RRosternomics
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Padres SDP

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GM: Kevin Towers

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.91× league · TAB +7.9
+7.9TAB — talent above budget6th/28
+10.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)3rd/28
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars4th/28
-5.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag17th/28
20%dead money %10th/28
0.562win %4th/28
41.0roster fWAR7th/28
+5surplus $M (value vs cost)4th/28
$30Mpayroll $M15th/28

1996: made playoffs · 91–71. Ranks are vs the 28 teams that season.

Roster

CFSteve Finley 160GRickey Henderson 10GDoug Dascenzo 1G
LFGreg Vaughn 137GRickey Henderson 114GChris Gwynn 5G
RFTony Gwynn 111GChris Gwynn 24GMarc Newfield 23G
SSChris Gomez 136GLuis Lopez 35GArchi Cianfrocco 10G
2BJody Reed 145GLuis Lopez 22GCraig Shipley 17G
3BKen Caminiti 145GScott Livingstone 17GArchi Cianfrocco 10G
1BWally Joyner 119GArchi Cianfrocco 34GScott Livingstone 21G
STARTERSScott Sanders 3.8WARJoey Hamilton 3.6WARBob Tewksbury 3.2WARAndy Ashby 2.2WARTim Worrell 1.9WAR
CJohn Flaherty 118GBrian Johnson 66GArchi Cianfrocco 1G
BULLPEN★ Trevor Hoffman 42svDoug Bochtler 0hWillie Blair 0hDario Veras 0hAl Osuna 0hDustin Hermanson 0hMike Oquist 0hAndres Berumen 0h
CJohn Flaherty 118 · Brian Johnson 66 · Archi Cianfrocco 1
1BWally Joyner 119 · Archi Cianfrocco 34 · Scott Livingstone 21
2BJody Reed 145 · Luis Lopez 22 · Craig Shipley 17
3BKen Caminiti 145 · Scott Livingstone 17 · Archi Cianfrocco 10
SSChris Gomez 136 · Luis Lopez 35 · Archi Cianfrocco 10
LFGreg Vaughn 137 · Rickey Henderson 114 · Chris Gwynn 5
CFSteve Finley 160 · Rickey Henderson 10 · Doug Dascenzo 1
RFTony Gwynn 111 · Chris Gwynn 24 · Marc Newfield 23
SPScott Sanders 3.8 · Joey Hamilton 3.6 · Bob Tewksbury 3.2 · Andy Ashby 2.2 · Tim Worrell 1.9
BP★ Trevor Hoffman 42 · Doug Bochtler 0 · Willie Blair 0 · Dario Veras 0 · Al Osuna 0 · Dustin Hermanson 0 · Mike Oquist 0 · Andres Berumen 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.

