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Blue Jays TOR

199776–86 (0.469)
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GM: Gord Ash

Overview

Ranks vs the 30 teams in 1997, or a custom range (defaults to every team-season since 1985, when our data starts).

to

Front Office

PoorAverageGreat
Value
Payroll $M
$49M
Surplus $M
-19
Win %
0.469
TAB
-8.6
WAB
-8.6
Roster composition
Roster fWAR
28.2
Dead money %
52%
Depth Players
4.0
Dead WAR
-6.9

Offense

PoorAverageGreat

Pitching & Defense

PoorAverageGreat

Roster

1997 depth chart — stacked by playing time

C

RBenito Santiago95
RCharlie O'Brien69
RJulio Mosquera3
LSandy Martínez3

1B

LCarlos Delgado119
RJoe Carter42
RJuan Samuel7
LOrlando Merced1

2B

RCarlos García96
RTilson Brito⇄49
RMariano Duncan⇄39
BTomás Pérez8
RJuan Samuel4
BFelipe Crespo1

3B

REd Sprague Jr.129
RTom Evans12
RJuan Samuel9
BFelipe Crespo7
RCarlos García4

SS

RAlex Gonzalez125
BTomás Pérez32
RCarlos García5

LF

BJosé Cruz Jr.⇄53
LShawn Green45
RJoe Carter41
RRobert Pérez17
RJacob Brumfield14
BRuben Sierra⇄7
LRich Butler3
RShannon Stewart2

CF

RShannon Stewart39
RJacob Brumfield24
BJosé Cruz Jr.⇄2

RF

LOrlando Merced96
LShawn Green46
RJacob Brumfield10
RJoe Carter10
RRobert Pérez9
BRuben Sierra⇄5
RJuan Samuel2

DH

RJoe Carter64
LShawn Green33
LCarlos Delgado21
RJuan Samuel14
REd Sprague Jr.8
RRobert Pérez4
BRuben Sierra⇄2
RJacob Brumfield2
RBenito Santiago1
LOrlando Merced1
BOtis Nixon⇄1
LRich Butler1

Starters

RRoger Clemens10.8 WAR
RPat Hentgen3.7 WAR
RWoody Williams1.5 WAR
RChris Carpenter1.1 WAR
RRobert Person0.9 WAR
LOmar Daal⇄0.7 WAR
RErik Hanson0.1 WAR
RLuis Andujar-0.1 WAR
LHuck Flener-0.1 WAR
RJuan Guzman-0.2 WAR

Bullpen

★ RKelvim Escobar14 sv
RPaul Quantrill0 h
LDan Plesac0 h
RMike Timlin⇄0 h
LPaul Spoljaric⇄0 h
RTim Crabtree0 h
RMarty Janzen0 h
LOmar Daal⇄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 1996)

PlayerfWAR
Roger Clemens10.8
Orlando Merced2.2
Chris Carpenter1.1
Benito Santiago0.9
Robert Person0.9
Kelvim Escobar0.8

Key subtractions (gone from 1996)

Player1996 fWAR
John Olerud2.6
Tony Castillo0.6
Dane Johnson0.2
Jose Silva-0.0
Miguel Cairo-0.1
Scott Brow-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 1997; everyone else is shown as a 1997 season snapshot.

