RRosternomics
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Rangers TEX

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GM: Tom Grieve

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.74× league · TAB +6.9
+6.9TAB — talent above budget3rd/26
+5.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)9th/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars8th/26
-5.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag17th/26
33%dead money %19th/26
0.512win %12th/26
37.4roster fWAR9th/26
+3surplus $M (value vs cost)1st/26
$10Mpayroll $M20th/26

Roster

CFCecil Espy 131GJuan Gonzalez 24GJeff Kunkel 24G
LFPete Incaviglia 120GRick Leach 37GThad Bosley 6G
RFRuben Sierra 161GHarold Baines 25GRick Leach 3G
SSJeff Kunkel 59GFred Manrique 39GSteve Buechele 1G
2BJulio Franco 140GFred Manrique 74GSteve Buechele 18G
3BSteve Buechele 145GScott Coolbaugh 23GBuddy Bell 9G
1BRafael Palmeiro 147GJack Daugherty 22GMike Stanley 7G
STARTERSNolan Ryan Jr. 7.0WARKevin Brown 3.1WARBobby Witt 2.5WARMike Jeffcoat 2.4WARJamie Moyer 0.2WAR
CChad Kreuter 85GJim Sundberg 73GGeno Petralli 49G
DHHarold Baines 113GRick Leach 33GBuddy Bell 14G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Russell 38svKenny Rogers 0hCecilio Guante 0hGary Mielke 0hDrew Hall 0hCraig McMurtry 0hBrad Arnsberg 0hDarrel Akerfelds 0h
CChad Kreuter 85 · Jim Sundberg 73 · Geno Petralli 49
1BRafael Palmeiro 147 · Jack Daugherty 22 · Mike Stanley 7
2BJulio Franco 140 · Fred Manrique 74 · Steve Buechele 18
3BSteve Buechele 145 · Scott Coolbaugh 23 · Buddy Bell 9
SSJeff Kunkel 59 · Fred Manrique 39 · Steve Buechele 1
LFPete Incaviglia 120 · Rick Leach 37 · Thad Bosley 6
CFCecil Espy 131 · Juan Gonzalez 24 · Jeff Kunkel 24
RFRuben Sierra 161 · Harold Baines 25 · Rick Leach 3
DHHarold Baines 113 · Rick Leach 33 · Buddy Bell 14
SPNolan Ryan Jr. 7.0 · Kevin Brown 3.1 · Bobby Witt 2.5 · Mike Jeffcoat 2.4 · Jamie Moyer 0.2
BP★ Jeff Russell 38 · Kenny Rogers 0 · Cecilio Guante 0 · Gary Mielke 0 · Drew Hall 0 · Craig McMurtry 0 · Brad Arnsberg 0 · Darrel Akerfelds 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.

1989 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Nolan Ryan Jr. 42 FA-elig 327.0 1.8 +0.7
Ruben Sierra 23 arb 1625.6 0.3 +1.7
Julio Franco 30 FA-elig 1505.5 1.3 +0.7
Kevin Brown 24 arb 283.1 0.1 +1.0
Rafael Palmeiro 24 – 1562.5 – –
Bobby Witt 25 arb 312.5 0.2 +0.7
Mike Jeffcoat 29 FA-elig 222.4 0.1 +0.8
Jeff Russell 27 FA-elig 712.1 0.5 +0.3
Jeff Kunkel 27 arb 1081.7 0.1 +0.5
Cecil Espy 26 FA-elig 1421.4 0.1 +0.4
Steve Buechele 27 arb 1551.3 0.4 +0.0
Pete Incaviglia 25 arb 1331.1 0.5 -0.1
Rick Leach 32 FA-elig 1101.0 0.3 +0.0
Fred Manrique↔ CHW 27 FA-elig 540.9 0.1 +0.2
Kenny Rogers 24 pre-arb 730.8 0.1 +0.2
Geno Petralli 29 FA-elig 700.8 0.3 -0.1
Jim Sundberg 38 FA-elig 760.7 0.5 -0.2
Jack Daugherty 28 pre-arb 520.6 0.1 +0.1
Scott Coolbaugh 23 – 250.4 – –
John Barfield 24 – 40.3 – –
Cecilio Guante 29 FA-elig 500.2 0.4 -0.4
Jamie Moyer 26 arb 150.2 0.2 -0.1
Drew Hall 26 arb 380.2 0.1 -0.0
Scott Fletcher↔ CHW 30 FA-elig 830.1 0.7 -0.7
Darrel Akerfelds 27 – 60.0 – –
Harold Baines↔ CHW 30 FA-elig 500.0 0.4 -0.4
Wilson Alvarez 19 – 10.0 – –
Paul Wilmet 30 – 3-0.0 – –
Thad Bosley 32 – 37-0.0 – –
Juan Gonzalez 19 – 24-0.1 – –
Kevin Reimer 25 – 3-0.1 – –
Gary Mielke 26 pre-arb 43-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Sammy Sosa↔ CHW 20 pre-arb 25-0.3 0.0 -0.1
Craig McMurtry 29 FA-elig 19-0.3 0.3 -0.4
Mike Stanley 26 arb 67-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Jeff Stone↔ BOS 28 – 22-0.4 – –
Brad Arnsberg 25 – 16-0.4 – –
Dean Palmer 20 – 16-0.4 – –
Buddy Bell 37 – 34-0.5 – –
Charlie Hough 41 FA-elig 30-0.8 0.9 -1.2
Chad Kreuter 24 pre-arb 87-1.2 0.1 -0.5

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Nolan Ryan Jr.7.0
Julio Franco5.5
Rafael Palmeiro2.5
Rick Leach1.0
Fred Manrique0.9
Kenny Rogers0.8

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
Pete O'Brien3.4
Jose Guzman2.9
Curtis Wilkerson1.8
Paul Kilgus1.7
Oddibe McDowell1.3
Ray Hayward0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$10.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1989, 1989–1995. 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 (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Nolan Ryan Jr.4223.000$1.8M$1.4M$3.3M$4.2M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Julio Franco307.000$1.3M$1.6M$2.4M$2.5M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Charlie Hough4119.000$900k$1.0MFREE AGENT
Scott Fletcher308.000$701kFREE AGENT
Jeff Russell276.000$480k$1.2M$2.2M$2.2MFREE AGENT$615k
Jim Sundberg3815.000$475kFREE AGENT
Cecilio Guante297.000$445kFREE AGENT
Harold Baines309.000$412k$872kFREE AGENT
Rick Leach328.000$350kFREE AGENT
Geno Petralli297.000$325k$462k$562k$675k$650kFREE AGENT
Craig McMurtry296.000$275k$250kFREE AGENT
Cecil Espy266.000$98k$162kFREE AGENT
Fred Manrique278.000$87kFREE AGENT
Mike Jeffcoat296.000$83k$185k$390kFREE AGENT
Buddy Bell3717.000—FREE AGENT
Thad Bosley3212.000—$250kFREE AGENT
Jeff Stone286.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Pete Incaviglia253.000$475kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Buechele274.000$430kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ruben Sierra233.000$350kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jamie Moyer263.000$205kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Witt253.000$205kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Stanley263.000$95kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Kunkel275.000$80kFREE AGENT
Drew Hall263.000$74kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Brown243.000$72kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darrel Akerfelds273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Arnsberg253.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Palmeiro243.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Chad Kreuter241.000$72kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack Daugherty282.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Mielke262.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kenny Rogers240.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sammy Sosa200.000$29kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wilson Alvarez190.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Barfield240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Coolbaugh230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Gonzalez190.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dean Palmer200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Reimer251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Wilmet30–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Rangers 1989; 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.