RRosternomics
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Phillies PHI

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GM: Ed Wade

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.7× league · TAB -2.1
-2.1TAB — talent above budget18th/30
-2.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)19th/30
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars15th/30
-7.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag27th/30
41%dead money %24th/30
0.463win %20th/30
27.8roster fWAR20th/30
+1surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/30
$29Mpayroll $M22nd/30

Roster

CFDoug Glanville 158GKevin Sefcik 8GRuben Amaro Jr. 3G
LFRuben Amaro Jr. 43GKevin Sefcik 35GWendell Magee 19G
RFBobby Abreu 146GKevin Sefcik 20GRuben Amaro Jr. 6G
SSDesi Relaford 137GAlex Arias 38G
2BMark Lewis 140GKevin Jordan 22GMarlon Anderson 9G
3BScott Rolen 159GKevin Jordan 6GAlex Arias 5G
1BRico Brogna 151GKevin Jordan 24GJon Zuber 4G
STARTERSCurt Schilling 8.1WARMark Portugal 2.1WARPaul Byrd 0.8WARMike Grace 0.4WARMatt Beech 0.3WAR
CMike Lieberthal 83GBobby Estalella 47GMark Parent 34G
DHKevin Jordan 8G
BULLPEN★ Mark Leiter 23svWayne Gomes 0hJerry Spradlin 0hYorkis Perez 0hRicky Bottalico 0hDarrin Winston 0hKen Ryan 0hMatt Whiteside 0h
CMike Lieberthal 83 · Bobby Estalella 47 · Mark Parent 34
1BRico Brogna 151 · Kevin Jordan 24 · Jon Zuber 4
2BMark Lewis 140 · Kevin Jordan 22 · Marlon Anderson 9
3BScott Rolen 159 · Kevin Jordan 6 · Alex Arias 5
SSDesi Relaford 137 · Alex Arias 38
LFRuben Amaro Jr. 43 · Kevin Sefcik 35 · Wendell Magee 19
CFDoug Glanville 158 · Kevin Sefcik 8 · Ruben Amaro Jr. 3
RFBobby Abreu 146 · Kevin Sefcik 20 · Ruben Amaro Jr. 6
DHKevin Jordan 8
SPCurt Schilling 8.1 · Mark Portugal 2.1 · Paul Byrd 0.8 · Mike Grace 0.4 · Matt Beech 0.3
BP★ Mark Leiter 23 · Wayne Gomes 0 · Jerry Spradlin 0 · Yorkis Perez 0 · Ricky Bottalico 0 · Darrin Winston 0 · Ken Ryan 0 · Matt Whiteside 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.

1998 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Curt Schilling 31 FA-elig 358.1 4.7 +4.0
Scott Rolen 23 pre-arb 1607.0 0.8 +6.8
Bobby Abreu 24 pre-arb 1516.5 0.2 +6.8
Mark Portugal 35 FA-elig 262.1 2.4 -0.1
Doug Glanville 27 pre-arb 1582.0 0.3 +1.9
Kevin Sefcik 27 arb 1042.0 0.2 +2.0
Gregg Jefferies↔ ANA 30 FA-elig 1251.1 5.2 -4.0
Jerry Spradlin 31 arb 690.9 0.2 +0.8
Mike Lieberthal 26 arb 860.9 1.2 -0.2
Paul Byrd↔ ATL 27 arb 80.8 0.2 +0.7
Wayne Gomes 25 pre-arb 710.8 0.2 +0.7
Rico Brogna 28 FA-elig 1530.6 1.7 -1.1
Wendell Magee 25 pre-arb 200.5 0.2 +0.3
Yorkis Perez 30 FA-elig 570.4 0.3 +0.2
Mike Grace 28 arb 210.4 0.2 +0.2
Matt Beech 26 pre-arb 210.3 0.2 +0.2
Mark Leiter 35 FA-elig 690.2 2.0 -1.7
Marlon Anderson 24 – 170.2 – –
Alex Arias 30 FA-elig 560.2 0.4 -0.2
Carlton Loewer 24 pre-arb 210.2 0.2 +0.0
Gary Bennett 26 – 90.1 – –
Tyler Green 28 arb 270.0 0.6 -0.5
Toby Borland 29 – 60.0 – –
Robert Dodd 25 – 4-0.0 – –
Ryan Nye 25 – 1-0.0 – –
Garrett Stephenson 26 pre-arb 6-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Billy Brewer 30 arb 2-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Ken Ryan 29 FA-elig 17-0.1 1.0 -1.1
Jon Zuber 28 – 38-0.3 – –
Mark Parent 36 FA-elig 34-0.4 0.4 -0.8
Rex Hudler 37 FA-elig 25-0.4 1.1 -1.6
Matt Whiteside 30 FA-elig 10-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Mike Welch 25 – 10-0.5 – –
Desi Relaford 24 pre-arb 142-0.6 0.2 -0.8
Ricky Bottalico 28 arb 39-0.6 2.2 -2.9
Kevin Jordan 28 arb 112-0.7 0.2 -0.9
Darrin Winston 31 pre-arb 27-0.7 0.2 -0.9
Ruben Amaro Jr. 33 FA-elig 92-0.8 0.3 -1.1
Bobby Estalella 23 pre-arb 47-1.0 0.2 -1.3
Mark Lewis 28 FA-elig 142-1.1 1.7 -2.9

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Bobby Abreu6.5
Doug Glanville2.0
Paul Byrd0.8
Yorkis Perez0.4
Marlon Anderson0.2
Alex Arias0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Midre Cummings1.9
Darren Daulton1.8
Kevin Stocker1.4
Tony Barron1.4
Mickey Morandini1.3
Billy McMillon0.6

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$29.3M

What the front office was committed to as of 1998, 1998–2004. 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 (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Gregg Jefferies3011.000$5.2MFREE AGENT
Curt Schilling3110.000$4.7M$5.2M$3.1MFREE AGENT
Mark Portugal3513.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Mark Leiter358.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Rico Brogna286.000$1.7M$3.2M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Mark Lewis287.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Rex Hudler3714.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Ken Ryan296.000$990k$600kFREE AGENT
Alex Arias306.000$425k$625k$550kFREE AGENT
Mark Parent3612.000$400kFREE AGENT
Ruben Amaro Jr.337.000$265kFREE AGENT
Yorkis Perez307.000$260k$475kFREE AGENT
Matt Whiteside306.000$170kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Ricky Bottalico284.000$2.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Lieberthal264.000$1.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Green285.000$550kFREE AGENT
Billy Brewer305.000$310kFREE AGENT
Jerry Spradlin315.000$235kFREE AGENT
Kevin Jordan283.000$230kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Grace283.000$225kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Byrd273.000$211kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Sefcik273.000$195kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Bennett263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Toby Borland294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Scott Rolen232.000$750kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Glanville272.000$260kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Garrett Stephenson262.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Beech262.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Abreu242.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Estalella232.000$170kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wayne Gomes251.000$170kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wendell Magee252.000$170kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Desi Relaford242.000$170kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darrin Winston311.000$170kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlton Loewer240.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Nye25–—
Jon Zuber282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robert Dodd25–—
Marlon Anderson240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Welch25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Phillies 1998; 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.