RRosternomics
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Padres SDP

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GM: Kevin Towers

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.19× league · TAB +1.9
+1.9TAB — talent above budget15th/30
+13.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/30
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/30
-4.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag11th/30
20%dead money %8th/30
0.605win %4th/30
38.3roster fWAR12th/30
-8surplus $M (value vs cost)18th/30
$50Mpayroll $M12th/30

1998: won pennant · 98–64. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFSteve Finley 157GRuben Rivera 13GJames Mouton 4G
LFGreg Vaughn 151GJames Mouton 16GRuben Rivera 13G
RFTony Gwynn 116GRuben Rivera 73GMark Sweeney 29G
SSChris Gomez 143GAndy Sheets 39GEd Giovanola 1G
2BQuilvio Veras 131GEd Giovanola 35GAndy Sheets 22G
3BKen Caminiti 126GEd Giovanola 37GAndy Sheets 23G
1BWally Joyner 127GMark Sweeney 21GJim Leyritz 21G
STARTERSKevin Brown 10.0WARAndy Ashby 3.0WARJoey Hamilton 2.4WARSterling Hitchcock 1.4WARStan Spencer 0.5WAR
CCarlos Hernandez 122GGreg Myers 52GJim Leyritz 25G
DHGreg Vaughn 4GTony Gwynn 3GMark Sweeney 1G
BULLPEN★ Trevor Hoffman 53svDan Miceli 0hRandy Myers 0hBrian Boehringer 0hDonne Wall 0hScott Sanders 0hRoberto Ramirez 0hMatt Clement 0h
CCarlos Hernandez 122 · Greg Myers 52 · Jim Leyritz 25
1BWally Joyner 127 · Mark Sweeney 21 · Jim Leyritz 21
2BQuilvio Veras 131 · Ed Giovanola 35 · Andy Sheets 22
3BKen Caminiti 126 · Ed Giovanola 37 · Andy Sheets 23
SSChris Gomez 143 · Andy Sheets 39 · Ed Giovanola 1
LFGreg Vaughn 151 · James Mouton 16 · Ruben Rivera 13
CFSteve Finley 157 · Ruben Rivera 13 · James Mouton 4
RFTony Gwynn 116 · Ruben Rivera 73 · Mark Sweeney 29
DHGreg Vaughn 4 · Tony Gwynn 3 · Mark Sweeney 1
SPKevin Brown 10.0 · Andy Ashby 3.0 · Joey Hamilton 2.4 · Sterling Hitchcock 1.4 · Stan Spencer 0.5
BP★ Trevor Hoffman 53 · Dan Miceli 0 · Randy Myers 0 · Brian Boehringer 0 · Donne Wall 0 · Scott Sanders 0 · Roberto Ramirez 0 · Matt Clement 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
Kevin Brown 33 FA-elig 3610.0 4.9 +5.9
Greg Vaughn 32 FA-elig 1585.8 5.3 +1.0
Trevor Hoffman 30 arb 663.1 2.9 +0.4
Andy Ashby 30 FA-elig 333.0 4.1 -0.9
Quilvio Veras 27 arb 1383.0 1.1 +2.1
Ken Caminiti 35 FA-elig 1312.6 3.5 -0.7
Joey Hamilton 27 arb 352.4 3.2 -0.6
Wally Joyner 36 FA-elig 1312.1 3.8 -1.5
Chris Gomez 27 arb 1451.6 1.1 +0.6
Sterling Hitchcock 27 FA-elig 391.4 2.2 -0.7
Tony Gwynn 38 FA-elig 1271.2 4.0 -2.7
Dan Miceli 27 arb 671.2 0.8 +0.5
Carlos Hernandez 31 FA-elig 1290.7 0.7 +0.1
Greg Myers 32 FA-elig 690.7 0.8 -0.0
Jim Leyritz↔ BOS 34 FA-elig 620.6 1.1 -0.5
Ruben Rivera 24 arb 950.6 0.2 +0.4
Stan Spencer 28 pre-arb 60.5 0.2 +0.4
Ed Giovanola 29 arb 920.5 0.2 +0.3
Donne Wall 30 arb 460.4 0.2 +0.2
Pete Smith↔ BAL 32 FA-elig 110.3 0.3 +0.1
Matt Clement 23 – 40.3 – –
John Vander Wal↔ COL 32 FA-elig 200.2 0.1 +0.1
Andy Sheets 26 pre-arb 880.1 0.2 -0.1
Scott Sanders↔ DET 29 arb 230.1 1.5 -1.4
Carlos Reyes↔ BOS 29 arb 220.1 0.2 -0.1
George Arias 26 pre-arb 200.0 0.2 -0.2
Marc Kroon↔ CIN 25 arb 20.0 0.1 -0.0
Mark Langston 37 FA-elig 230.0 0.5 -0.5
Ben Davis 21 – 1-0.0 – –
Will Cunnane 24 – 3-0.1 – –
Jim Bruske↔ LAD 33 arb 4-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Mark Sweeney 28 arb 122-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Ben Van Ryn↔ CHC 26 pre-arb 6-0.1 0.0 -0.2
Don Wengert↔ CHC 28 arb 10-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Mandy Romero↔ BOS 30 – 6-0.2 – –
Randy Myers↔ TOR 35 FA-elig 21-0.2 1.5 -1.7
Steve Finley 33 FA-elig 159-0.2 3.4 -3.7
Eddie Williams 33 – 17-0.3 – –
Roberto Ramirez 25 – 21-0.4 – –
Brian Boehringer 29 arb 56-0.6 0.2 -0.8
James Mouton 29 arb 55-0.7 0.4 -1.2
Archi Cianfrocco 31 FA-elig 40-0.9 0.5 -1.4

