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Rangers TEX

199888–74 (0.543)Made Playoffs
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GM: Douglas Melvin

Overview

Ranks vs the 30 teams in 1998, or a custom range (defaults to every team-season since 1985, when our data starts).

to

Front Office

PoorAverageGreat
Value
Payroll $M
$57M
Surplus $M
-7
Win %
0.543
TAB
+7.4
WAB
+2.0
Roster composition
Roster fWAR
45.5
Dead money %
14%
Depth Players
8.0
Dead WAR
-2.3

Offense

PoorAverageGreat

Pitching & Defense

PoorAverageGreat

Roster

1998 depth chart — stacked by playing time

C

RIvan Rodriguez139
RBill Haselman36
RChris Tremie2

1B

LWill Clark134
LLee Stevens37
RMike Simms16
RScott Sheldon1

2B

BMark McLemore122
BLuis Alicea45
BDomingo Cedeño7

3B

RFernando Tatis⇄95
RTodd Zeile⇄52
BLuis Alicea26
RScott Sheldon3

SS

RKevin Elster84
RRoyce Clayton⇄52
BDomingo Cedeño35
RScott Sheldon2

LF

LRusty Greer154
RRoberto Kelly14
LWarren Newson6
RMike Simms3
BLuis Alicea2

CF

LTom Goodwin150
RRoberto Kelly41
BMilt Cuyler3
LRusty Greer2

RF

RJuan Gonzalez116
RMike Simms40
RRoberto Kelly31
LLee Stevens7

DH

LLee Stevens65
RJuan Gonzalez38
RMike Simms17
LWill Clark15
BLuis Alicea7
RIvan Rodriguez6
LWarren Newson3
RBill Haselman1
BDomingo Cedeño1
BMark McLemore1

Starters

RAaron Sele4.7 WAR
RJohn Burkett4.0 WAR
RRick Helling3.5 WAR
RTodd Stottlemyre⇄1.3 WAR
LDarren Oliver⇄1.0 WAR
REsteban Loaiza⇄0.6 WAR
RJonathan Johnson0.0 WAR
RTodd Van Poppel⇄-0.3 WAR
RBobby Witt⇄-0.3 WAR
LEric Gunderson-0.3 WAR
LMatt Perisho-0.3 WAR

Bullpen

★ RJohn Wetteland42 sv
LEric Gunderson0 h
RTim Crabtree0 h
RDanny Patterson0 h
RXavier Hernandez0 h
LScott Bailes0 h
RAl Levine0 h
LGreg Cadaret⇄0 h

Each position shows its top 3 by games (top = starter) — click "+more" for the rest. The letter is bats/throws; ⇄ marks a player traded mid-season. Starters are ranked by WAR, bullpen by holds; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

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

Contract Value

WAR translated into tier-adjusted market value, then compared with what the player was paid by Rangers. Guaranteed contracts from the 2015-present contract-data period use the known contract period through 1998; everyone else is shown as a 1998 season snapshot.

