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Blue Jays TOR

198887–75 (0.537)
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GM: Pat Gillick

Overview

Ranks vs the 30 teams in 1988, or a custom range (defaults to every team-season since 1985, when our data starts).

to

Front Office

PoorAverageGreat
Value
Payroll $M
$12M
Surplus $M
+0
Win %
0.537
TAB
+5.1
WAB
+4.5
Roster composition
Roster fWAR
39.9
Dead money %
12%
Depth Players
7.0
Dead WAR
-2.3

Offense

PoorAverageGreat

Pitching & Defense

PoorAverageGreat

Roster

1988 depth chart — stacked by playing time

C

LErnie Whitt123
RPat Borders43
RSal Butera23

1B

LFred McGriff153
RCecil Fielder17
LRick Leach4

2B

BManuel Lee98
BNelson Liriano80
RKelly Gruber7
RCecil Fielder2
RPat Borders1

3B

RKelly Gruber156
RAlexis Infante9
BManuel Lee8
LRance Mulliniks7
RCecil Fielder3
BNelson Liriano1
RPat Borders1

SS

BTony Fernández154
BManuel Lee23
RAlexis Infante2
RKelly Gruber1

LF

RGeorge Bell149
RSil Campusano15
LRick Leach14
LLloyd Moseby11
LLou Thornton9
RJuan Beníquez1
LRob Ducey1

CF

LLloyd Moseby117
RSil Campusano35
LRob Ducey25
RJesse Barfield13
RKelly Gruber2

RF

RJesse Barfield132
LRick Leach36
RSil Campusano19
LLloyd Moseby6
LLou Thornton1

DH

LRance Mulliniks92
RCecil Fielder28
RJuan Beníquez16
LRick Leach15
RGeorge Bell7
RPat Borders2
LLloyd Moseby1
BNelson Liriano1

Starters

RDave Stieb3.1 WAR
RJim Clancy1.8 WAR
LJimmy Key1.6 WAR
LJeff Musselman1.3 WAR
LMike Flanagan1.1 WAR
LJohn Cerutti0.7 WAR
RJose Nunez-0.1 WAR
RTodd Stottlemyre-0.2 WAR

Bullpen

★ RTom Henke25 sv
RDuane Ward0 h
LDavid Wells0 h
RMark Eichhorn0 h
LTony Castillo0 h
RJose Nunez0 h
RFrank Wills0 h
RDoug Bair0 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 1987)

PlayerfWAR
Pat Borders0.9
Frank Wills0.2
Tony Castillo0.2
Sal Butera0.0
Mark Ross0.0
Doug Bair-0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Willie Upshaw1.4
Joe Johnson0.5
Jeffrey DeWillis0.1
Gary Lavelle-0.0
Don Gordon-0.1
Greg Myers-0.1

Contract Value

WAR translated into tier-adjusted market value, then compared with what the player was paid by Blue Jays. Guaranteed contracts from the 2015-present contract-data period use the known contract period through 1988; everyone else is shown as a 1988 season snapshot.

