RRosternomics
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Cardinals STL

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GM: Walt Jocketty

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.96× league · TAB -8.4
-8.4TAB — talent above budget26th/28
-9.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)25th/28
3.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars26th/28
-4.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag11th/28
51%dead money %27th/28
0.434win %24th/28
22.3roster fWAR23rd/28
-10surplus $M (value vs cost)23rd/28
$32Mpayroll $M19th/28

Roster

CFRay Lankford 129GBrian Jordan 13GAllen Battle 7G
LFBernard Gilkey 118GAllen Battle 15GJohn Mabry 11G
RFBrian Jordan 116GJohn Mabry 29GAllen Battle 14G
SSTripp Cromer III 95GOzzie Smith 41GJosé Oquendo 24G
2BJosé Oquendo 62GDavid Bell 37GGeronimo Pena 25G
3BScott Cooper 110GJose Oliva 43GDarnell Coles 22G
1BJohn Mabry 73GMark Sweeney 19GDarnell Coles 18G
STARTERSMark Petkovsek 1.7WARDonovan Osborne 1.1WARTom Urbani 1.1WARMike Morgan 0.9WARAllen Watson 0.7WAR
CDanny Sheaffer 67GTom Pagnozzi 61GScott Hemond 38G
BULLPEN★ Tom Henke 36svJeff Parrett 0hTony Fossas 0hRich DeLucia 0hRene Arocha 0hT.J. Mathews 0hJohn Frascatore 0hBrian Barber 0h
CDanny Sheaffer 67 · Tom Pagnozzi 61 · Scott Hemond 38
1BJohn Mabry 73 · Mark Sweeney 19 · Darnell Coles 18
2BJosé Oquendo 62 · David Bell 37 · Geronimo Pena 25
3BScott Cooper 110 · Jose Oliva 43 · Darnell Coles 22
SSTripp Cromer III 95 · Ozzie Smith 41 · José Oquendo 24
LFBernard Gilkey 118 · Allen Battle 15 · John Mabry 11
CFRay Lankford 129 · Brian Jordan 13 · Allen Battle 7
RFBrian Jordan 116 · John Mabry 29 · Allen Battle 14
SPMark Petkovsek 1.7 · Donovan Osborne 1.1 · Tom Urbani 1.1 · Mike Morgan 0.9 · Allen Watson 0.7
BP★ Tom Henke 36 · Jeff Parrett 0 · Tony Fossas 0 · Rich DeLucia 0 · Rene Arocha 0 · T.J. Mathews 0 · John Frascatore 0 · Brian Barber 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
Brian Jordan 28 arb 1314.4 0.7 +3.5
Ray Lankford 28 arb 1324.3 2.8 +1.3
Bernard Gilkey 28 arb 1212.8 1.6 +1.1
Mark Petkovsek 29 arb 261.7 0.1 +1.5
John Mabry 24 pre-arb 1291.4 0.1 +1.2
Tom Henke 37 FA-elig 521.3 2.3 -1.0
Donovan Osborne 26 arb 191.1 0.2 +0.8
Tom Urbani 27 pre-arb 241.1 0.1 +0.9
Tony Fossas 37 FA-elig 581.0 0.3 +0.7
José Oquendo 31 FA-elig 881.0 2.2 -1.3
Mike Morgan↔ CHC 35 FA-elig 170.9 2.7 -1.9
Todd Zeile↔ CHC 29 FA-elig 340.8 1.1 -0.3
John Habyan↔ ANA 31 FA-elig 310.8 0.3 +0.4
Allen Watson 24 pre-arb 210.7 0.2 +0.5
Jeff Parrett 33 FA-elig 590.6 0.6 -0.0
T.J. Mathews 25 pre-arb 230.6 0.1 +0.4
Allen Battle 26 pre-arb 610.4 0.1 +0.3
Danny Jackson 33 FA-elig 190.4 2.1 -1.7
Rich DeLucia 30 arb 560.3 0.3 +0.0
Alan Benes 23 pre-arb 30.3 0.1 +0.2
Scott Cooper 27 arb 1180.2 1.5 -1.3
Doug Creek 26 – 60.1 – –
Tom Pagnozzi 32 FA-elig 620.1 2.7 -2.6
Ken Hill↔ CLE 29 FA-elig 180.1 2.7 -2.6
Cory Bailey 24 – 30.1 – –
Terry Bradshaw 26 pre-arb 190.1 0.1 -0.1
Geronimo Pena 28 arb 320.0 0.8 -0.7
Rich Rodriguez 32 arb 10.0 0.6 -0.5
John Frascatore 25 – 140.0 – –
Brian Barber 22 – 90.0 – –
Danny Sheaffer 33 FA-elig 760.0 0.2 -0.2
Manuel Lee 30 – 1-0.1 – –
Mark Sweeney 25 pre-arb 37-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Ray Giannelli 29 – 9-0.1 – –
Chris Sabo↔ CHW 33 FA-elig 5-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Vicente Palacios 31 FA-elig 20-0.2 0.2 -0.4
David Bell↔ CLE 22 pre-arb 39-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Tim Hulett Sr. 35 – 4-0.2 – –
Tripp Cromer III 27 pre-arb 105-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Darnell Coles 33 FA-elig 63-0.3 0.3 -0.6
Scott Hemond 29 FA-elig 57-0.3 0.3 -0.6
Ramon Caraballo 26 pre-arb 34-0.3 0.1 -0.4
Rene Arocha 31 pre-arb 41-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Ozzie Smith 40 FA-elig 44-0.5 3.0 -3.4
Jose Oliva↔ ATL 24 pre-arb 22-0.6 0.0 -0.7
Gerald Perry 34 FA-elig 65-0.8 0.3 -1.1