PlayerPeriodfWARTier Market $MPaid $MSurplus $M$ / WARTierContract
Aaron Sele 1998 +4.7 +83.1 2.9 +80.3 $0.6M 2.19× –
John Burkett 1998 +4.0 +70.8 4.0 +66.8 $1.0M 2.19× –
Juan Gonzalez 1998 +4.9 +70.9 7.8 +63.1 $1.6M 1.79× –
Ivan Rodriguez 1998 +6.4 +65.6 6.7 +58.9 $1.0M 1.28× –
Rick Helling 1998 +3.5 +54.3 0.2 +54.1 $0.1M 1.96× –
Rusty Greer 1998 +3.2 +41.2 1.0 +40.2 $0.3M 1.60× –
John Wetteland 1998 +2.0 +31.9 5.8 +26.1 $2.8M 1.95× –
Will Clark 1998 +2.8 +24.1 5.8 +18.3 $2.1M 1.07× –
Mike Simms 1998 +1.6 +15.2 0.3 +15.0 $0.2M 1.22× –
Tom Goodwin 1998 +1.7 +16.2 2.4 +13.8 $1.4M 1.22× –
Roberto Kelly 1998 +1.5 +14.8 1.6 +13.2 $1.1M 1.22× –
Luis Alicea 1998 +1.5 +10.0 0.8 +9.3 $0.5M 0.82× –
Todd Stottlemyre↔ 1998 +1.3 +10.7 1.5 +9.2 $1.1M 1.02× –
Mark McLemore 1998 +1.6 +10.7 2.3 +8.4 $1.4M 0.82× –
Darren Oliver↔ 1998 +1.0 +8.3 1.9 +6.4 $1.9M 1.02× –
Tim Crabtree 1998 +1.2 +6.4 0.3 +6.1 $0.2M 0.67× –
Esteban Loaiza↔ 1998 +0.6 +5.1 0.2 +5.0 $0.3M 1.02× –
Lee Stevens 1998 +0.7 +3.8 1.2 +2.6 $1.8M 0.69× –
Royce Clayton↔ 1998 +0.8 +3.9 1.3 +2.6 $1.6M 0.61× –
Todd Zeile↔ 1998 +0.8 +3.6 1.1 +2.5 $1.4M 0.58× –
Scott Bailes 1998 +0.3 +1.5 0.2 +1.3 $0.7M 0.67× –
Bill Haselman 1998 +0.4 +1.8 0.6 +1.1 $1.5M 0.52× –
Xavier Hernandez 1998 +0.3 +1.8 1.0 +0.8 $2.9M 0.67× –
Al Levine 1998 +0.1 +0.6 0.2 +0.5 $1.5M 0.67× –
Tony Fossas↔ 1998 +0.1 +0.7 0.2 +0.5 $1.2M 0.67× –
Domingo Cedeno 1998 +0.0 +0.1 0.5 -0.4 $19.9M 0.61× –
Fernando Tatis↔ 1998 -0.1 -0.4 0.1 -0.5 – 0.58× –
Kevin Elster 1998 +0.2 +0.8 1.5 -0.7 $9.3M 0.61× –
Roger Pavlik 1998 -0.0 -0.2 1.6 -1.8 – 0.67× –
Eric Gunderson 1998 -0.3 -1.4 0.5 -2.0 – 0.67× –
Danny Patterson 1998 -0.4 -2.0 0.2 -2.2 – 0.67× –
Todd Van Poppel↔ 1998 -0.3 -2.2 0.1 -2.3 – 1.02× –
Bobby Witt↔ 1998 -0.3 -2.2 1.5 -3.7 – 1.02× –
Greg Cadaret↔ 1998 +0.0 +0.1 0.1 +0.0 $3.8M 0.67× –
Julio Santana↔ 1998 -0.0 -0.0 0.0 -0.0 – 0.67× –
Chris Tremie 1998 +0.0 +0.2 – – – 0.52× –
Jonathan Johnson 1998 +0.0 +0.2 – – – 1.02× –
Matt Perisho 1998 -0.3 -2.7 – – – 1.02× –
Milt Cuyler 1998 +0.2 +1.5 – – – 0.83× –
Rob Sasser 1998 -0.0 -0.1 – – – 0.65× –
Scott Sheldon 1998 -0.3 -1.5 – – – 0.58× –
Warren Newson 1998 -0.3 -2.3 – – – 0.83× –
Total—+45.1+544.957.4+492.5—

Trades

Every graded 1998 deal involving the Rangers — best expected value first. Surplus is realized value in $M; 4 total.

1998 · TEX / PIT
TEX · Douglas Melvin +$11.2M
Esteban Loaiza
PIT · Cam Bonifay −$11.2M
Warren Morris, Todd Van Poppel
TEX came out ahead by $11.2M
1998 · TEX / TOR
TEX · Douglas Melvin +$12.0M
Tim Crabtree
TOR · Gord Ash −$12.0M
Kevin Brown
TEX came out ahead by $12.0M
1998 · STL / TEX
STL · Walt Jocketty +$100.8M
Darren Oliver, Fernando Tatís, Mark Little
TEX · Douglas Melvin −$100.8M
Royce Clayton, Todd Stottlemyre
STL came out ahead by $100.8M
1998 · MIA / TEX
MIA · Dave Dombrowski +$1.6M
Dan DeYoung, Jose Santos
TEX · Douglas Melvin −$1.6M
Todd Zeile
MIA came out ahead by $1.6M

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 Santana251.000$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

How each 1998 acquisition stacked onto Rangers's playoff-odds curve. The side table is ranked by PPA.

Rosternomics — front-office performance, roster value, and transaction history. Follow @rosternomics on X.
Decision-maker records extend to 1933; resource-controlled WAR and payroll metrics cover 1985–2026. Data sources include FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, the Chadwick Bureau register, the Lahman Database, prospect rankings from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and FanGraphs, 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).
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