RRosternomics
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Blue Jays TOR

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GM: Pat Gillick

Overview

WINDOW → steady
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.96× league · TAB +8.7
+8.7TAB — talent above budget3rd/26
+9.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/26
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-4.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag13th/26
29%dead money %14th/26
0.562win %5th/26
42.5roster fWAR3rd/26
-4surplus $M (value vs cost)14th/26
$22Mpayroll $M15th/26

1991: made playoffs · 91–71. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFDevon White 156GDerek Bell 6GMookie Wilson 5G
LFCandy Maldonado 66GJoe Carter 56GMookie Wilson 36G
RFJoe Carter 101GTurner Ward 41GCory Snyder 31G
SSManuel Lee 138GRene Gonzales 36GEddie Zosky 18G
2BRoberto Alomar 160GRene Gonzales 11G
3BKelly Gruber 111GEd Sprague Jr. 35GRene Gonzales 26G
1BJohn Olerud 135GCory Snyder 22GEd Sprague Jr. 22G
STARTERSJimmy Key 5.3WARJuan Guzmán 3.4WARTom Candiotti 2.9WARTodd Stottlemyre 2.6WARDavid Wells 2.5WAR
CGreg Myers 104GPat Borders 102GRandy Knorr 3G
DHDave Parker 129GRance Mulliniks 70GPat Tabler 29G
BULLPEN★ Tom Henke 32svDuane Ward 0hMike Timlin 0hJim Acker 0hBob MacDonald 0hDavid Weathers 0hKen Dayley 0hVince Horsman 0h
CGreg Myers 104 · Pat Borders 102 · Randy Knorr 3
1BJohn Olerud 135 · Cory Snyder 22 · Ed Sprague Jr. 22
2BRoberto Alomar 160 · Rene Gonzales 11
3BKelly Gruber 111 · Ed Sprague Jr. 35 · Rene Gonzales 26
SSManuel Lee 138 · Rene Gonzales 36 · Eddie Zosky 18
LFCandy Maldonado 66 · Joe Carter 56 · Mookie Wilson 36
CFDevon White 156 · Derek Bell 6 · Mookie Wilson 5
RFJoe Carter 101 · Turner Ward 41 · Cory Snyder 31
DHDave Parker 129 · Rance Mulliniks 70 · Pat Tabler 29
SPJimmy Key 5.3 · Juan Guzmán 3.4 · Tom Candiotti 2.9 · Todd Stottlemyre 2.6 · David Wells 2.5
BP★ Tom Henke 32 · Duane Ward 0 · Mike Timlin 0 · Jim Acker 0 · Bob MacDonald 0 · David Weathers 0 · Ken Dayley 0 · Vince Horsman 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.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Devon White 28 – 1566.4 – –
Jimmy Key 30 – 335.3 – –
Joe Carter 31 FA-elig 1624.6 3.8 -1.1
Roberto Alomar 23 arb 1614.3 1.3 +1.3
Duane Ward 27 arb 814.1 0.8 +1.6
Juan Guzman 24 pre-arb 233.4 0.1 +1.9
Tom Candiotti↔ CLE 34 FA-elig 192.9 1.4 +0.3
Todd Stottlemyre 26 arb 342.6 0.3 +1.2
John Olerud 22 pre-arb 1392.5 0.3 +1.2
David Wells 28 arb 402.5 0.8 +0.7
Tom Henke 33 – 491.7 – –
Kelly Gruber 29 FA-elig 1131.6 3.0 -2.1
Candy Maldonado↔ MIL 30 FA-elig 521.6 0.5 +0.4
Mike Timlin 25 pre-arb 631.5 0.1 +0.8
Greg Myers 25 arb 1071.0 0.2 +0.4
Dave Stieb 33 FA-elig 90.8 3.0 -2.5
Rob Ducey 26 arb 390.2 0.1 -0.0
Dave Parker↔ ANA 40 FA-elig 130.1 0.2 -0.1
Manuel Lee 26 FA-elig 1380.1 0.7 -0.6
Kenny Williams↔ WSN 27 arb 130.0 0.1 -0.0
Pat Borders 28 arb 1050.0 0.7 -0.7
Ed Sprague Jr. 23 pre-arb 610.0 0.1 -0.1
Randy Knorr 22 pre-arb 30.0 0.1 -0.1
Vince Horsman 24 – 40.0 – –
Mickey Weston 30 – 20.0 – –
Rance Mulliniks 35 FA-elig 97-0.0 0.7 -0.7
Ray Giannelli 25 – 9-0.0 – –
Mark Whiten↔ CLE 24 pre-arb 46-0.0 0.0 -0.1
Pat Hentgen 22 pre-arb 3-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Glenallen Hill↔ CLE 26 pre-arb 35-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Al Leiter 25 arb 3-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Ken Dayley 32 – 8-0.1 – –
Bob MacDonald 26 – 45-0.1 – –
Denis Boucher↔ CLE 23 – 7-0.1 – –
Derek Bell 22 – 18-0.2 – –
Rene Gonzales 30 FA-elig 71-0.2 0.3 -0.4
Turner Ward↔ CLE 26 pre-arb 8-0.2 0.0 -0.1
Willie Fraser↔ STL 27 – 13-0.2 – –
David Weathers 21 – 15-0.3 – –
Eddie Zosky 23 – 18-0.3 – –
Frank Wills 32 FA-elig 4-0.3 0.4 -0.6
Mookie Wilson 35 FA-elig 86-0.4 1.6 -1.9
Cory Snyder↔ CHW 28 arb 21-0.6 0.2 -0.6
Jim Acker 32 – 54-0.8 – –
Pat Tabler 33 FA-elig 82-0.9 0.7 -1.2