1996 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Ken Caminiti 33 FA-elig 1467.5 3.3 +3.1
Steve Finley 31 FA-elig 1615.4 2.9 +1.6
Scott Sanders 27 arb 463.8 0.3 +2.9
Joey Hamilton 25 pre-arb 343.6 0.3 +2.7
Bob Tewksbury 35 FA-elig 363.2 1.5 +1.2
Tony Gwynn 36 FA-elig 1163.0 4.3 -1.8
Wally Joyner 34 FA-elig 1212.8 2.5 -0.2
Trevor Hoffman 28 arb 702.8 1.0 +1.4
Andy Ashby 28 arb 252.2 2.0 -0.1
Rickey Henderson 37 FA-elig 1482.2 3.2 -1.4
Tim Worrell 28 arb 501.9 0.2 +1.4
John Flaherty↔ DET 28 arb 721.5 0.2 +1.1
Fernando Valenzuela 35 FA-elig 361.4 1.0 +0.2
Sean Bergman 26 arb 431.0 0.2 +0.6
Craig Shipley 33 FA-elig 330.7 0.5 +0.1
Brian Johnson 28 pre-arb 820.6 0.2 +0.4
Rob Deer 35 – 250.6 – –
Bryce Florie↔ MIL 26 pre-arb 390.5 0.1 +0.3
Greg Vaughn↔ MIL 30 FA-elig 430.5 1.7 -1.4
Chris Gomez↔ DET 25 arb 890.4 0.2 +0.2
Doug Bochtler 25 pre-arb 630.4 0.1 +0.2
Scott Livingstone 30 arb 1020.1 0.6 -0.4
Ron Villone↔ MIL 26 pre-arb 210.1 0.1 +0.1
Dario Veras 23 pre-arb 230.1 0.1 -0.0
Al Osuna 30 – 100.1 – –
Mike Oquist 28 arb 80.0 0.1 -0.1
Archi Cianfrocco 29 arb 790.0 0.3 -0.2
Glenn Dishman↔ PHI 25 – 3-0.0 – –
Todd Steverson 24 pre-arb 1-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Sean Mulligan 26 – 2-0.0 – –
Pete Walker 27 – 1-0.0 – –
Jim Tatum↔ BOS 28 – 5-0.1 – –
Dustin Hermanson 23 – 8-0.1 – –
Andres Berumen 25 – 3-0.1 – –
Doug Dascenzo 32 – 21-0.2 – –
Andujar Cedeno↔ DET 26 FA-elig 49-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Jason Thompson 25 – 13-0.2 – –
Marc Newfield↔ MIL 23 arb 84-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Willie Blair 30 FA-elig 60-0.4 0.8 -1.1
Chris Gwynn 31 FA-elig 81-0.5 0.4 -0.8
Brad Ausmus↔ DET 27 arb 50-0.6 0.1 -0.7
Jody Reed 33 FA-elig 146-0.8 1.0 -1.7
Luis Lopez 25 arb 63-1.9 0.2 -1.8

Key additions (new vs 1995)

PlayerfWAR
Bob Tewksbury3.2
Wally Joyner2.8
Rickey Henderson2.2
John Flaherty1.5
Sean Bergman1.0
Craig Shipley0.7

Key subtractions (gone from 1995)

Player1995 fWAR
Andy Benes2.7
Brian Williams1.1
Bip Roberts0.6
Roberto Petagine0.3
Phil Plantier0.2
Eddie Williams0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1996 payroll
$29.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1996, 1996–2002. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Tony Gwynn3614.000$4.3M$4.6M$4.0M$4.4M$6.3M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Ken Caminiti339.000$3.3M$3.1M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Rickey Henderson3717.000$3.2M$2.2MFREE AGENT$300k
Steve Finley317.000$2.9M$3.0M$3.4MFREE AGENT
Wally Joyner3410.000$2.5M$3.8M$3.8M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Greg Vaughn307.000$1.7M$4.0M$5.3MFREE AGENT
Bob Tewksbury3510.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Jody Reed339.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Fernando Valenzuela3516.000$1.0M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Willie Blair306.000$750kFREE AGENT
Craig Shipley3310.000$500k$500kFREE AGENT
Chris Gwynn319.000$360kFREE AGENT
Andujar Cedeno266.000$236kFREE AGENT
Doug Dascenzo328.000—FREE AGENT
Rob Deer3512.000—FREE AGENT
Al Osuna306.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Andy Ashby285.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Trevor Hoffman283.000$955kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Livingstone305.000$550kFREE AGENT
Scott Sanders273.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Archi Cianfrocco294.000$262kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Worrell283.000$230kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Bergman263.000$205kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Gomez253.000$179kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Flaherty284.000$166kARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Lopez253.000$155kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Oquist283.000$150kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Ausmus273.000$140kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Newfield233.000$90kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Tatum284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Joey Hamilton252.000$325kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Johnson282.000$170kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Bochtler251.000$145kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Steverson241.000$125kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryce Florie262.000$125kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dario Veras230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Villone261.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andres Berumen251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Glenn Dishman251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dustin Hermanson231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Mulligan26–—
Jason Thompson25–—
Pete Walker271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Padres 1996; 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.