RRosternomics
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Rangers TEX

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GM: Douglas Melvin

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.37× league · TAB +7.3
+7.3TAB — talent above budget7th/30
+1.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)13th/30
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/30
-2.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag3rd/30
14%dead money %3rd/30
0.543win %9th/30
45.5roster fWAR5th/30
-7surplus $M (value vs cost)17th/30
$57Mpayroll $M5th/30

1998: made playoffs · 88–74. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFTom Goodwin 150GRoberto Kelly 41GMilt Cuyler 3G
LFRusty Greer 154GRoberto Kelly 14GWarren Newson 6G
RFJuan Gonzalez 116GMike Simms 40GRoberto Kelly 31G
SSRoyce Clayton 141GKevin Elster 84GDomingo Cedeño 35G
2BMark McLemore 122GLuis Alicea 45GDomingo Cedeño 7G
3BTodd Zeile 157GLuis Alicea 26GScott Sheldon 3G
1BWill Clark 134GLee Stevens 37GMike Simms 16G
STARTERSAaron Sele 4.7WARJohn Burkett 4.0WARRick Helling 3.5WARTodd Stottlemyre 1.3WAREsteban Loaiza 0.6WAR
CIvan Rodriguez 139GBill Haselman 36G
DHLee Stevens 65GJuan Gonzalez 38GMike Simms 17G
BULLPEN★ John Wetteland 42svEric Gunderson 0hTim Crabtree 0hDanny Patterson 0hGreg Cadaret 0hXavier Hernandez 0hScott Bailes 0hTony Fossas 0h
CIvan Rodriguez 139 · Bill Haselman 36
1BWill Clark 134 · Lee Stevens 37 · Mike Simms 16
2BMark McLemore 122 · Luis Alicea 45 · Domingo Cedeño 7
3BTodd Zeile 157 · Luis Alicea 26 · Scott Sheldon 3
SSRoyce Clayton 141 · Kevin Elster 84 · Domingo Cedeño 35
LFRusty Greer 154 · Roberto Kelly 14 · Warren Newson 6
CFTom Goodwin 150 · Roberto Kelly 41 · Milt Cuyler 3
RFJuan Gonzalez 116 · Mike Simms 40 · Roberto Kelly 31
DHLee Stevens 65 · Juan Gonzalez 38 · Mike Simms 17
SPAaron Sele 4.7 · John Burkett 4.0 · Rick Helling 3.5 · Todd Stottlemyre 1.3 · Esteban Loaiza 0.6
BP★ John Wetteland 42 · Eric Gunderson 0 · Tim Crabtree 0 · Danny Patterson 0 · Greg Cadaret 0 · Xavier Hernandez 0 · Scott Bailes 0 · Tony Fossas 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.

