RRosternomics
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Phillies PHI

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GM: Lee Thomas

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.7× league · TAB -12.5
-12.5TAB — talent above budget25th/26
-10.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)24th/26
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars24th/26
-9.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag26th/26
48%dead money %26th/26
0.414win %24th/26
17.4roster fWAR25th/26
-3surplus $M (value vs cost)21st/26
$10Mpayroll $M22nd/26

Roster

CFLenny Dykstra 139GBob Dernier 29GVon Hayes 13G
LFJohn Kruk 64GRandy Ready 37GDwayne Murphy 30G
RFVon Hayes 124GJohn Kruk 37GCurt Ford 24G
SSDickie Thon 129GSteve Jeltz 63G
2BTom Herr 144GSteve Jeltz 23GTom Barrett 9G
3BCharlie Hayes 85GMike Schmidt 42GRandy Ready 32G
1BRicky Jordan 140GVon Hayes 30GJohn Kruk 7G
STARTERSKen Howell 3.5WARPat Combs 1.2WARTerry Mulholland 1.0WARBruce Ruffin 1.0WARSteve Ontiveros 0.1WAR
CDarren Daulton 126GSteve Lake 55GTom Nieto 11G
BULLPEN★ Roger McDowell 23svJeff Parrett 0hTodd Frohwirth 0hRandy O'Neal 0hMike Maddux 0hChuck McElroy 0hAlex Madrid 0hGordon Dillard 0h
CDarren Daulton 126 · Steve Lake 55 · Tom Nieto 11
1BRicky Jordan 140 · Von Hayes 30 · John Kruk 7
2BTom Herr 144 · Steve Jeltz 23 · Tom Barrett 9
3BCharlie Hayes 85 · Mike Schmidt 42 · Randy Ready 32
SSDickie Thon 129 · Steve Jeltz 63
LFJohn Kruk 64 · Randy Ready 37 · Dwayne Murphy 30
CFLenny Dykstra 139 · Bob Dernier 29 · Von Hayes 13
RFVon Hayes 124 · John Kruk 37 · Curt Ford 24
SPKen Howell 3.5 · Pat Combs 1.2 · Terry Mulholland 1.0 · Bruce Ruffin 1.0 · Steve Ontiveros 0.1
BP★ Roger McDowell 23 · Jeff Parrett 0 · Todd Frohwirth 0 · Randy O'Neal 0 · Mike Maddux 0 · Chuck McElroy 0 · Alex Madrid 0 · Gordon Dillard 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.

