RRosternomics
𝕏

Pirates PIT

‹ ›

GM: Larry Doughty

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.54× league · TAB +11.1
+11.1TAB — talent above budget4th/26
+12.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)3rd/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars4th/26
-2.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag7th/26
39%dead money %17th/26
0.531win %10th/26
37.3roster fWAR9th/26
+5surplus $M (value vs cost)1st/26
$6Mpayroll $M25th/26

Roster

CFAndy Van Slyke 152GGary Redus 17GJohn Cangelosi 12G
LFBarry Bonds 135GGary Redus 65GR.J. Reynolds 19G
RFGlenn Wilson 107GR.J. Reynolds 80GMike Diaz 9G
SSRafael Belliard 117GAl Pedrique 46GFelix Fermin 43G
2BJosé Lind 153GKen Oberkfell 12GDenny Gonzalez 4G
3BBobby Bonilla 159GKen Oberkfell 115GAl Pedrique 5G
1BSid Bream 138GRandy Milligan 25GOrestes Destrade 8G
STARTERSJohn Smiley 3.2WARBob Walk 3.0WARDoug Drabek 2.9WARDave LaPoint 0.5WARBrian Fisher 0.1WAR
CMichael LaValliere 114GJunior Ortiz 40GTom Prince 28G
BULLPEN★ Jim Gott 34svJeff Robinson 0hBob Kipper 0hDave Rucker 0hScott Medvin 0hVicente Palacios 0hMorris Madden 0hRandy Kramer 0h
CMichael LaValliere 114 · Junior Ortiz 40 · Tom Prince 28
1BSid Bream 138 · Randy Milligan 25 · Orestes Destrade 8
2BJosé Lind 153 · Ken Oberkfell 12 · Denny Gonzalez 4
3BBobby Bonilla 159 · Ken Oberkfell 115 · Al Pedrique 5
SSRafael Belliard 117 · Al Pedrique 46 · Felix Fermin 43
LFBarry Bonds 135 · Gary Redus 65 · R.J. Reynolds 19
CFAndy Van Slyke 152 · Gary Redus 17 · John Cangelosi 12
RFGlenn Wilson 107 · R.J. Reynolds 80 · Mike Diaz 9
SPJohn Smiley 3.2 · Bob Walk 3.0 · Doug Drabek 2.9 · Dave LaPoint 0.5 · Brian Fisher 0.1
BP★ Jim Gott 34 · Jeff Robinson 0 · Bob Kipper 0 · Dave Rucker 0 · Scott Medvin 0 · Vicente Palacios 0 · Morris Madden 0 · Randy Kramer 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
Andy Van Slyke 27 arb 1546.4 0.8 +1.2
Barry Bonds 23 pre-arb 1445.4 0.2 +1.5
Bobby Bonilla 25 pre-arb 1595.1 0.2 +1.4
John Smiley 23 pre-arb 343.2 0.1 +0.9
Bob Walk 31 FA-elig 343.0 0.5 +0.5
Doug Drabek 25 pre-arb 332.9 0.2 +0.7
Michael LaValliere 27 arb 1202.5 0.2 +0.6
Sid Bream 27 arb 1482.4 0.4 +0.4
Jose Lind 24 pre-arb 1542.4 0.1 +0.7
Jeff Robinson 27 arb 751.5 0.5 -0.0
John Cangelosi 25 arb 750.8 0.1 +0.1
Jim Gott 28 FA-elig 670.7 0.5 -0.3
Rafael Belliard 26 FA-elig 1220.5 0.1 +0.0
Dave LaPoint↔ CHW 28 FA-elig 80.5 0.1 +0.0
Gary Redus↔ CHW 31 FA-elig 300.4 0.1 +0.0
Darnell Coles↔ SEA 26 arb 680.4 0.2 -0.1
R.J. Reynolds 29 arb 1300.4 0.3 -0.2
Randy Milligan 26 pre-arb 400.3 0.1 +0.0
Felix Fermin 24 pre-arb 430.3 0.1 +0.0
Benny Distefano 26 arb 160.2 0.1 -0.0
Scott Medvin 26 – 170.2 – –
Rick Reed 22 – 20.1 – –
Glenn Wilson↔ SEA 29 FA-elig 370.1 0.3 -0.2
Brian Fisher 26 arb 330.1 0.3 -0.2
Barry Jones↔ CHW 25 pre-arb 420.1 0.1 -0.0
Randy Kramer 27 – 50.1 – –
Dave Rucker 30 – 310.0 – –
Ruben Rodriguez 23 pre-arb 20.0 0.1 -0.1
Tommy Gregg↔ ATL 24 – 14-0.0 – –
Dave Hostetler 32 – 6-0.0 – –
Junior Ortiz 28 FA-elig 49-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Ken Oberkfell↔ ATL 32 FA-elig 20-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Denny Gonzalez 24 – 24-0.1 – –
Miguel Garcia 21 – 1-0.1 – –
Morris Madden 27 – 5-0.1 – –
Mike Diaz↔ CHW 28 arb 47-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Orestes Destrade 26 – 36-0.2 – –
Vicente Palacios 24 pre-arb 7-0.3 0.1 -0.1
Mike Dunne 25 pre-arb 34-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Al Pedrique 27 pre-arb 50-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Bob Kipper 23 arb 50-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Tom Prince 23 pre-arb 29-0.5 0.1 -0.2

Key additions (new vs 1987)

PlayerfWAR
Dave LaPoint0.5
Gary Redus0.4
Randy Milligan0.3
Benny Distefano0.2
Scott Medvin0.2
Rick Reed0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Rick Reuschel3.7
Jim Morrison1.2
Johnny Ray1.1
Don Robinson0.9
Mike Bielecki0.3
Brett Gideon0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$6.4M

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 (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Jim Gott286.000$500k$600kFREE AGENT
Bob Walk318.000$450k$800k$850k$850k$2.0M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Glenn Wilson296.000$273k$586kFREE AGENT
Junior Ortiz286.000$250k$300kFREE AGENT
Rafael Belliard266.000$130k$225k$380kFREE AGENT
Gary Redus316.000$129k$500k$500k$600k$825kFREE AGENT
Ken Oberkfell3211.000$104k$620kFREE AGENT
Dave LaPoint288.000$103kFREE AGENT
Dave Rucker307.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Andy Van Slyke275.000$825kFREE AGENT
Jeff Robinson274.000$475kARB 3FREE AGENT
Sid Bream275.000$360kFREE AGENT
R.J. Reynolds295.000$290kFREE AGENT
Brian Fisher263.000$255kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael LaValliere274.000$215kARB 3FREE AGENT
Darnell Coles265.000$207kFREE AGENT
Bob Kipper233.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Cangelosi253.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Diaz285.000$93kFREE AGENT
Benny Distefano264.000$62kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (22)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Bobby Bonilla252.000$230kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Barry Bonds232.000$220kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Drabek252.000$160kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Dunne251.000$142kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Smiley232.000$108kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Pedrique271.000$91kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Lind241.000$75kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Fermin241.000$68kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Barry Jones252.000$64kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Prince231.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vicente Palacios241.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Milligan261.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ruben Rodriguez232.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orestes Destrade261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Garcia21–—
Denny Gonzalez24–—
Tommy Gregg241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Hostetler32–—
Randy Kramer270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Morris Madden27–—
Scott Medvin26–—
Rick Reed220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 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.