RRosternomics
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Mariners SEA

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GM: Woody Woodward

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.04× league · TAB +10.4
+10.4TAB — talent above budget4th/28
+5.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)5th/28
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars8th/28
-6.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/28
13%dead money %4th/28
0.545win %6th/28
40.4roster fWAR5th/28
+4surplus $M (value vs cost)7th/28
$34Mpayroll $M13th/28

1995: made playoffs · 79–66. Ranks are vs the 28 teams that season.

Roster

CFKen Griffey Jr. 70GAlex Diaz 68GRich Amaral 29G
LFVince Coleman 95GRich Amaral 53GDarren Bragg 31G
RFJay Buhner 120GWarren Newson 18GDarren Bragg 17G
SSLuis Sojo 80GFelix Fermin 46GAlex Rodriguez 46G
2BJoey Cora 112GFelix Fermin 29GLuis Sojo 19G
3BMike Blowers 126GDoug Strange 41GEdgar Martinez 4G
1BTino Martinez 139GMike Blowers 7GGreg Pirkl 6G
STARTERSRandy Johnson 9.5WARChris Bosio 2.0WARTim Belcher 1.7WARAndy Benes 0.6WARTim Davis 0.3WAR
CDan Wilson 119GChad Kreuter 23GChris Widger 19G
DHEdgar Martinez 138GJay Buhner 4GKen Griffey Jr. 2G
BULLPEN★ Bobby Ayala 19svJeff Nelson 0hNorm Charlton 0hBill Risley 0hBob Wells 0hLee Guetterman 0hRafael Carmona 0hScott Davison 0h
CDan Wilson 119 · Chad Kreuter 23 · Chris Widger 19
1BTino Martinez 139 · Mike Blowers 7 · Greg Pirkl 6
2BJoey Cora 112 · Felix Fermin 29 · Luis Sojo 19
3BMike Blowers 126 · Doug Strange 41 · Edgar Martinez 4
SSLuis Sojo 80 · Felix Fermin 46 · Alex Rodriguez 46
LFVince Coleman 95 · Rich Amaral 53 · Darren Bragg 31
CFKen Griffey Jr. 70 · Alex Diaz 68 · Rich Amaral 29
RFJay Buhner 120 · Warren Newson 18 · Darren Bragg 17
DHEdgar Martinez 138 · Jay Buhner 4 · Ken Griffey Jr. 2
SPRandy Johnson 9.5 · Chris Bosio 2.0 · Tim Belcher 1.7 · Andy Benes 0.6 · Tim Davis 0.3
BP★ Bobby Ayala 19 · Jeff Nelson 0 · Norm Charlton 0 · Bill Risley 0 · Bob Wells 0 · Lee Guetterman 0 · Rafael Carmona 0 · Scott Davison 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.