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Devon White6.4
Joe Carter4.6
Roberto Alomar4.3
Juan Guzman3.4
Tom Candiotti2.9
Candy Maldonado1.6

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Fred McGriff5.5
Tony Fernandez4.9
Junior Felix1.6
George Bell1.1
Willie Blair0.8
John Candelaria0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$22.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Joe Carter318.000$3.8M$3.7M$5.5M$5.5M$7.5M$6.5M$6.5M
Kelly Gruber297.000$3.0M$3.6MFREE AGENT
Dave Stieb3312.000$3.0M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Mookie Wilson3511.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Tom Candiotti348.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Rance Mulliniks3514.000$725k$775kFREE AGENT
Manuel Lee266.000$712k$1.0MFREE AGENT
Pat Tabler3310.000$700k$900kFREE AGENT
Candy Maldonado3010.000$529k$1.4MFREE AGENT$165k
Frank Wills328.000$435kFREE AGENT
Rene Gonzales307.000$306kFREE AGENT
Dave Parker4018.000$158kFREE AGENT
Jim Acker328.000—FREE AGENT
Ken Dayley329.000—FREE AGENT$1.8M
Tom Henke339.000—$3.4MFREE AGENT
Jimmy Key307.000—$2.3MFREE AGENT
Devon White286.000—$2.4M$3.7M$3.1M$4.0MFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Roberto Alomar233.000$1.3MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Duane Ward275.000$800kFREE AGENT
David Wells284.000$800kARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Borders283.000$700kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Stottlemyre263.000$315kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cory Snyder285.000$237kFREE AGENT
Al Leiter254.000$180kARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Myers254.000$160kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Ducey264.000$150kARB 3FREE AGENT
Kenny Williams275.000$72kFREE AGENT
Willie Fraser275.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
John Olerud222.000$294kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Hentgen220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Timlin250.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Guzman240.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Knorr220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Sprague Jr.230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Glenallen Hill262.000$83kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Whiten241.000$46kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Turner Ward261.000$17kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derek Bell220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Denis Boucher230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ray Giannelli25–—
Vince Horsman240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob MacDonald261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Weathers210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mickey Weston302.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eddie Zosky230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Blue Jays 1991; 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.