RRosternomics
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Nationals WSN

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GM: Dave Dombrowski

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.03× league · TAB -1.6
-1.6TAB — talent above budget16th/26
-1.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)14th/26
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/26
-2.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag6th/26
26%dead money %10th/26
0.500win %14th/26
33.0roster fWAR12th/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)14th/26
$14Mpayroll $M13th/26

Roster

CFDave Martinez 103GOtis Nixon 92GMarquis Grissom 22G
LFTim Raines Sr. 139GMike Aldrete 16GRex Hudler 14G
RFHubie Brooks 140GDave Martinez 38GMike Aldrete 19G
SSSpike Owen 142GJeff Huson 20GRex Hudler 18G
2BTom Foley 108GDámaso García 62GRex Hudler 38G
3BTim Wallach 153GTom Foley 16GMike Fitzgerald 8G
1BAndres Galarraga 147GWallace Johnson 18GMike Aldrete 10G
STARTERSPascual Perez 4.2WARDennis Martinez 3.0WARBryn Smith 3.0WARMark Langston 2.7WARKevin Gross 1.8WAR
CNelson Santovenia 89GMike Fitzgerald 77GMarty Pevey 11G
BULLPEN★ Tim Burke 28svAndy McGaffigan 0hJoe Hesketh 0hSteve Frey 0hRich Thompson 0hMark Gardner 0hBrett Gideon 0hUrbano Lugo 0h
CNelson Santovenia 89 · Mike Fitzgerald 77 · Marty Pevey 11
1BAndres Galarraga 147 · Wallace Johnson 18 · Mike Aldrete 10
2BTom Foley 108 · Dámaso García 62 · Rex Hudler 38
3BTim Wallach 153 · Tom Foley 16 · Mike Fitzgerald 8
SSSpike Owen 142 · Jeff Huson 20 · Rex Hudler 18
LFTim Raines Sr. 139 · Mike Aldrete 16 · Rex Hudler 14
CFDave Martinez 103 · Otis Nixon 92 · Marquis Grissom 22
RFHubie Brooks 140 · Dave Martinez 38 · Mike Aldrete 19
SPPascual Perez 4.2 · Dennis Martinez 3.0 · Bryn Smith 3.0 · Mark Langston 2.7 · Kevin Gross 1.8
BP★ Tim Burke 28 · Andy McGaffigan 0 · Joe Hesketh 0 · Steve Frey 0 · Rich Thompson 0 · Mark Gardner 0 · Brett Gideon 0 · Urbano Lugo 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.

1989 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Pascual Perez 32 FA-elig 354.2 0.8 +0.7
Tim Wallach 31 FA-elig 1544.0 0.9 +0.5
Tim Raines Sr. 29 FA-elig 1453.9 2.1 -0.7
Dennis Martinez 35 FA-elig 343.0 0.7 +0.4
Bryn Smith 33 FA-elig 333.0 0.6 +0.5
Mark Langston↔ SEA 28 arb 242.7 1.0 +0.0
Andres Galarraga 28 arb 1522.4 0.9 -0.0
Kevin Gross 28 FA-elig 311.8 0.8 -0.2
Nelson Santovenia 27 pre-arb 971.6 0.1 +0.5
Dave Martinez 24 arb 1261.4 0.2 +0.3
Tom Foley 29 FA-elig 1221.4 0.3 +0.2
Mike Fitzgerald 28 FA-elig 1001.4 0.3 +0.2
Spike Owen 28 FA-elig 1420.8 0.6 -0.3
Tim Burke 30 arb 680.8 0.7 -0.4
Otis Nixon 30 FA-elig 1260.7 0.2 +0.1
Rex Hudler 28 arb 920.5 0.1 +0.1
Zane Smith↔ ATL 28 arb 320.5 0.4 -0.2
Wallace Johnson 32 FA-elig 850.5 0.2 -0.0
Andy McGaffigan 32 FA-elig 570.3 0.6 -0.5
Mark Gardner 27 – 70.2 – –
Marquis Grissom 22 pre-arb 260.2 0.1 -0.0
Brian Holman↔ SEA 24 – 100.1 – –
Mike Aldrete 28 arb 760.1 0.2 -0.2
Jim Dwyer↔ MIN 39 FA-elig 130.1 0.0 -0.0
Damaso Garcia 32 FA-elig 800.0 0.2 -0.2
Rich Thompson 30 arb 190.0 0.1 -0.1
Urbano Lugo 26 – 3-0.0 – –
Gilberto Reyes 25 – 4-0.0 – –
Randy Johnson↔ SEA 25 pre-arb 7-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Gene Harris↔ SEA 24 pre-arb 11-0.0 0.0 -0.1
Joe Hesketh 30 arb 43-0.1 0.4 -0.4
John Candelaria↔ NYY 35 FA-elig 12-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Larry Walker 22 – 20-0.1 – –
Junior Noboa 24 – 21-0.2 – –
Brett Gideon 25 – 4-0.3 – –
Marty Pevey 26 – 13-0.3 – –
Steve Frey 25 – 20-0.4 – –
Hubie Brooks 32 FA-elig 148-0.4 0.9 -1.1
Jeff Huson 24 – 32-0.7 – –

Key additions (new vs 1988)

PlayerfWAR
Mark Langston2.7
Kevin Gross1.8
Spike Owen0.8
Zane Smith0.5
Mark Gardner0.2
Marquis Grissom0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1988)

Player1988 fWAR
John Dopson1.1
Mitch Webster0.8
Tracy Jones0.7
Floyd Youmans0.2
Luis Rivera0.2
Tom O'Malley0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1989 payroll
$14.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1989, 1989–1995. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Tim Raines Sr.2910.000$2.1M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Tim Wallach319.000$950k$1.2MFREE AGENT$1.9M
Hubie Brooks329.000$950kFREE AGENT
Pascual Perez329.000$850kFREE AGENT
Kevin Gross286.000$850k$950kFREE AGENT
Dennis Martinez3513.000$735k$1.4M$3.3M$3.3M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Andy McGaffigan328.000$632kFREE AGENT
Spike Owen286.000$565k$933kFREE AGENT$1.2M
Bryn Smith338.000$550kFREE AGENT
John Candelaria3514.000$436kFREE AGENT
Mike Fitzgerald286.000$335k$525k$700kFREE AGENT
Tom Foley296.000$320k$335kFREE AGENT$365k$160k
Damaso Garcia3211.000$200kFREE AGENT
Otis Nixon306.000$178k$315kFREE AGENT
Wallace Johnson328.000$177k$295kFREE AGENT
Jim Dwyer3916.000$26kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Mark Langston285.000$953kFREE AGENT
Andres Galarraga284.000$865kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Burke304.000$740kARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Hesketh305.000$417kFREE AGENT
Zane Smith285.000$392kFREE AGENT
Mike Aldrete283.000$202kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Martinez243.000$185kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rex Hudler285.000$90kFREE AGENT
Rich Thompson304.000$68kARB 3FREE AGENT
Junior Noboa245.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1989199019911992199319941995
Nelson Santovenia272.000$98kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marquis Grissom220.000$68kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gene Harris240.000$34kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Johnson251.000$17kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Frey250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Gardner270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brett Gideon252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Holman241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Huson241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Urbano Lugo26–—
Marty Pevey26–—
Gilberto Reyes25–—
Larry Walker220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Nationals 1989; 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.