RRosternomics
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Mariners SEA

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GM: Woody Woodward

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 4 in this regime · payroll 0.65× league · TAB +11.3
+11.3TAB — talent above budget4th/26
+0.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)12th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-4.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag13th/26
46%dead money %22nd/26
0.475win %14th/26
40.1roster fWAR6th/26
+6surplus $M (value vs cost)1st/26
$11Mpayroll $M24th/26

Roster

CFKen Griffey Jr. 151GHenry Cotto 18GMike Brumley 1G
LFJeffrey Leonard 74GTracy Jones 45GGreg Briley 43G
RFHenry Cotto 68GGreg Briley 66GJay Buhner 39G
SSOmar Vizquel 81GMike Brumley 47GBrian Giles 37G
2BHarold Reynolds 160GMike Brumley 6GJeff Schaefer 3G
3BEdgar Martinez 143GJeff Schaefer 26GScott Bradley 5G
1BPete O'Brien 97GAlvin Davis 52GTino Martinez 23G
STARTERSErik Hanson 6.6WARMatt Young 3.7WARBrian Holman 2.7WARBill Swift 2.6WARRandy Johnson 2.0WAR
CDave Valle 104GScott Bradley 63GMatt Sinatro 28G
DHAlvin Davis 87GJeffrey Leonard 47GTracy Jones 15G
BULLPEN★ Mike Schooler 30svMike Jackson 0hKeith Comstock 0hGene Harris 0hBrent Knackert 0hBryan Clark 0hDave Burba 0hVance Lovelace 0h
CDave Valle 104 · Scott Bradley 63 · Matt Sinatro 28
1BPete O'Brien 97 · Alvin Davis 52 · Tino Martinez 23
2BHarold Reynolds 160 · Mike Brumley 6 · Jeff Schaefer 3
3BEdgar Martinez 143 · Jeff Schaefer 26 · Scott Bradley 5
SSOmar Vizquel 81 · Mike Brumley 47 · Brian Giles 37
LFJeffrey Leonard 74 · Tracy Jones 45 · Greg Briley 43
CFKen Griffey Jr. 151 · Henry Cotto 18 · Mike Brumley 1
RFHenry Cotto 68 · Greg Briley 66 · Jay Buhner 39
DHAlvin Davis 87 · Jeffrey Leonard 47 · Tracy Jones 15
SPErik Hanson 6.6 · Matt Young 3.7 · Brian Holman 2.7 · Bill Swift 2.6 · Randy Johnson 2.0
BP★ Mike Schooler 30 · Mike Jackson 0 · Keith Comstock 0 · Gene Harris 0 · Brent Knackert 0 · Bryan Clark 0 · Dave Burba 0 · Vance Lovelace 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Erik Hanson 25 pre-arb 336.6 0.1 +2.8
Edgar Martinez 27 arb 1445.5 0.1 +2.3
Ken Griffey Jr. 20 pre-arb 1555.0 0.2 +2.0
Harold Reynolds 29 FA-elig 1603.9 1.0 +0.8
Matt Young 31 FA-elig 343.7 0.6 +1.0
Alvin Davis 29 FA-elig 1402.7 1.5 -0.3
Brian Holman 25 pre-arb 282.7 0.2 +1.0
Bill Swift 28 arb 552.6 0.4 +0.8
Randy Johnson 26 pre-arb 332.0 0.1 +0.7
Omar Vizquel 23 pre-arb 811.5 0.1 +0.5
Ken Griffey Sr.↔ CIN 40 FA-elig 210.9 0.2 +0.2
Keith Comstock 34 FA-elig 600.8 0.1 +0.3
Rich DeLucia 25 – 50.8 – –
Mike Schooler 27 pre-arb 490.8 0.3 +0.1
Brian Giles 30 – 450.8 – –
Greg Briley 25 pre-arb 1250.7 0.1 +0.2
Dave Valle 29 FA-elig 1070.7 0.5 -0.2
Henry Cotto 29 FA-elig 1270.5 0.4 -0.2
Tracy Jones↔ DET 29 arb 250.5 0.1 +0.1
Matt Sinatro 30 FA-elig 300.5 0.1 +0.1
Russ Swan↔ SFG 26 pre-arb 110.4 0.1 +0.1
Jay Buhner 25 arb 510.4 0.2 -0.0
Pete O'Brien 32 FA-elig 1080.2 1.2 -1.1
Mike Jackson 25 arb 630.1 0.4 -0.4
Dave Burba 23 pre-arb 60.1 0.1 -0.1
Scott Bankhead 26 arb 40.0 0.8 -0.7
Mike Brumley 27 – 620.0 – –
Mike Gardiner 24 – 50.0 – –
Scott Medvin 28 – 5-0.0 – –
Dennis Powell↔ MIL 26 arb 2-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Dave Cochrane 27 arb 15-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Jeff Schaefer 30 pre-arb 55-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Jerry Reed↔ BOS 34 FA-elig 4-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Jose Melendez 24 – 3-0.1 – –
Bryan Clark 33 – 12-0.1 – –
Vance Lovelace 26 – 5-0.1 – –
Tino Martinez 22 pre-arb 24-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Brent Knackert 20 pre-arb 24-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Gene Harris 25 pre-arb 25-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Gary Eave 26 – 8-0.3 – –
Darnell Coles↔ DET 28 FA-elig 37-0.6 0.3 -0.5
Scott Bradley 30 FA-elig 101-0.9 0.5 -0.8
Jeffrey Leonard 34 FA-elig 134-1.3 0.8 -1.4

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Matt Young3.7
Ken Griffey Sr.0.9
Rich DeLucia0.8
Brian Giles0.8
Tracy Jones0.5
Matt Sinatro0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Mark Langston2.1
Mike Dunne0.7
Clint Zavaras0.4
Mike Kingery0.1
Bruce Fields0.0
Julio Solano-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$11.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Alvin Davis296.000$1.5M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Pete O'Brien328.000$1.2M$2.0M$2.2M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Harold Reynolds297.000$967k$1.9M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Jeffrey Leonard3413.000$800kFREE AGENT
Matt Young317.000$587kFREE AGENT
Dave Valle296.000$485k$667k$1.7M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Scott Bradley306.000$460k$575k$598kFREE AGENT
Henry Cotto296.000$425k$600k$875k$450kFREE AGENT
Darnell Coles287.000$287kFREE AGENT
Ken Griffey Sr.4017.000$160kFREE AGENT
Matt Sinatro309.000$114kFREE AGENT$150k
Keith Comstock346.000$114kFREE AGENT
Jerry Reed349.000$46kFREE AGENT
Brian Giles309.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Scott Bankhead264.000$755kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Jackson254.000$400kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Swift285.000$370kFREE AGENT
Jay Buhner253.000$180kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tracy Jones294.000$125kARB 3FREE AGENT
Edgar Martinez273.000$108kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Cochrane274.000$102kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dennis Powell265.000$23kFREE AGENT
Mike Brumley273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Mike Schooler272.000$260kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Holman252.000$193kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Griffey Jr.201.000$180kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Johnson262.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Erik Hanson252.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Briley252.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Vizquel231.000$135kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gene Harris251.000$108kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Burba230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Knackert200.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tino Martinez220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Schaefer301.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Swan261.000$85kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Clark33–—
Rich DeLucia250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Eave262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Gardiner240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vance Lovelace26–—
Scott Medvin28–—
Jose Melendez240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mariners 1990; 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.