PlayerPeriodfWARTier Market $MPaid $MSurplus $M$ / WARTierContract
Roger Clemens 1997 +10.8 +216.6 8.4 +208.2 $0.8M 2.50× –
Pat Hentgen 1997 +3.7 +65.4 3.3 +62.1 $0.9M 2.19× –
Paul Quantrill 1997 +1.9 +29.2 0.7 +28.5 $0.4M 1.95× –
Orlando Merced 1997 +2.2 +21.8 2.7 +19.1 $1.2M 1.22× –
Alex Gonzalez 1997 +2.1 +14.8 0.5 +14.3 $0.2M 0.89× –
Woody Williams 1997 +1.5 +11.8 0.4 +11.4 $0.3M 1.02× –
Charlie O'Brien 1997 +1.9 +11.6 0.6 +11.0 $0.3M 0.76× –
Carlos Delgado 1997 +1.8 +11.4 0.5 +10.9 $0.3M 0.81× –
Shawn Green 1997 +1.5 +9.7 0.5 +9.2 $0.3M 0.83× –
Chris Carpenter 1997 +1.1 +9.2 0.1 +9.1 $0.1M 1.02× –
Kelvim Escobar 1997 +0.8 +8.0 0.1 +7.9 $0.2M 1.34× –
Robert Person 1997 +0.9 +7.3 0.2 +7.1 $0.2M 1.02× –
Paul Spoljaric↔ 1997 +0.7 +3.9 0.1 +3.8 $0.2M 0.67× –
Omar Daal↔ 1997 +0.7 +3.6 0.1 +3.4 $0.2M 0.67× –
Dan Plesac 1997 +0.6 +3.4 0.8 +2.6 $1.3M 0.67× –
José Cruz Jr.↔ 1997 +0.4 +2.4 0.1 +2.4 $0.2M 0.83× –
Shannon Stewart 1997 +0.3 +1.8 0.2 +1.7 $0.6M 0.83× –
Juan Samuel 1997 +0.4 +1.9 0.4 +1.6 $1.1M 0.69× –
Benito Santiago 1997 +0.9 +3.7 2.5 +1.2 $2.8M 0.52× –
Otis Nixon↔ 1997 +0.5 +2.9 1.8 +1.1 $3.4M 0.69× –
Mike Timlin↔ 1997 +0.3 +1.6 0.8 +0.9 $2.5M 0.67× –
Felipe Crespo 1997 +0.0 +0.1 0.2 -0.1 $9.7M 0.58× –
Luis Andujar 1997 -0.1 -0.4 0.2 -0.5 – 0.67× –
Tomas Perez 1997 -0.2 -0.8 0.2 -1.0 – 0.61× –
Mariano Duncan↔ 1997 -0.3 -1.4 0.4 -1.8 – 0.56× –
Bill Risley 1997 -0.3 -1.6 0.4 -1.9 – 0.67× –
Robert Perez 1997 -0.3 -1.8 0.2 -2.0 – 0.83× –
Tim Crabtree 1997 -0.3 -1.8 0.2 -2.0 – 0.67× –
Ed Sprague Jr. 1997 -0.2 -0.7 1.9 -2.6 – 0.58× –
Erik Hanson 1997 +0.1 +0.8 3.5 -2.7 $35.1M 1.02× –
Tilson Brito↔ 1997 -0.6 -2.6 0.1 -2.7 – 0.56× –
Jacob Brumfield 1997 -0.3 -1.9 1.1 -2.9 – 0.83× –
Ruben Sierra↔ 1997 -0.2 -1.2 2.4 -3.6 – 0.83× –
Juan Guzman 1997 -0.2 -1.6 4.0 -5.6 – 1.02× –
Carlos Garcia 1997 -2.2 -9.9 2.5 -12.5 – 0.56× –
Joe Carter 1997 -1.4 -7.8 6.5 -14.3 – 0.69× –
Carlos Almánzar 1997 -0.0 -0.1 – – – 0.67× –
Huck Flener 1997 -0.1 -0.5 – – – 0.67× –
Julio Mosquera 1997 -0.0 -0.0 – – – 0.52× –
Ken Robinson 1997 -0.0 -0.1 – – – 0.67× –
Marty Janzen 1997 -0.1 -0.8 – – – 0.67× –
Rich Butler 1997 -0.0 -0.1 – – – 0.83× –
Sandy Martinez 1997 -0.1 -0.4 – – – 0.52× –
Tom Evans 1997 +0.1 +0.5 – – – 0.58× –
Total—+28.3+407.948.6+361.3—

Trades

Every graded 1997 deal involving the Blue Jays — best expected value first. Surplus is realized value in $M; 5 total.

1997 · TOR / SEA
TOR · Gord Ash +$80.0M
José Cruz
SEA · Woody Woodward −$80.0M
Paul Spoljaric, Mike Timlin
TOR came out ahead by $80.0M
1997 · TOR / LAD
TOR · Gord Ash +$11.2M
Bobby Cripps
LAD · Fred Claire −$11.2M
Otis Nixon
TOR came out ahead by $11.2M
1997 · TOR / CLE
TOR · Gord Ash +$3.2M
Ryan Thompson
CLE · John Hart −$3.2M
Jeff Manto
TOR came out ahead by $3.2M
1997 · TOR / CHC
TOR · Gord Ash +$1.6M
Trevor Schaffer
CHC · Ed Lynch −$1.6M
Sandy Martínez
TOR came out ahead by $1.6M
1997 · NYY / TOR
NYY · Bob Watson +$5.6M
Angel Ramirez
TOR · Gord Ash −$5.6M
Mariano Duncan
NYY came out ahead by $5.6M

Current & Historical Payroll

1997 payroll
$48.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1997, 1997–2003. 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 (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Roger Clemens3413.000$8.4M$8.6MFREE AGENT
Joe Carter3714.000$6.5MFREE AGENT
Juan Guzman306.000$4.0M$3.3MFREE AGENT
Erik Hanson329.000$3.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Pat Hentgen286.000$3.3M$3.2M$8.6MFREE AGENT
Orlando Merced307.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
Carlos Garcia297.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Benito Santiago3211.000$2.5M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Ruben Sierra3111.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Ed Sprague Jr.296.000$1.9M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Otis Nixon3814.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Dan Plesac3511.000$800k$800k$797kFREE AGENT$2.2M$1.5M
Mike Timlin316.000$772kFREE AGENT
Charlie O'Brien3712.000$625kFREE AGENT
Mariano Duncan3412.000$381kFREE AGENT
Juan Samuel3614.000$375k$421kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Jacob Brumfield325.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Paul Quantrill285.000$700kFREE AGENT
Alex Gonzalez243.000$500kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Green244.000$500kARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Delgado254.000$500kARB 3FREE AGENT
Woody Williams304.000$388kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Risley305.000$380kFREE AGENT
Robert Perez283.000$185kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Spoljaric263.000$120kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Daal254.000$118kARB 3FREE AGENT
Huck Flener284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Tim Crabtree272.000$245kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robert Person272.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tomas Perez232.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Andujar242.000$170kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felipe Crespo241.000$160kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shannon Stewart232.000$154kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelvim Escobar210.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Carpenter220.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tilson Brito251.000$119kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
José Cruz Jr.230.000$79kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Almánzar230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Butler240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Evans220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marty Janzen24–—
Sandy Martinez262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Julio Mosquera251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Robinson27–—

Graphs

How each 1997 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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