RRosternomics
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Rangers TEX

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GM: Tom Grieve

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.95× league · TAB -0.6
-0.6TAB — talent above budget17th/26
-4.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)15th/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/26
-7.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag21st/26
18%dead money %5th/26
0.475win %15th/26
33.1roster fWAR15th/26
-1surplus $M (value vs cost)9th/26
$29Mpayroll $M15th/26

Roster

CFJuan Gonzalez 123GDavid Hulse 29GJohn Cangelosi 24G
LFKevin Reimer 110GJohn Cangelosi 36GJuan Gonzalez 31G
RFJosé Canseco 90GMonty Fariss 12GJack Daugherty 11G
SSDickie Thon 87GJeff Huson 82GAl Newman 20G
2BAl Newman 72GJeff Frye 67GJeff Huson 47G
3BDean Palmer 150GAl Newman 28GGeno Petralli 4G
1BRafael Palmeiro 156GJack Daugherty 8GRob Maurer 3G
STARTERSKevin Brown 6.3WARJose Guzman 4.7WARNolan Ryan Jr. 3.5WARTodd Burns 1.1WARRoger Pavlik 0.9WAR
CIvan Rodriguez 116GGeno Petralli 54GRuss McGinnis 10G
DHBrian Downing 90GJosé Canseco 28GKevin Reimer 28G
BULLPEN★ Kenny Rogers 6svEd Nunez 0hTerry Mathews 0hFloyd Bannister 0hMatt Whiteside 0hDanny Leon 0hMike Jeffcoat 0hWayne Rosenthal 0h
CIvan Rodriguez 116 · Geno Petralli 54 · Russ McGinnis 10
1BRafael Palmeiro 156 · Jack Daugherty 8 · Rob Maurer 3
2BAl Newman 72 · Jeff Frye 67 · Jeff Huson 47
3BDean Palmer 150 · Al Newman 28 · Geno Petralli 4
SSDickie Thon 87 · Jeff Huson 82 · Al Newman 20
LFKevin Reimer 110 · John Cangelosi 36 · Juan Gonzalez 31
CFJuan Gonzalez 123 · David Hulse 29 · John Cangelosi 24
RFJosé Canseco 90 · Monty Fariss 12 · Jack Daugherty 11
DHBrian Downing 90 · José Canseco 28 · Kevin Reimer 28
SPKevin Brown 6.3 · Jose Guzman 4.7 · Nolan Ryan Jr. 3.5 · Todd Burns 1.1 · Roger Pavlik 0.9
BP★ Kenny Rogers 6 · Ed Nunez 0 · Terry Mathews 0 · Floyd Bannister 0 · Matt Whiteside 0 · Danny Leon 0 · Mike Jeffcoat 0 · Wayne Rosenthal 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.

