RRosternomics
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Nationals WSN

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GM: Dave Dombrowski

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.94× league · TAB -1.5
-1.5TAB — talent above budget14th/26
+3.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)6th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-5.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag15th/26
18%dead money %2nd/26
0.525win %9th/26
32.0roster fWAR13th/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)12th/26
$16Mpayroll $M15th/26

Roster

CFDave Martinez 103GOtis Nixon 71GMarquis Grissom 35G
LFTim Raines Sr. 123GMike Aldrete 26GOtis Nixon 21G
RFLarry Walker 124GMarquis Grissom 40GDave Martinez 22G
SSSpike Owen 148GTom Foley 45GJunior Noboa 7G
2BDelino DeShields 128GJunior Noboa 31GTom Foley 20G
3BTim Wallach 161GJunior Noboa 8GTom Foley 7G
1BAndres Galarraga 154GMike Aldrete 18GWallace Johnson 7G
STARTERSDennis Martinez 4.3WARKevin Gross 2.9WARMark Gardner 2.1WAROil Can Boyd 1.6WARChris Nabholz 0.5WAR
CMike Fitzgerald 98GNelson Santovenia 51GOrlando Mercado 48G
BULLPEN★ Tim Burke 20svScott Ruskin 0hBill Sampen 0hSteve Frey 0hDrew Hall 0hDale Mohorcic 0hDave Schmidt 0hMel Rojas 0h
CMike Fitzgerald 98 · Nelson Santovenia 51 · Orlando Mercado 48
1BAndres Galarraga 154 · Mike Aldrete 18 · Wallace Johnson 7
2BDelino DeShields 128 · Junior Noboa 31 · Tom Foley 20
3BTim Wallach 161 · Junior Noboa 8 · Tom Foley 7
SSSpike Owen 148 · Tom Foley 45 · Junior Noboa 7
LFTim Raines Sr. 123 · Mike Aldrete 26 · Otis Nixon 21
CFDave Martinez 103 · Otis Nixon 71 · Marquis Grissom 35
RFLarry Walker 124 · Marquis Grissom 40 · Dave Martinez 22
SPDennis Martinez 4.3 · Kevin Gross 2.9 · Mark Gardner 2.1 · Oil Can Boyd 1.6 · Chris Nabholz 0.5
BP★ Tim Burke 20 · Scott Ruskin 0 · Bill Sampen 0 · Steve Frey 0 · Drew Hall 0 · Dale Mohorcic 0 · Dave Schmidt 0 · Mel Rojas 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Dennis Martinez 36 FA-elig 324.3 1.4 +0.5
Tim Wallach 32 FA-elig 1613.7 1.2 +0.4
Larry Walker 23 pre-arb 1333.0 0.1 +1.2
Kevin Gross 29 FA-elig 322.9 0.9 +0.3
Mike Fitzgerald 29 FA-elig 1112.5 0.5 +0.6
Tim Raines Sr. 30 FA-elig 1302.4 2.1 -1.0
Mark Gardner 28 pre-arb 272.1 0.1 +0.8
Delino DeShields 21 pre-arb 1292.1 0.1 +0.8
Dave Martinez 25 arb 1182.0 0.4 +0.5
Zane Smith↔ PIT 29 FA-elig 232.0 0.6 +0.3
Oil Can Boyd 30 FA-elig 311.6 0.4 +0.3
Andres Galarraga 29 arb 1551.4 1.9 -1.3
Otis Nixon 31 FA-elig 1191.4 0.3 +0.3
Marquis Grissom 23 pre-arb 981.1 0.1 +0.4
Spike Owen 29 FA-elig 1490.7 0.9 -0.6
Mike Aldrete 29 arb 960.7 0.3 -0.0
Tim Burke 31 arb 580.6 1.6 -1.3
Brian Barnes 23 – 40.6 – –
Bill Sampen 27 pre-arb 590.5 0.1 +0.1
Chris Nabholz 23 pre-arb 110.5 0.1 +0.1
Scott Anderson 27 – 40.3 – –
Dave Schmidt 33 FA-elig 340.3 0.7 -0.5
Scott Ruskin↔ PIT 27 pre-arb 230.3 0.0 +0.1
Johnny Paredes↔ DET 27 pre-arb 30.1 0.0 -0.0
Joe Hesketh↔ ATL 31 FA-elig 20.0 0.0 -0.0
Eric Bullock 30 – 40.0 – –
Bob Malloy 25 – 10.0 – –
Rich Thompson 31 arb 10.0 0.1 -0.1
Rex Hudler↔ STL 29 FA-elig 40.0 0.0 -0.0
Rolando Roomes↔ CIN 28 pre-arb 16-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Brett Gideon 26 arb 1-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Orlando Mercado↔ NYM 28 – 8-0.1 – –
Tom Foley 30 FA-elig 73-0.2 0.3 -0.4
Moises Alou↔ PIT 23 pre-arb 14-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Wallace Johnson 33 FA-elig 47-0.2 0.3 -0.4
John Costello↔ STL 29 pre-arb 4-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Drew Hall 27 arb 42-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Steve Frey 26 pre-arb 51-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Dale Mohorcic 34 arb 34-0.3 0.2 -0.4
Jerry Goff 26 – 52-0.5 – –
Junior Noboa 25 FA-elig 81-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Howard Farmer 23 pre-arb 6-0.6 0.1 -0.4
Mel Rojas 23 pre-arb 23-0.7 0.1 -0.4
Nelson Santovenia 28 arb 59-0.9 0.2 -0.6

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Delino DeShields2.1
Oil Can Boyd1.6
Brian Barnes0.6
Bill Sampen0.5
Chris Nabholz0.5
Scott Anderson0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Pascual Perez4.2
Bryn Smith3.0
Mark Langston2.7
Andy McGaffigan0.3
Brian Holman0.1
Jim Dwyer0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$16.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Tim Raines Sr.3011.000$2.1MFREE AGENT
Dennis Martinez3614.000$1.4M$3.3M$3.3M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Tim Wallach3210.000$1.2MFREE AGENT$1.9M
Kevin Gross297.000$950kFREE AGENT
Spike Owen297.000$933kFREE AGENT$1.2M
Dave Schmidt339.000$651kFREE AGENT
Zane Smith296.000$582kFREE AGENT
Mike Fitzgerald297.000$525k$700kFREE AGENT
Oil Can Boyd308.000$400k$919kFREE AGENT
Tom Foley307.000$335kFREE AGENT$365k$160k
Otis Nixon317.000$315kFREE AGENT
Wallace Johnson339.000$295kFREE AGENT
Junior Noboa256.000$100kFREE AGENT
Joe Hesketh316.000$17kFREE AGENT
Rex Hudler296.000$6kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Andres Galarraga295.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Tim Burke315.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Dave Martinez254.000$410kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Aldrete294.000$298kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dale Mohorcic344.000$240kARB 3FREE AGENT
Nelson Santovenia283.000$205kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Drew Hall274.000$130kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Thompson315.000$104kFREE AGENT
Brett Gideon263.000$102kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Mark Gardner281.000$104kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Larry Walker231.000$104kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marquis Grissom231.000$104kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Delino DeShields210.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Sampen270.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Nabholz230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Frey261.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Howard Farmer230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mel Rojas230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Moises Alou230.000$88kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Costello292.000$52kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rolando Roomes282.000$49kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Ruskin270.000$34kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Johnny Paredes272.000$34kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Anderson27–—
Brian Barnes230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Bullock30–—
Jerry Goff260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Malloy25–—
Orlando Mercado28–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Nationals 1990; 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.