RRosternomics
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Giants SFG

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GM: Brian Sabean

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.0× league · TAB +3.5
+3.5TAB — talent above budget10th/28
+8.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/28
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars7th/28
-3.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag7th/28
26%dead money %16th/28
0.556win %5th/28
37.8roster fWAR9th/28
-1surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/28
$39Mpayroll $M15th/28

1997: made playoffs · 90–72. Ranks are vs the 28 teams that season.

Roster

CFDarryl Hamilton 118GStan Javier 46GLeJon Powell 20G
LFBarry Bonds 159GMarvin Benard 14GStan Javier 5G
RFGlenallen Hill 97GStan Javier 94GMarvin Benard 18G
SSJose Vizcaino 147GRich Aurilia 36GWilson Delgado 1G
2BJeff Kent 148GMark Lewis 29GJose Vizcaino 5G
3BBill Mueller 122GMark Lewis 69G
1BJ.T. Snow 156GJeff Kent 13GStan Javier 3G
STARTERSShawn Estes 3.7WARKirk Rueter 3.0WARMark Gardner 1.2WARWilson Alvarez 0.6WARDanny Darwin 0.4WAR
CBrian Johnson 98GDamon Berryhill 51GDoug Mirabelli 6G
DHGlenallen Hill 6GMarvin Benard 1GMark Lewis 1G
BULLPEN★ Rod Beck 37svJulian Tavarez 0hDoug Henry 0hRoberto Hernandez 0hRich Rodriguez 0hJim Poole 0hJoe Roa 0hJohn Johnstone 0h
CBrian Johnson 98 · Damon Berryhill 51 · Doug Mirabelli 6
1BJ.T. Snow 156 · Jeff Kent 13 · Stan Javier 3
2BJeff Kent 148 · Mark Lewis 29 · Jose Vizcaino 5
3BBill Mueller 122 · Mark Lewis 69
SSJose Vizcaino 147 · Rich Aurilia 36 · Wilson Delgado 1
LFBarry Bonds 159 · Marvin Benard 14 · Stan Javier 5
CFDarryl Hamilton 118 · Stan Javier 46 · LeJon Powell 20
RFGlenallen Hill 97 · Stan Javier 94 · Marvin Benard 18
DHGlenallen Hill 6 · Marvin Benard 1 · Mark Lewis 1
SPShawn Estes 3.7 · Kirk Rueter 3.0 · Mark Gardner 1.2 · Wilson Alvarez 0.6 · Danny Darwin 0.4
BP★ Rod Beck 37 · Julian Tavarez 0 · Doug Henry 0 · Roberto Hernandez 0 · Rich Rodriguez 0 · Jim Poole 0 · Joe Roa 0 · John Johnstone 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.