Key additions (new vs 1994)

PlayerfWAR
Mark Petkovsek1.7
Tom Henke1.3
Donovan Osborne1.1
Tony Fossas1.0
Mike Morgan0.9
Jeff Parrett0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 1994)

Player1994 fWAR
Mark Whiten2.7
Bob Tewksbury2.1
Gregg Jefferies1.8
Luis Alicea1.1
Rheal Cormier0.5
Gerald Young0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1995 payroll
$31.8M

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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Ozzie Smith4017.000$3.0M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Mike Morgan3517.000$2.7M$978kFREE AGENT
Ken Hill297.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
Tom Pagnozzi328.000$2.7M$2.7M$1.6M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Tom Henke3713.000$2.3MFREE AGENT
José Oquendo3112.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Danny Jackson3312.000$2.1M$4.1M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Todd Zeile296.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Jeff Parrett339.000$600k$437kFREE AGENT
Scott Hemond296.000$350kFREE AGENT
John Habyan3110.000$315kFREE AGENT
Darnell Coles3312.000$300kFREE AGENT
Gerald Perry3412.000$299kFREE AGENT
Tony Fossas377.000$275k$650k$750kFREE AGENT
Vicente Palacios318.000$250kFREE AGENT
Danny Sheaffer338.000$200k$335k$425kFREE AGENT
Chris Sabo337.000$110kFREE AGENT
Tim Hulett Sr.3512.000—FREE AGENT
Manuel Lee3010.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Ray Lankford285.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Bernard Gilkey285.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Scott Cooper275.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Geronimo Pena285.000$770kFREE AGENT
Brian Jordan283.000$725kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Rodriguez325.000$575kFREE AGENT
Rich DeLucia305.000$300kFREE AGENT
Donovan Osborne263.000$250kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Petkovsek294.000$114kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Rene Arocha312.000$195kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Allen Watson242.000$155kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Urbani272.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tripp Cromer III272.000$112kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Allen Battle260.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Mabry241.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ramon Caraballo262.000$109kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alan Benes230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Bradshaw260.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Sweeney250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
T.J. Mathews250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Bell220.000$104kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Oliva241.000$35kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cory Bailey242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Barber220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Frascatore251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ray Giannelli29–—
Doug Creek260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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