Rosternomics
← Trade Database
December 16, 1996

DETSFG

DET won this trade +$8.0M surplus DET won this trade +0.2 WAR
DETDET Randy Smith net +$8.0M net +0.2
received +$0.0M+$0.0M ± $5M expected surplus · +$0.0M realized received 0.2 ± 1 expected · 0.0 realized WAR
Playoff odds: this deal moved DET's 1997 odds 2% → 2% (+0.1 pts) — how trade timing is graded ↗
receives — most valuable first
Jesse Ibarra
+$0.3M+$0.3M± $5M exp surplusrealized +$0.0M 0.2± 1 exp WARrealized 0.0
Unidentified minor-league throw-in — valued at the ~0.2 WAR base rate (most produce nothing)
SFGSFG Bob Quinn net −$8.0M net -0.2
received −$7.2M−$14.4M ± $8M expected surplus · −$8.0M realized received 0.0 ± 1 expected · -0.2 realized WAR
Playoff odds: this deal moved SFG's 1997 odds 31% → 30% (-1.2 pts) — how trade timing is graded ↗
receives — most valuable first
Mark Lewis2B/3B·27y·R/R
−$7.2M−$14.0M± $8M exp surplusrealized −$8.0M 0.0± 1 exp WARrealized -0.2
Prior
league baseline (track record outweighs draft pedigree) → 0.38/yr
Evidence
recent form -0.3/yr over 1.6 season
Talent
-0.02/yr blended
Horizon
1.5 control yr

Each player is valued on what he was expected to produce at the time of the trade, versus what he actually produced for his new team.

Expected WAR blends a player's pedigree (composite top-100 rank / draft slot, or a baseline) with his recent track record, projected over the years of team control acquired. The ± figure is a historically calibrated predictive standard deviation, measuring how widely comparable forecasts have missed around their expected value. Surplus values that production at the FA market price of a win (~$8M/WAR) minus salary — so cost-controlled players carry large surplus and expensive ones little, even at the same WAR. Who won is descriptive, not a skill claim: ~99% of a trade's outcome is unforeseeable at the time.