RRosternomics
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Cardinals STL

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GM: Dal Maxvill

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.72× league · TAB +5.1
+5.1TAB — talent above budget10th/28
+9.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)5th/28
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/28
-3.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag6th/28
31%dead money %15th/28
0.537win %8th/28
35.2roster fWAR13th/28
+4surplus $M (value vs cost)5th/28
$23Mpayroll $M22nd/28

Roster

CFRay Lankford 121GBrian Jordan 37GMark Whiten 22G
LFBernard Gilkey 132GBrian Jordan 22GRod Brewer 15G
RFMark Whiten 137GRod Brewer 19GErik Pappas 15G
SSOzzie Smith 134GJosé Oquendo 22GTim Jones 21G
2BLuis Alicea 96GGeronimo Pena 64GJosé Oquendo 16G
3BTodd Zeile 153GTracy Woodson 28GStan Royer 10G
1BGregg Jefferies 140GRod Brewer 32GGerald Perry 15G
STARTERSBob Tewksbury 4.6WARRene Arocha 2.2WARRheal Cormier 1.5WARDonovan Osborne 1.4WARTom Urbani 0.8WAR
CTom Pagnozzi 92GErik Pappas 63GHector Villanueva 17G
BULLPEN★ Mike Perez 7svRob Murphy 0hLes Lancaster 0hLee Guetterman 0hPaul Kilgus 0hRich Batchelor 0hSteve Dixon 0hRod Brewer 0h
CTom Pagnozzi 92 · Erik Pappas 63 · Hector Villanueva 17
1BGregg Jefferies 140 · Rod Brewer 32 · Gerald Perry 15
2BLuis Alicea 96 · Geronimo Pena 64 · José Oquendo 16
3BTodd Zeile 153 · Tracy Woodson 28 · Stan Royer 10
SSOzzie Smith 134 · José Oquendo 22 · Tim Jones 21
LFBernard Gilkey 132 · Brian Jordan 22 · Rod Brewer 15
CFRay Lankford 121 · Brian Jordan 37 · Mark Whiten 22
RFMark Whiten 137 · Rod Brewer 19 · Erik Pappas 15
SPBob Tewksbury 4.6 · Rene Arocha 2.2 · Rheal Cormier 1.5 · Donovan Osborne 1.4 · Tom Urbani 0.8
BP★ Mike Perez 7 · Rob Murphy 0 · Les Lancaster 0 · Lee Guetterman 0 · Paul Kilgus 0 · Rich Batchelor 0 · Steve Dixon 0 · Rod Brewer 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.

1993 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Gregg Jefferies 25 FA-elig 1425.4 2.6 +1.8
Bob Tewksbury 32 FA-elig 324.6 2.6 +1.2
Bernard Gilkey 26 arb 1373.7 0.2 +2.8
Ozzie Smith 38 FA-elig 1412.6 3.0 -0.9
Ray Lankford 26 arb 1272.6 0.3 +1.8
Rene Arocha 29 pre-arb 322.2 0.1 +1.7
Geronimo Pena 26 arb 741.7 0.2 +1.2
Todd Zeile 27 arb 1571.6 1.0 +0.3
Luis Alicea 27 arb 1151.5 0.2 +1.1
Erik Pappas 27 – 821.5 – –
Rheal Cormier 26 pre-arb 381.5 0.2 +1.1
Donovan Osborne 24 pre-arb 291.4 0.2 +1.0
Mike Perez 28 arb 651.2 0.2 +0.8
Brian Jordan 26 pre-arb 671.0 0.7 +0.1
Gerald Perry 32 FA-elig 961.0 1.0 -0.2
Tom Pagnozzi 30 FA-elig 920.8 2.6 -1.9
Tom Urbani 25 pre-arb 180.8 0.1 +0.5
Mark Whiten 26 arb 1520.7 0.5 +0.1
Allen Watson 22 pre-arb 160.7 0.1 +0.5
Tim Jones 30 – 290.5 – –
Paul Kilgus 31 – 220.5 – –
José Oquendo 29 FA-elig 460.5 2.0 -1.7
Lee Guetterman 34 – 400.4 – –
Les Lancaster 31 FA-elig 500.2 0.3 -0.2
Omar Olivares 25 arb 590.1 0.2 -0.1
Stan Royer 25 – 240.1 – –
Rob Murphy 33 FA-elig 730.0 0.6 -0.6
Rich Batchelor 26 – 9-0.0 – –
Rod Brewer 27 arb 110-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Joe Magrane↔ ANA 28 FA-elig 22-0.1 0.5 -0.6
Steve Dixon 23 – 4-0.2 – –
Hector Villanueva 28 arb 17-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Marc Ronan 23 – 6-0.2 – –
Lee Smith↔ NYY 35 FA-elig 55-0.2 2.3 -2.5
Tripp Cromer III 25 pre-arb 10-0.3 0.1 -0.4
Lonnie Maclin 26 – 12-0.3 – –
Tracy Woodson 30 FA-elig 62-0.5 0.1 -0.5
Ozzie Canseco 28 arb 6-0.6 0.1 -0.6
Todd Burns↔ TEX 29 arb 24-1.1 0.3 -1.2

Key additions (new vs 1992)

PlayerfWAR
Gregg Jefferies5.4
Rene Arocha2.2
Erik Pappas1.5
Tom Urbani0.8
Mark Whiten0.7
Allen Watson0.7

Key subtractions (gone from 1992)

Player1992 fWAR
Felix Jose2.3
Milt Thompson1.4
Todd Worrell0.9
Jose DeLeon0.8
Craig Wilson0.5
Frank DiPino0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1993 payroll
$22.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 1993, 1993–1999. 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 (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Ozzie Smith3815.000$3.0M$3.0M$3.0M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Gregg Jefferies256.000$2.6M$4.6MFREE AGENT
Bob Tewksbury327.000$2.6M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Tom Pagnozzi306.000$2.6M$2.6M$2.7M$2.7M$1.6M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Lee Smith3513.000$2.3MFREE AGENT
José Oquendo2910.000$2.0M$2.1M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Gerald Perry3210.000$967k$650k$299kFREE AGENT
Rob Murphy338.000$600k$566kFREE AGENT
Joe Magrane286.000$541kFREE AGENT
Les Lancaster316.000$350kFREE AGENT
Tracy Woodson306.000$150kFREE AGENT
Lee Guetterman349.000—FREE AGENT
Paul Kilgus316.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Todd Zeile274.000$1.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Whiten263.000$508kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ray Lankford263.000$290kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Burns295.000$282kFREE AGENT
Hector Villanueva283.000$225kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bernard Gilkey263.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Olivares253.000$190kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Perez283.000$175kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Geronimo Pena263.000$170kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Alicea275.000$160kFREE AGENT
Ozzie Canseco283.000$140kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rod Brewer273.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Jones305.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Brian Jordan261.000$717kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rheal Cormier262.000$155kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Donovan Osborne241.000$155kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tripp Cromer III250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rene Arocha290.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Urbani250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Allen Watson220.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Batchelor260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Dixon23–—
Lonnie Maclin26–—
Erik Pappas272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Ronan23–—
Stan Royer252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cardinals 1993; 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.