PlayerPeriodfWARTier Market $MPaid $MSurplus $M$ / WARTierContract
Fred McGriff 1988 +6.6 +72.4 0.1 +72.3 $0.0M 1.37× –
Kelly Gruber 1988 +5.3 +60.2 0.1 +60.0 $0.0M 1.43× –
Dave Stieb 1988 +3.1 +48.7 1.0 +47.7 $0.3M 1.96× –
Tony Fernandez 1988 +4.4 +46.0 0.9 +45.1 $0.2M 1.32× –
Jesse Barfield 1988 +3.2 +41.5 1.4 +40.1 $0.4M 1.60× –
Ernie Whitt 1988 +2.8 +22.7 0.8 +22.0 $0.3M 1.00× –
Jim Clancy 1988 +1.8 +21.2 0.9 +20.3 $0.5M 1.49× –
Jimmy Key 1988 +1.6 +19.2 0.4 +18.8 $0.3M 1.49× –
Rance Mulliniks 1988 +2.1 +16.8 0.6 +16.2 $0.3M 1.01× –
Lloyd Moseby 1988 +1.6 +15.8 0.9 +14.9 $0.5M 1.22× –
Jeff Musselman 1988 +1.3 +10.5 0.1 +10.4 $0.1M 1.02× –
Duane Ward 1988 +1.0 +10.3 0.1 +10.2 $0.1M 1.34× –
Tom Henke 1988 +1.0 +10.9 0.7 +10.1 $0.7M 1.34× –
Mike Flanagan 1988 +1.1 +9.3 0.6 +8.7 $0.5M 1.02× –
Manuel Lee 1988 +1.4 +6.2 0.1 +6.1 $0.1M 0.56× –
Pat Borders 1988 +0.9 +3.8 0.1 +3.7 $0.1M 0.52× –
Rob Ducey 1988 +0.6 +3.7 0.1 +3.7 $0.1M 0.83× –
George Bell 1988 +0.8 +5.4 1.9 +3.5 $2.3M 0.83× –
John Cerutti 1988 +0.7 +3.7 0.2 +3.4 $0.3M 0.67× –
Rick Leach 1988 +0.3 +2.1 0.3 +1.8 $1.0M 0.83× –
Juan Beniquez 1988 +0.1 +0.7 0.4 +0.3 $3.0M 0.69× –
Sal Butera 1988 +0.0 +0.2 0.1 +0.1 $2.1M 0.52× –
Sil Campusano 1988 -0.1 -0.5 0.1 -0.6 – 0.83× –
Cecil Fielder 1988 -0.1 -0.8 0.1 -1.0 – 0.69× –
Nelson Liriano 1988 -0.6 -2.7 0.1 -2.8 – 0.56× –
David Wells 1988 -0.9 -4.9 0.1 -5.0 – 0.67× –
Mark Eichhorn 1988 +0.0 +0.3 0.3 -0.0 $5.7M 0.67× –
Alexis Infante 1988 -0.2 -1.1 – – – 0.58× –
Doug Bair 1988 -0.0 -0.1 – – – 0.67× –
Frank Wills 1988 +0.2 +1.0 – – – 0.67× –
Jose Antonio Nunez 1988 -0.1 -0.6 – – – 0.67× –
Lou Thornton 1988 -0.1 -0.4 – – – 0.83× –
Mark Ross 1988 +0.0 +0.2 – – – 0.67× –
Todd Stottlemyre 1988 -0.2 -1.3 – – – 1.02× –
Tony Castillo 1988 +0.2 +0.9 – – – 0.67× –
Total—+39.8+421.312.5+410.0—

Trades

Every graded 1988 deal involving the Blue Jays — best expected value first. Surplus is realized value in $M.

No graded trades on record for the Blue Jays in 1988.

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$12.3M

What the front office was committed to as of 1988, 1988–1994. 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 (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
George Bell287.000$1.9M$1.9M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Jesse Barfield287.000$1.4M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Dave Stieb309.000$1.0M$1.5M$2.8M$3.0M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Jim Clancy3211.000$900kFREE AGENT
Lloyd Moseby288.000$858k$1.4MFREE AGENT
Ernie Whitt3612.000$750k$800kFREE AGENT
Tom Henke306.000$725k$975k$1.2MFREE AGENT$3.4M
Rance Mulliniks3211.000$600k$650k$520k$725k$775kFREE AGENT
Mike Flanagan3613.000$550k$888k$1.0MFREE AGENT
Juan Beniquez3817.000$400kFREE AGENT
Rick Leach317.000$300kFREE AGENT
Mark Eichhorn276.000$272kFREE AGENT$1.2M$850k
Sal Butera358.000$100kFREE AGENT
Doug Bair3812.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Tony Fernandez265.000$875kFREE AGENT
Jimmy Key274.000$440kARB 3FREE AGENT
John Cerutti283.000$230kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelly Gruber264.000$130kARB 3FREE AGENT
Cecil Fielder243.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Manuel Lee233.000$103kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Frank Wills295.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Fred McGriff242.000$128kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Musselman252.000$127kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Wells251.000$82kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Duane Ward242.000$80kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nelson Liriano241.000$75kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Ducey231.000$72kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Borders250.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sil Campusano220.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Castillo250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alexis Infante261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Antonio Nunez241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Ross33–—
Todd Stottlemyre230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lou Thornton25–—

Graphs

How each 1988 acquisition stacked onto Blue Jays'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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