1998 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Ivan Rodriguez 26 FA-elig 1456.4 6.7 +0.2
Juan Gonzalez 28 FA-elig 1544.9 7.8 -2.5
Aaron Sele 28 arb 334.7 2.9 +2.3
John Burkett 33 FA-elig 324.0 4.0 +0.4
Rick Helling 27 arb 333.5 0.2 +3.5
Rusty Greer 29 arb 1553.2 1.0 +2.5
Will Clark 34 FA-elig 1492.8 5.8 -2.8
John Wetteland 31 FA-elig 632.0 5.8 -3.6
Tom Goodwin 29 FA-elig 1541.7 2.4 -0.6
Mark McLemore 33 FA-elig 1261.6 2.3 -0.5
Mike Simms 31 FA-elig 861.6 0.3 +1.4
Luis Alicea 32 FA-elig 1011.5 0.8 +0.9
Roberto Kelly 33 FA-elig 751.5 1.6 +0.0
Todd Stottlemyre↔ STL 33 FA-elig 101.3 1.5 -0.1
Tim Crabtree 28 arb 641.2 0.3 +1.0
Darren Oliver↔ STL 27 arb 191.0 1.9 -0.8
Royce Clayton↔ STL 28 FA-elig 520.8 1.3 -0.4
Todd Zeile↔ LAD 32 FA-elig 520.8 1.1 -0.2
Lee Stevens 30 FA-elig 1200.7 1.2 -0.5
Esteban Loaiza↔ PIT 26 arb 140.6 0.2 +0.5
Bill Haselman 32 FA-elig 400.4 0.6 -0.2
Xavier Hernandez 32 FA-elig 460.3 1.0 -0.6
Scott Bailes 36 FA-elig 460.3 0.2 +0.1
Milt Cuyler 29 – 70.2 – –
Kevin Elster 33 FA-elig 840.2 1.5 -1.3
Tony Fossas↔ CHC 40 FA-elig 100.1 0.2 -0.0
Al Levine 30 pre-arb 300.1 0.2 -0.0
Chris Tremie 28 – 20.0 – –
Jonathan Johnson 23 – 10.0 – –
Domingo Cedeno 29 arb 610.0 0.5 -0.5
Greg Cadaret↔ ANA 36 FA-elig 110.0 0.1 -0.1
Julio Santana↔ TBR 24 pre-arb 3-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Rob Sasser 23 – 1-0.0 – –
Roger Pavlik 30 FA-elig 5-0.0 1.6 -1.6
Fernando Tatis↔ STL 23 pre-arb 95-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Bobby Witt↔ STL 34 FA-elig 15-0.3 1.5 -1.8
Eric Gunderson 32 FA-elig 68-0.3 0.5 -0.8
Todd Van Poppel↔ PIT 26 FA-elig 4-0.3 0.1 -0.4
Scott Sheldon 29 – 7-0.3 – –
Matt Perisho 23 – 2-0.3 – –
Warren Newson 33 – 10-0.3 – –
Danny Patterson 27 pre-arb 56-0.4 0.2 -0.6

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Aaron Sele4.7
Luis Alicea1.5
Roberto Kelly1.5
Todd Stottlemyre1.3
Tim Crabtree1.2
Royce Clayton0.8

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Ken Hill1.2
Matt Whiteside0.8
Dean Palmer0.8
Jim Leyritz0.6
Benji Gil0.4
Damon Buford0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$57.2M

What the front office was committed to as of 1998, 1998–2004. 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 (26)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Juan Gonzalez289.000$7.8M$8.5MFREE AGENT$11.0M$13.0M
Ivan Rodriguez267.000$6.7M$8.9M$8.6M$8.2M$9.6MFREE AGENT
Will Clark3412.000$5.8MFREE AGENT
John Wetteland319.000$5.8M$6.3M$6.5MFREE AGENT
John Burkett3311.000$4.0M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Tom Goodwin297.000$2.4M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Mark McLemore3312.000$2.3M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Roberto Kelly3311.000$1.6M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Roger Pavlik306.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Bobby Witt3412.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Kevin Elster3312.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Todd Stottlemyre3310.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Royce Clayton287.000$1.3M$4.5M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Lee Stevens308.000$1.2M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Todd Zeile329.000$1.1M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Xavier Hernandez329.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Luis Alicea3210.000$750k$825k$750kFREE AGENT
Bill Haselman328.000$625kFREE AGENT$1.1M$800k$800k
Eric Gunderson328.000$510k$450kFREE AGENT
Mike Simms318.000$275k$625kFREE AGENT
Scott Bailes3612.000$210kFREE AGENT
Tony Fossas4010.000$159kFREE AGENT
Greg Cadaret3611.000$73kFREE AGENT
Todd Van Poppel267.000$55kFREE AGENT$2.0M$1.4M
Milt Cuyler298.000—FREE AGENT
Warren Newson337.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Aaron Sele285.000$2.9MFREE AGENT
Darren Oliver275.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Rusty Greer294.000$1.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Domingo Cedeno295.000$500kFREE AGENT
Tim Crabtree283.000$290kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Helling274.000$216kARB 3FREE AGENT
Esteban Loaiza263.000$180kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Tremie283.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Danny Patterson272.000$208kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Levine302.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Fernando Tatis231.000$108kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Julio Santana241.000$17kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Perisho231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Sheldon291.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jonathan Johnson230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Sasser23–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Rangers 1998; 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.