RRosternomics
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Nationals WSN

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GM: Jim Beattie

Overview

WINDOW ↘ cooling
cheap & winning · year 6 in this regime · payroll 0.5× league · TAB +8.6
+8.6TAB — talent above budget5th/28
+15.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)1st/28
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/28
-2.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag3rd/28
19%dead money %8th/28
0.543win %7th/28
34.3roster fWAR12th/28
+13surplus $M (value vs cost)1st/28
$16Mpayroll $M28th/28

Roster

CFRondell White 86GF.P. Santangelo 76GCliff Floyd 16G
LFHenry Rodriguez 88GCliff Floyd 69GMoises Alou 33G
RFMoises Alou 123GSherman Obando 47GF.P. Santangelo 18G
SSMark Grudzielanek 153GAndy Stankiewicz 13GDave Silvestri 10G
2BMike Lansing 159GAndy Stankiewicz 19GF.P. Santangelo 5G
3BShane Andrews 123GDave Silvestri 47GF.P. Santangelo 23G
1BDavid Segui 113GHenry Rodriguez 51GCliff Floyd 2G
STARTERSJeff Fassero 5.8WARPedro Martínez 4.9WARRheal Cormier 2.2WARUgueth Urbina 0.8WAROmar Daal 0.5WAR
CDarrin Fletcher 112GLenny Webster 63GTim Spehr 58G
BULLPEN★ Mel Rojas 36svMike Dyer 0hDave Veres 0hJeff Juden 0hBarry Manuel 0hDave Leiper 0hAlex Pacheco 0hDerek Aucoin 0h
CDarrin Fletcher 112 · Lenny Webster 63 · Tim Spehr 58
1BDavid Segui 113 · Henry Rodriguez 51 · Cliff Floyd 2
2BMike Lansing 159 · Andy Stankiewicz 19 · F.P. Santangelo 5
3BShane Andrews 123 · Dave Silvestri 47 · F.P. Santangelo 23
SSMark Grudzielanek 153 · Andy Stankiewicz 13 · Dave Silvestri 10
LFHenry Rodriguez 88 · Cliff Floyd 69 · Moises Alou 33
CFRondell White 86 · F.P. Santangelo 76 · Cliff Floyd 16
RFMoises Alou 123 · Sherman Obando 47 · F.P. Santangelo 18
SPJeff Fassero 5.8 · Pedro Martínez 4.9 · Rheal Cormier 2.2 · Ugueth Urbina 0.8 · Omar Daal 0.5
BP★ Mel Rojas 36 · Mike Dyer 0 · Dave Veres 0 · Jeff Juden 0 · Barry Manuel 0 · Dave Leiper 0 · Alex Pacheco 0 · Derek Aucoin 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.

1996 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jeff Fassero 33 arb 345.8 2.8 +2.1
Pedro Martínez 24 arb 334.9 0.3 +3.8
F.P. Santangelo 28 pre-arb 1523.5 0.1 +2.9
Mark Grudzielanek 26 pre-arb 1532.4 0.1 +1.8
Henry Rodriguez 28 arb 1452.2 0.2 +1.7
Rheal Cormier 29 arb 332.2 0.9 +0.9
Mel Rojas 29 FA-elig 742.2 2.0 -0.2
Rondell White 24 arb 882.1 0.3 +1.5
Mike Lansing 28 arb 1592.1 0.3 +1.4
Moises Alou 29 FA-elig 1432.0 3.0 -1.4
Shane Andrews 24 pre-arb 1271.7 0.1 +1.3
David Segui 29 FA-elig 1151.3 1.6 -0.4
Ugueth Urbina 22 pre-arb 330.8 0.1 +0.5
Darrin Fletcher 29 FA-elig 1270.7 1.1 -0.6
Lenny Webster 31 FA-elig 780.5 0.2 +0.2
Omar Daal 24 arb 640.5 0.2 +0.2
Andy Stankiewicz 31 arb 640.4 0.2 +0.1
Dave Veres 29 pre-arb 680.3 0.2 +0.1
Tavo Alvarez 24 pre-arb 110.3 0.1 +0.1
Tim Scott↔ SFG 29 arb 450.2 0.5 -0.3
Jeff Juden↔ SFG 25 arb 220.2 0.0 +0.1
Cliff Floyd 23 arb 1170.1 0.1 -0.0
Dave Leiper↔ PHI 34 FA-elig 70.1 0.1 -0.0
Derek Aucoin 26 – 20.0 – –
Mark Leiter↔ SFG 33 FA-elig 120.0 0.6 -0.6
Raul Chavez 23 pre-arb 40.0 0.1 -0.1
Tony Barron 29 – 1-0.0 – –
Barry Manuel 30 arb 53-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Kirk Rueter↔ SFG 25 arb 16-0.0 0.1 -0.2
Rob Lukachyk 27 – 2-0.0 – –
Alex Pacheco 22 – 5-0.1 – –
Sherman Obando 26 arb 89-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Jose Paniagua 22 pre-arb 13-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Rick Schu 34 – 1-0.1 – –
Vladimir Guerrero 21 – 9-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Yamil Benitez 23 – 11-0.1 – –
Mike Dyer 29 FA-elig 70-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Tim Spehr 29 arb 63-0.6 0.1 -0.7
Dave Silvestri 28 arb 86-0.7 0.1 -0.7

Key additions (new vs 1995)

PlayerfWAR
Rheal Cormier2.2
Lenny Webster0.5
Omar Daal0.5
Andy Stankiewicz0.4
Dave Veres0.3
Jeff Juden0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1995)

Player1995 fWAR
Gil Heredia2.4
Sean Berry2.3
Carlos Perez2.2
Butch Henry1.3
Tony Tarasco0.6
Greg Harris0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1996 payroll
$16.5M

What the front office was committed to as of 1996, 1996–2002. 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 (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Moises Alou296.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Mel Rojas296.000$2.0MFREE AGENT$1.8M
David Segui296.000$1.6M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Darrin Fletcher297.000$1.1M$1.4MFREE AGENT
Mark Leiter336.000$634kFREE AGENT
Lenny Webster317.000$200kFREE AGENT$600k
Mike Dyer297.000$175kFREE AGENT
Dave Leiper3412.000$53kFREE AGENT
Rick Schu3412.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Jeff Fassero335.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Rheal Cormier295.000$950kFREE AGENT
Tim Scott295.000$485kFREE AGENT
Mike Lansing283.000$315kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pedro Martínez244.000$315kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rondell White243.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Henry Rodriguez284.000$220kARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Stankiewicz314.000$190kARB 3FREE AGENT
Sherman Obando263.000$165kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Daal243.000$156kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cliff Floyd233.000$150kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Spehr295.000$150kFREE AGENT
Dave Silvestri284.000$132kARB 3FREE AGENT
Kirk Rueter253.000$128kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Barry Manuel305.000$120kFREE AGENT
Jeff Juden255.000$45kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Dave Veres292.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shane Andrews241.000$135kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Grudzielanek261.000$135kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
F.P. Santangelo281.000$121kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ugueth Urbina221.000$112kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Raul Chavez230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tavo Alvarez241.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Paniagua220.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vladimir Guerrero210.000$11kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derek Aucoin26–—
Tony Barron290.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Yamil Benitez231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Lukachyk27–—
Alex Pacheco22–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Nationals 1996; 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.