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Kevin Brown10.0
Dan Miceli1.2
Greg Myers0.7
Jim Leyritz0.6
Stan Spencer0.5
Ed Giovanola0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Rickey Henderson2.0
John Flaherty1.1
Sean Bergman0.6
Chris Jones0.5
Derrek Lee0.3
Todd Erdos0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$49.7M

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 (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Greg Vaughn329.000$5.3MFREE AGENT
Kevin Brown3312.000$4.9MFREE AGENT
Andy Ashby307.000$4.1M$5.0MFREE AGENT
Tony Gwynn3816.000$4.0M$4.4M$6.3M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Wally Joyner3612.000$3.8M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Ken Caminiti3511.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
Steve Finley339.000$3.4MFREE AGENT
Sterling Hitchcock276.000$2.2M$3.5M$6.1M$4.6MFREE AGENT
Randy Myers3513.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Jim Leyritz348.000$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Greg Myers3211.000$750k$506kFREE AGENT
Carlos Hernandez318.000$700kFREE AGENT$1.4M
Mark Langston3714.000$500kFREE AGENT
Archi Cianfrocco316.000$475kFREE AGENT
Pete Smith3211.000$282kFREE AGENT
John Vander Wal327.000$103k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Eddie Williams3312.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Joey Hamilton274.000$3.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Trevor Hoffman305.000$2.9MFREE AGENT
Scott Sanders295.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Chris Gomez275.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Quilvio Veras273.000$1.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Miceli275.000$750kFREE AGENT
James Mouton294.000$435kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Sweeney283.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Boehringer293.000$230kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Donne Wall303.000$215kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ruben Rivera243.000$182kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Giovanola293.000$181kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Reyes294.000$177kARB 3FREE AGENT
Don Wengert283.000$73kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Kroon253.000$59kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Bruske333.000$19kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
George Arias262.000$181kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Sheets262.000$181kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Stan Spencer280.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Van Ryn262.000$41kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Will Cunnane241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mandy Romero30–—
Roberto Ramirez250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Clement230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Davis210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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