RRosternomics
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Mariners SEA

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GM: Dick Balderson

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.44× league · TAB +10.3
+10.3TAB — talent above budget6th/26
+6.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars12th/26
-3.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag10th/26
30%dead money %13th/26
0.481win %15th/26
34.3roster fWAR14th/26
+5surplus $M (value vs cost)2nd/26
$5Mpayroll $M26th/26

Roster

CFJohn Moses 97GMickey Brantley Sr. 51GDonell Nixon 32G
LFPhil Bradley 158GMickey Brantley Sr. 6GDave Hengel 2G
RFMike Kingery 111GJohn Christensen 41GMickey Brantley Sr. 35G
SSRey Quinones 135GDomingo Ramos 25GMario Diaz 10G
2BHarold Reynolds 160GDomingo Ramos 6GRick Renteria 4G
3BJim Presley 148GEdgar Martinez 12GScott Bradley 9G
1BAlvin Davis 157GJohn Moses 16GBrick Smith 3G
STARTERSMark Langston 6.4WARMike Morgan 3.1WARMike Moore 3.1WARLee Guetterman 1.4WARScott Bankhead 0.9WAR
CScott Bradley 81GDave Valle 75GBob Kearney 24G
DHKen Phelps 104GGary Matthews Sr. 29GDave Valle 11G
BULLPEN★ Ed Nunez 12svBill Wilkinson 0hJerry Reed 0hStan Clarke 0hSteve Shields 0hDennis Powell 0hRoy Thomas 0hRich Monteleone 0h
CScott Bradley 81 · Dave Valle 75 · Bob Kearney 24
1BAlvin Davis 157 · John Moses 16 · Brick Smith 3
2BHarold Reynolds 160 · Domingo Ramos 6 · Rick Renteria 4
3BJim Presley 148 · Edgar Martinez 12 · Scott Bradley 9
SSRey Quinones 135 · Domingo Ramos 25 · Mario Diaz 10
LFPhil Bradley 158 · Mickey Brantley Sr. 6 · Dave Hengel 2
CFJohn Moses 97 · Mickey Brantley Sr. 51 · Donell Nixon 32
RFMike Kingery 111 · John Christensen 41 · Mickey Brantley Sr. 35
DHKen Phelps 104 · Gary Matthews Sr. 29 · Dave Valle 11
SPMark Langston 6.4 · Mike Morgan 3.1 · Mike Moore 3.1 · Lee Guetterman 1.4 · Scott Bankhead 0.9
BP★ Ed Nunez 12 · Bill Wilkinson 0 · Jerry Reed 0 · Stan Clarke 0 · Steve Shields 0 · Dennis Powell 0 · Roy Thomas 0 · Rich Monteleone 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.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mark Langston 26 arb 356.4 0.4 +1.4
Phil Bradley 28 arb 1583.4 0.8 +0.2
Mike Moore 27 arb 333.1 0.5 +0.4
Mike Morgan 27 FA-elig 343.1 0.2 +0.7
Alvin Davis 26 – 1572.9 – –
Ken Phelps 32 FA-elig 1202.7 0.3 +0.5
Harold Reynolds 26 arb 1602.2 0.1 +0.5
Bill Wilkinson 22 pre-arb 561.9 0.1 +0.5
Jim Presley 25 arb 1521.8 0.2 +0.3
Mike Kingery 26 pre-arb 1201.8 0.1 +0.4
Lee Guetterman 28 arb 251.4 0.1 +0.3
Dave Valle 26 arb 951.4 0.1 +0.3
Jerry Reed 31 FA-elig 391.3 0.1 +0.3
Scott Bankhead 23 pre-arb 270.9 0.1 +0.2
Mickey Brantley Sr. 26 pre-arb 920.8 0.1 +0.1
Rey Quinones 23 pre-arb 1350.5 0.1 +0.1
Domingo Ramos 29 FA-elig 420.5 0.1 +0.1
Dennis Powell 23 pre-arb 160.4 0.1 +0.0
Edgar Martinez 24 – 130.3 – –
Ed Nunez 24 arb 480.2 0.2 -0.2
Mark Huismann↔ CLE 29 – 60.2 – –
Mike Campbell 23 pre-arb 90.2 0.1 +0.0
Donell Nixon 25 – 460.1 – –
Scott Bradley 27 arb 1020.1 0.1 -0.1
Mike Trujillo 27 pre-arb 280.1 0.1 -0.1
Roy Thomas 34 – 80.1 – –
Mario Diaz 25 – 110.0 – –
Bob Kearney 30 FA-elig 240.0 0.1 -0.1
Mike Brown 28 – 10.0 – –
Clay Parker 24 – 3-0.0 – –
Jim Weaver 27 – 7-0.1 – –
Rick Renteria 25 – 12-0.1 – –
Rich Monteleone 24 – 3-0.1 – –
Dave Hengel 25 – 10-0.2 – –
Brick Smith 28 – 5-0.2 – –
Jerry Narron 31 FA-elig 4-0.2 0.1 -0.1
John Christensen 26 arb 53-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Steve Shields 28 – 20-0.3 – –
Gary Matthews Sr.↔ CHC 36 FA-elig 45-0.5 0.4 -0.6
Stan Clarke 26 – 22-0.6 – –
John Moses 29 arb 116-0.9 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Bill Wilkinson1.9
Mike Kingery1.8
Scott Bankhead0.9
Dennis Powell0.4
Edgar Martinez0.3
Mike Campbell0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Matt Young1.7
Bill Swift1.5
Dave Henderson1.4
Danny Tartabull1.0
Pete Ladd0.7
Steve Fireovid0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$4.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. 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 (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Gary Matthews Sr.3615.000$445kFREE AGENT
Ken Phelps327.000$300k$412kFREE AGENT
Mike Morgan279.000$185kFREE AGENT
Bob Kearney308.000$125kFREE AGENT
Jerry Reed316.000$114k$125k$265k$334kFREE AGENT
Domingo Ramos299.000$80kFREE AGENT
Jerry Narron318.000$62kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Phil Bradley284.000$750kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Moore275.000$536kFREE AGENT
Mark Langston263.000$420kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Nunez245.000$240kFREE AGENT
Jim Presley253.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Harold Reynolds264.000$122kARB 3FREE AGENT
John Moses295.000$110kFREE AGENT
Scott Bradley273.000$110kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Valle263.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lee Guetterman283.000$82kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Christensen263.000$80kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Brown285.000—FREE AGENT
Alvin Davis263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Huismann294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Mike Trujillo272.000$110kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Kingery261.000$92kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rey Quinones231.000$85kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mickey Brantley Sr.261.000$78kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Bankhead231.000$75kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dennis Powell232.000$70kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Campbell230.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Wilkinson222.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Stan Clarke26–—
Mario Diaz250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Hengel25–—
Edgar Martinez240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Monteleone240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Donell Nixon250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clay Parker240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Renteria251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Shields282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brick Smith28–—
Roy Thomas34–—
Jim Weaver27–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mariners 1987; 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.