1992 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Kevin Brown 27 FA-elig 356.3 1.2 +3.7
Jose Guzman 29 FA-elig 334.7 1.4 +2.3
Nolan Ryan Jr. 45 FA-elig 273.5 4.2 -1.4
Rafael Palmeiro 27 FA-elig 1593.4 3.9 -1.2
Juan Gonzalez 22 arb 1553.0 0.3 +2.0
Ivan Rodriguez 20 pre-arb 1232.3 0.1 +1.7
Ruben Sierra↔ OAK 26 FA-elig 1242.3 4.1 -2.3
Brian Downing 41 FA-elig 1072.2 0.9 +0.8
Dean Palmer 23 arb 1521.3 0.1 +0.9
Jeff Huson 27 arb 1231.2 0.2 +0.7
Dickie Thon 34 FA-elig 951.1 0.6 +0.3
Todd Burns 28 arb 351.1 0.3 +0.5
Kenny Rogers 27 arb 811.1 0.6 +0.2
Jeff Russell↔ OAK 30 FA-elig 511.0 2.2 -1.4
Bobby Witt↔ OAK 28 FA-elig 250.9 1.9 -1.2
Roger Pavlik 24 – 130.9 – –
Jeff Frye 25 pre-arb 670.7 0.1 +0.5
Jose Canseco↔ OAK 27 FA-elig 220.6 0.8 -0.3
Al Newman 32 FA-elig 1160.5 0.3 +0.2
Scott Chiamparino 25 pre-arb 40.5 0.1 +0.3
David Hulse 24 – 320.5 – –
Ed Nunez↔ MIL 29 FA-elig 390.3 0.9 -0.6
Matt Whiteside 24 – 200.3 – –
Dan Smith 23 – 40.1 – –
Mike Jeffcoat 32 – 60.1 – –
Doug Davis 29 – 10.1 – –
Don Carman 32 – 20.0 – –
Steve Fireovid 35 FA-elig 3-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Floyd Bannister 37 FA-elig 36-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Rob Maurer 25 – 8-0.0 – –
Ray Stephens 29 – 8-0.1 – –
Barry Manuel 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Wayne Rosenthal 27 – 6-0.1 – –
Mike Campbell 28 – 1-0.1 – –
Lance McCullers Sr. 28 – 5-0.1 – –
Gerald Alexander 24 – 3-0.1 – –
Geno Petralli 32 FA-elig 94-0.1 0.7 -0.8
Cris Colon 23 – 14-0.2 – –
Russ McGinnis 29 – 14-0.2 – –
John Russell 31 – 7-0.2 – –
Brian Bohanon 23 – 18-0.2 – –
Mario Diaz 30 – 19-0.2 – –
Kevin Reimer 28 arb 148-0.3 0.2 -0.4
Julio Franco 33 FA-elig 35-0.3 2.5 -2.7
Donald Harris 24 – 24-0.4 – –
Jack Daugherty 31 arb 59-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Dan Peltier 24 – 12-0.5 – –
Terry Mathews 27 pre-arb 40-0.5 0.1 -0.5
Danny Leon 25 – 15-0.5 – –
Jeff Robinson↔ PIT 30 arb 16-0.6 0.1 -0.6
Monty Fariss 24 pre-arb 67-0.7 0.1 -0.7
John Cangelosi 29 – 73-1.0 – –

Key additions (new vs 1991)

PlayerfWAR
Dickie Thon1.1
Todd Burns1.1
Roger Pavlik0.9
Jeff Frye0.7
Jose Canseco0.6
Al Newman0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1991)

Player1991 fWAR
Steve Buechele3.2
Gary Pettis0.8
Mike Stanley0.8
Hector Fajardo0.3
Nick Capra0.1
Jim Poole0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1992 payroll
$28.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1992, 1992–1998. 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 (21)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Nolan Ryan Jr.4526.000$4.2M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Ruben Sierra266.000$4.1MFREE AGENT
Rafael Palmeiro276.000$3.9M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Julio Franco3310.000$2.5M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Jeff Russell309.000$2.2MFREE AGENT$615k$615k
Bobby Witt286.000$1.9MFREE AGENT$1.2M$1.4M$2.0M$1.7M
Jose Guzman297.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Kevin Brown276.000$1.2M$2.8M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Brian Downing4119.000$950kFREE AGENT
Ed Nunez2910.000$856kFREE AGENT
Jose Canseco277.000$795k$4.8M$5.1MFREE AGENT
Geno Petralli3210.000$675k$650kFREE AGENT
Dickie Thon3413.000$600kFREE AGENT
Al Newman327.000$260kFREE AGENT
Floyd Bannister3715.000$225kFREE AGENT
Steve Fireovid3511.000$120kFREE AGENT
John Cangelosi297.000—FREE AGENT
Don Carman329.000—FREE AGENT
Mike Jeffcoat329.000—FREE AGENT
Lance McCullers Sr.287.000—FREE AGENT
John Russell318.000—$170kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Kenny Rogers273.000$620kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Burns284.000$345kARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Gonzalez223.000$288kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack Daugherty315.000$215kFREE AGENT
Kevin Reimer284.000$210kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Huson274.000$182kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dean Palmer233.000$142kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Robinson305.000$133kFREE AGENT
Mike Campbell285.000—FREE AGENT
Mario Diaz305.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (21)

PlayerAgeSvc1992199319941995199619971998
Ivan Rodriguez201.000$140kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Mathews271.000$125kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Chiamparino252.000$112kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Frye250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Monty Fariss241.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gerald Alexander24–—
Brian Bohanon232.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cris Colon23–—
Doug Davis29–—
Donald Harris24–—
David Hulse240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Leon25–—
Barry Manuel261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Maurer25–—
Russ McGinnis29–—
Roger Pavlik240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Peltier240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wayne Rosenthal27–—
Ray Stephens292.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Whiteside240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Smith230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Rangers 1992; 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.