.3M$1.3M$2.0M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Lance Parrish3211.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Steve Bedrosian307.000$925k$853kFREE AGENT
Shane Rawley3210.000$900kFREE AGENT
Kent Tekulve4114.000$850kFREE AGENT
David Palmer3010.000$675kFREE AGENT
Bob Dernier318.000$400k$400kFREE AGENT
Mike Young286.000$357kFREE AGENT
Greg Gross3515.000$320kFREE AGENT
Bill Almon3514.000$250kFREE AGENT
Luis Aguayo298.000$186kFREE AGENT
Greg Harris327.000—$242kFREE AGENT
Bill Scherrer306.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Juan Samuel275.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Phil Bradley295.000$905kFREE AGENT
Kevin Gross275.000$450kFREE AGENT
Don Carman285.000$450kFREE AGENT
Milt Thompson294.000$240kARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Jeltz295.000$215kFREE AGENT
John Russell274.000$150kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Calhoun304.000$125kARB 3FREE AGENT
Darren Daulton265.000$115kFREE AGENT
Bill Dawley305.000—FREE AGENT
Jackie Gutierrez285.000—FREE AGENT
Bob Sebra263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Bruce Ruffin242.000$140kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris James252.000$138kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wally Ritchie221.000$78kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Maddux262.000$70kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Frohwirth251.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marvin Freeman252.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Salome Barojas31–—
Tom Barrett28–—
Danny Clay26–—
Ron Jones240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricky Jordan230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Madrid25–—
Keith Miller25–—
Brad Moore240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Pardo25–—
Scott Service210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shane Turner25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Phillies 1988; 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.