1995 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Randy Johnson 31 FA-elig 309.5 4.7 +4.4
Edgar Martinez 32 FA-elig 1457.0 3.6 +3.2
Tino Martinez 27 arb 1414.5 1.0 +3.3
Ken Griffey Jr. 25 FA-elig 723.3 7.6 -4.4
Jay Buhner 30 FA-elig 1262.6 4.1 -1.6
Dan Wilson 26 arb 1192.6 0.2 +2.3
Jeff Nelson 28 arb 622.2 0.3 +1.9
Chris Bosio 32 FA-elig 312.0 4.2 -2.4
Norm Charlton↔ PHI 32 FA-elig 301.9 0.3 +1.6
Mike Blowers 30 FA-elig 1341.8 0.7 +1.1
Tim Belcher 33 FA-elig 281.7 0.6 +1.1
Luis Sojo 30 arb 1021.5 0.4 +1.0
Bill Risley 28 arb 451.3 0.1 +1.1
Darren Bragg 25 pre-arb 521.0 0.1 +0.8
Bobby Ayala 25 arb 630.8 0.2 +0.5
Rich Amaral 33 arb 900.7 0.2 +0.4
Andy Benes↔ SDP 27 FA-elig 120.6 1.3 -0.7
Doug Strange 31 FA-elig 740.6 0.2 +0.3
Tim Davis 24 pre-arb 50.3 0.1 +0.1
Vince Coleman↔ KCR 33 FA-elig 400.2 0.1 +0.1
Bill Krueger↔ SDP 37 – 60.2 – –
Warren Newson↔ CHW 30 arb 330.2 0.1 +0.1
Steve Frey↔ PHI 31 FA-elig 130.2 0.4 -0.2
Bob Wolcott 21 – 70.2 – –
Marc Newfield↔ SDP 22 pre-arb 240.1 0.1 +0.0
Salomon Torres↔ SFG 23 pre-arb 160.1 0.1 -0.0
Kevin King 26 – 20.1 – –
Jim Mecir 25 – 20.0 – –
Gary Thurman 30 FA-elig 130.0 0.2 -0.2
Scott Davison 24 – 3-0.0 – –
Lee Guetterman 36 – 23-0.0 – –
Arquimedez Pozo 21 – 1-0.0 – –
John Cummings↔ LAD 26 pre-arb 4-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Jim Converse↔ KCR 23 pre-arb 6-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Chad Kreuter 30 FA-elig 26-0.1 0.6 -0.6
Tim Harikkala 23 – 1-0.2 – –
Joey Cora 30 FA-elig 120-0.2 0.4 -0.6
Greg Pirkl 24 pre-arb 10-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Chris Widger 24 pre-arb 23-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Alex Rodriguez 19 pre-arb 48-0.3 0.4 -0.7
Bob Wells 28 pre-arb 30-0.4 0.1 -0.5
Alex Diaz 26 arb 103-0.6 0.2 -0.8
Rafael Carmona 23 pre-arb 15-0.7 0.1 -0.7
Ron Villone↔ SDP 25 pre-arb 19-0.7 0.1 -0.7
Dave Fleming↔ KCR 25 arb 16-1.1 0.5 -1.6
Felix Fermin 31 FA-elig 73-1.9 0.9 -2.7

Key additions (new vs 1994)

PlayerfWAR
Norm Charlton1.9
Tim Belcher1.7
Andy Benes0.6
Doug Strange0.6
Vince Coleman0.2
Bill Krueger0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1994)

Player1994 fWAR
Reggie Jefferson1.2
Greg Hibbard0.6
Roger Salkeld0.3
Rich Gossage0.1
Keith Mitchell0.1
Torey Lovullo0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1995 payroll
$34.5M

What the front office was committed to as of 1995, 1995–2001. 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 (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Ken Griffey Jr.256.000$7.6M$7.7M$7.9M$8.2M$8.8MFREE AGENT
Randy Johnson317.000$4.7M$6.0M$6.3M$4.1MFREE AGENT
Chris Bosio329.000$4.2M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Jay Buhner308.000$4.1M$5.6M$4.8M$5.4M$4.8M$1.4M$1.9M
Edgar Martinez328.000$3.6M$3.5M$3.0M$3.5M$3.5M$5.4M$5.5M
Andy Benes276.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Felix Fermin318.000$900kFREE AGENT
Mike Blowers306.000$694kFREE AGENT$400k
Tim Belcher338.000$580kFREE AGENT
Chad Kreuter307.000$555kFREE AGENT
Joey Cora308.000$425k$850k$1.0M$1.4MFREE AGENT
Steve Frey316.000$384kFREE AGENT
Norm Charlton327.000$286k$2.1M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Gary Thurman308.000$250kFREE AGENT
Doug Strange316.000$195k$380kFREE AGENT
Vince Coleman3310.000$87kFREE AGENT
Lee Guetterman3611.000—FREE AGENT
Bill Krueger3712.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Tino Martinez275.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Dave Fleming254.000$480kARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Sojo305.000$400kFREE AGENT
Jeff Nelson283.000$275kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Amaral334.000$250kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Ayala253.000$250kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Diaz263.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Wilson263.000$175kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Risley283.000$135kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Warren Newson304.000$79kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Alex Rodriguez191.000$442kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Davis241.000$120kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Pirkl242.000$112kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darren Bragg251.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Widger240.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Carmona230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Wells281.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Salomon Torres232.000$92kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Newfield222.000$61kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Villone250.000$55kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Converse232.000$46kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Cummings262.000$16kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Davison24–—
Tim Harikkala23–—
Kevin King262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Mecir250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Arquimedez Pozo21–—
Bob Wolcott210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mariners 1995; 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.