1989 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Von Hayes 30 FA-elig 1544.9 1.3 +0.5
Ken Howell 28 arb 333.5 0.2 +1.0
Tom Herr 33 FA-elig 1513.0 0.8 +0.2
Dickie Thon 31 FA-elig 1362.3 0.6 +0.2
John Kruk↔ SDP 28 arb 811.4 0.3 +0.2
Jeff Parrett 27 arb 721.4 0.2 +0.3
Larry McWilliams↔ KCR 35 FA-elig 411.2 0.1 +0.4
Pat Combs 22 – 61.2 – –
Steve Jeltz 30 FA-elig 1161.1 0.3 +0.1
Bruce Ruffin 25 arb 241.0 0.2 +0.2
Terry Mulholland↔ SFG 26 arb 201.0 0.1 +0.3
Ricky Jordan 24 pre-arb 1440.9 0.1 +0.2
Steve Lake 32 FA-elig 580.7 0.3 -0.0
Dwayne Murphy 34 FA-elig 980.5 0.4 -0.2
Ron Jones 25 pre-arb 120.5 0.1 +0.1
Randy Ready↔ SDP 29 FA-elig 720.5 0.3 -0.1
Roger McDowell↔ NYM 28 arb 440.4 0.5 -0.3
Charlie Hayes↔ SFG 24 pre-arb 840.3 0.1 +0.0
Todd Frohwirth 26 pre-arb 450.3 0.1 +0.0
Mike Maddux 27 – 160.3 – –
Darren Daulton 27 FA-elig 1310.2 0.3 -0.2
Steve Ontiveros 28 arb 60.1 0.2 -0.1
Jim Adduci 29 – 130.1 – –
Gordon Dillard 25 – 50.1 – –
Dennis Cook↔ SFG 26 – 220.1 – –
Keith Miller 26 – 80.0 – –
Randy O'Neal 28 – 200.0 – –
Chuck McElroy 21 – 110.0 – –
Al Pardo 26 – 1-0.0 – –
Tom Nieto 28 arb 11-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Bob Sebra↔ CIN 27 – 6-0.1 – –
Mark Ryal 29 – 29-0.1 – –
Eric Bullock 29 – 6-0.1 – –
Marvin Freeman 26 arb 1-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Steve Stanicek 28 – 9-0.1 – –
Alex Madrid 26 – 6-0.2 – –
Lenny Dykstra↔ NYM 26 arb 90-0.2 0.4 -0.4
Tom Barrett 29 – 14-0.3 – –
Greg Harris↔ BOS 33 FA-elig 44-0.4 0.2 -0.4
Jason Grimsley 21 – 4-0.4 – –
Juan Samuel↔ NYM 28 FA-elig 51-0.5 0.5 -0.7
Mike Schmidt 39 – 42-0.5 – –
Floyd Youmans 25 arb 10-0.6 0.2 -0.4
Curt Ford 28 arb 108-0.7 0.1 -0.3
Steve Bedrosian↔ SFG 31 FA-elig 28-0.9 0.6 -0.9
Bob Dernier 32 FA-elig 107-1.2 0.4 -0.8
Chris James↔ SDP 26 arb 45-1.4 0.1 -0.6
Don Carman 29 FA-elig 49-1.7 0.6 -1.2

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Ken Howell3.5
Tom Herr3.0
Dickie Thon2.3
John Kruk1.4
Jeff Parrett1.4
Larry McWilliams1.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Kevin Gross2.6
David Palmer2.5
Phil Bradley2.2
Milt Thompson1.4
Lance Parrish1.0
Kent Tekulve0.7

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$9.5M

What the front office was committed to as of 1989, 1989–1995. 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 (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Von Hayes308.000$1.3M$2.0M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Tom Herr3310.000$825k$672kFREE AGENT
Dickie Thon3110.000$600k$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Steve Bedrosian318.000$597kFREE AGENT
Don Carman296.000$575k$500kFREE AGENT
Juan Samuel286.000$540kFREE AGENT
Dwayne Murphy3411.000$400kFREE AGENT
Bob Dernier329.000$400kFREE AGENT
Darren Daulton276.000$285k$425k$1.9M$2.6M$2.5M$2.3M$5.3M
Steve Lake326.000$280k$340k$390kFREE AGENT
Randy Ready296.000$266k$520k$600kFREE AGENT$150k
Steve Jeltz306.000$260kFREE AGENT
Greg Harris338.000$242kFREE AGENT
Larry McWilliams3511.000$57kFREE AGENT
Jim Adduci296.000—FREE AGENT
Mike Schmidt3917.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Roger McDowell284.000$486kARB 3FREE AGENT
Lenny Dykstra264.000$354kARB 3FREE AGENT
John Kruk283.000$325kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Howell285.000$225kFREE AGENT
Jeff Parrett273.000$212kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Ontiveros284.000$180kARB 3FREE AGENT
Floyd Youmans254.000$175kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bruce Ruffin253.000$175kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Nieto285.000$115kFREE AGENT
Curt Ford284.000$111kARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris James263.000$78kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Mulholland263.000$76kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marvin Freeman263.000$71kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Maddux273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy O'Neal285.000—FREE AGENT
Bob Sebra274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Ricky Jordan241.000$95kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Jones251.000$74kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Frohwirth262.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Charlie Hayes241.000$66kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Barrett29–—
Eric Bullock29–—
Pat Combs220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dennis Cook261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gordon Dillard25–—
Jason Grimsley210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Madrid26–—
Chuck McElroy210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Miller26–—
Al Pardo26–—
Mark Ryal29–—
Steve Stanicek28–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Phillies 1989; 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.