1997 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Barry Bonds 32 FA-elig 1598.9 8.7 +0.4
Jeff Kent 29 arb 1554.1 2.6 +1.6
Stan Javier 33 FA-elig 1423.7 1.4 +2.4
Shawn Estes 24 pre-arb 363.7 0.2 +3.6
J.T. Snow 29 arb 1573.4 1.8 +1.7
Kirk Rueter 26 arb 323.0 0.3 +2.8
Bill Mueller 26 pre-arb 1282.7 0.2 +2.6
Jose Vizcaino 29 FA-elig 1512.1 2.8 -0.6
Brian Johnson↔ DET 29 arb 561.5 0.3 +1.2
Mark Gardner 35 FA-elig 321.2 0.9 +0.4
Rod Beck 28 FA-elig 731.1 3.2 -2.0
Rich Aurilia 25 pre-arb 460.9 0.2 +0.7
Roberto Hernandez↔ CHW 32 FA-elig 280.8 1.7 -0.9
Wilson Alvarez↔ CHW 27 FA-elig 110.6 1.6 -0.9
Rick Wilkins↔ SEA 30 FA-elig 660.6 1.9 -1.3
Darryl Hamilton 32 FA-elig 1250.5 1.8 -1.2
Doug Henry 33 FA-elig 750.4 0.6 -0.1
Danny Darwin↔ CHW 41 FA-elig 100.4 0.2 +0.3
Glenallen Hill 32 FA-elig 1280.4 1.7 -1.3
Terry Mulholland↔ CHC 34 FA-elig 150.3 0.9 -0.6
Damon Berryhill 33 FA-elig 730.2 0.5 -0.2
Osvaldo Fernandez 30 pre-arb 120.1 1.0 -0.8
Doug Creek 28 – 30.1 – –
Rich DeLucia↔ ANA 32 FA-elig 30.1 0.1 +0.0
John Johnstone↔ OAK 28 – 130.0 – –
Cory Bailey 26 arb 70.0 0.2 -0.1
Rich Rodriguez 34 FA-elig 71-0.0 0.3 -0.3
Julian Tavarez 24 arb 89-0.0 0.7 -0.7
Doug Mirabelli 26 – 6-0.0 – –
Joe Roa 25 pre-arb 28-0.0 0.1 -0.2
Wilson Delgado 24 pre-arb 8-0.1 0.1 -0.2
LeJon Powell 23 pre-arb 27-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Jacob Cruz 24 – 16-0.1 – –
Rene Arocha 31 – 6-0.2 – –
Mark Lewis 27 FA-elig 118-0.2 1.7 -1.9
Marvin Benard 26 pre-arb 84-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Pat Rapp↔ MIA 29 arb 8-0.3 0.3 -0.6
Keith Foulke↔ CHW 24 pre-arb 11-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Marcus Jensen↔ DET 24 pre-arb 30-0.3 0.1 -0.4
William Van Landingham 26 arb 18-0.3 0.3 -0.6
Dan Carlson 27 pre-arb 6-0.3 0.1 -0.5
Jim Poole 31 FA-elig 63-0.5 0.8 -1.4

Key additions (new vs 1996)

PlayerfWAR
Jeff Kent4.1
J.T. Snow3.4
Jose Vizcaino2.1
Brian Johnson1.5
Roberto Hernandez0.8
Wilson Alvarez0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 1996)

Player1996 fWAR
Matt Williams2.6
Allen Watson1.5
Shawon Dunston1.2
Tom Lampkin1.1
Kirt Manwaring0.6
Robby Thompson0.6

Current & Historical Payroll

1997 payroll
$39.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 1997, 1997–2003. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Barry Bonds3211.000$8.7M$8.9M$9.4M$10.7M$10.3M$15.0M$15.5M
Rod Beck286.000$3.2MFREE AGENT
Jose Vizcaino298.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Rick Wilkins306.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Darryl Hamilton329.000$1.8M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Roberto Hernandez326.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Glenallen Hill328.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Mark Lewis276.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Wilson Alvarez278.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Stan Javier3313.000$1.4M$1.8M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Mark Gardner358.000$900k$1.1M$2.0M$3.0M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Terry Mulholland3411.000$900kFREE AGENT
Jim Poole317.000$850k$684kFREE AGENT
Doug Henry336.000$550kFREE AGENT$500k
Damon Berryhill3310.000$467kFREE AGENT
Rich Rodriguez347.000$300k$710k$730kFREE AGENT
Danny Darwin4119.000$153k$710kFREE AGENT
Rich DeLucia327.000$52kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Jeff Kent295.000$2.6MFREE AGENT
J.T. Snow295.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Julian Tavarez244.000$683kARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Rapp295.000$333kFREE AGENT
Brian Johnson293.000$333kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
William Van Landingham263.000$295kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kirk Rueter264.000$260kARB 3FREE AGENT
Cory Bailey264.000$181kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rene Arocha314.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Johnstone284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Osvaldo Fernandez301.000$958kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marvin Benard262.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Aurilia252.000$175kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Estes242.000$162kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Mueller261.000$160kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Carlson271.000$150kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
LeJon Powell230.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wilson Delgado241.000$150kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Roa252.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marcus Jensen241.000$120kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Foulke240.000$61kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jacob Cruz241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Mirabelli261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Creek282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Giants 1997; 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.