RRosternomics
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Buzzie Bavasi

Dec 12, 1914 (Manhattan, NY) – May 1, 2008 (San Diego, CA) · died at 93

General manager for the Dodgers, Padres, Blue Jays, and Angels (1951–1984).

0 seasons with salary-era data across 4 stints. All figures are franchise-level outcomes during the tenure, not solely attributable to one executive.

Overview

Titles0
Pennants0
Playoffs0
Record0–0
Win %–
–GM WAR — wins above a replacement GM (org-adjusted, shrunk; per season)
–Depth — 2+ WAR regulars per season (the breadth that drives TAB, not stars)
–Dead WAR — WAR/yr bled by sub-replacement players (closer to 0 = better)
–Dead money — payroll on <0.5-WAR players (lower = better)
+0.0TAB — talent above budget — roster-construction alpha (talent your budget bought above expectation), tenure total
+0.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + the non-repeatable luck of converting talent to wins)
–Acquisition Leverage — playoff pts per acquired WAR, graded once in the year each deal's wins arrive (the repeatable decision skill)
+0Roster surplus $M

Tenure breakdown

TeamRoleYearsSzns WAB WAB/yr TAB WAR surp HG Trade FA R5 AcqLev W-L% POPenWS Surp $M
▸ Angels GM 1978–1984 0 +0.0 – +0.0 +0.0 +110.0 +1.0 -51.0 +0.5 – – ––– –
▸ Blue Jays GM 1976–1977 0 +0.0 – +0.0 +0.0 +22.1 +0.0 +0.0 +5.7 – – ––– –
▸ Padres GM 1968–1977 0 +0.0 – +0.0 +0.0 +0.0 +0.0 +0.0 +0.0 – – ––– –
▸ Dodgers GM 1951–1968 0 +0.0 – +0.0 +0.0 +0.7 +0.0 +0.0 +0.0 – – ––– –
Career total (1985+ data) 0 +0.0 +0.0 +0.0 +132.7 +1.0 -51.0 +6.2 – – –– – +0

Roster Construction

How the roster was sourced

by valueby volume

Share of acquired fWAR by channel vs. league average.

Build channels — net fWAR

Acquired minus surrendered / signed minus walked.

Home-grown (draft/intl)+132.7
Trade+1.0
Free agency-51.0
Rule 5 / minor draft+6.2
Sourcing mix: 87% draft · 0% FA · 9% trade · 4% R5

Players acquired — 38 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)

PlayerPosTeam How Year Szns fWAR WAR/yr Lev
Mike Witt P ANA Draft 1978 6 +22.5 +3.8 –
Jesse Barfield OF TOR Draft 1977 5 +22.1 +4.4 –
Wally Joyner 1B ANA Draft 1983 7 +18.7 +2.7 –
Kirk McCaskill P ANA Draft 1982 7 +17.5 +2.5 –
Dick Schofield SS ANA Draft 1981 9 +12.2 +1.4 –
Devon White OF ANA Draft 1981 6 +11.8 +2.0 –
Bob Boone C ANA Trade 1981 4 +8.8 +2.2 –
Jack Howell 3B ANA Intl FA 1983 7 +8.7 +1.2 –
Gary Pettis OF ANA Draft 1979 3 +8.2 +2.7 –
Bryan Harvey P ANA Intl FA 1984 6 +7.7 +1.3 –
Willie Upshaw 1B TOR Rule 5 1977 3 +5.7 +1.9 –
Doug DeCinces 3B ANA Trade 1982 3 +4.6 +1.5 –
Ron Romanick P ANA Draft 1981 2 +1.3 +0.6 –
Rick Burleson SS ANA Trade 1980 1 +0.7 +0.7 –
Craig Gerber SS ANA Draft 1981 1 +0.6 +0.6 –
Mark McLemore 2B ANA Draft 1982 3 +0.6 +0.2 –
Kent Anderson SS ANA Draft 1984 1 +0.5 +0.5 –
Darrell Miller C/OF ANA Draft 1979 3 +0.5 +0.2 –
Bill Russell SS LAD Draft 1966 2 +0.4 +0.2 –
Sherman Corbett P ANA Draft 1984 2 +0.3 +0.1 –
Jim Slaton P ANA Trade 1983 2 +0.3 +0.2 –
Rob Wilfong 2B ANA Trade 1982 1 +0.3 +0.3 –
Dante Bichette OF ANA Draft 1984 2 +0.2 +0.1 –
Urbano Lugo P ANA Intl FA 1982 1 +0.2 +0.2 –
Steve Yeager C LAD Draft 1967 1 +0.2 +0.2 –
Brian Brady OF ANA Draft 1984 1 +0.1 +0.1 –
Rod Carew 1B/2B ANA Trade 1979 1 +0.1 +0.1 –
Pat Keedy 3B ANA Draft 1979 1 +0.1 +0.1 –
Tony Mack P ANA Draft 1982 1 +0.1 +0.1 –
Pete Coachman 3B ANA Draft 1984 – -0.0 – –
Dave Smith P ANA Rule 5 1981 – -0.0 – –
T. R. Bryden P ANA Intl FA 1981 – -0.1 – –
Ray Chadwick P ANA Draft 1983 – -0.2 – –
Luis Sánchez P ANA Trade 1981 – -0.3 – –
Doug Corbett P ANA Trade 1982 – -0.4 – –
Doug Davis C/3B ANA Draft 1984 – -0.4 – –
Ken Forsch P ANA Trade 1981 – -0.4 – –
Gus Polidor 3B/SS ANA Intl FA 1981 2 -1.1 -0.5 –

WAB = wins above what the team's payroll predicted (resource-controlled). WAR surplus = era-neutral value (WAR minus payroll in win-equivalents). Roster surplus $M = dollar value of WAR over cost. Build channels (realized fWAR): HG = home-grown via amateur draft / international signing; Trade = acquired minus surrendered (incl. purchases/waivers); FA = signed minus walked; R5 = Rule-5 / minor-league-draft pickups. Credit follows the acquisition year — home-grown to the regime at the player's draft/signing (not whoever was in the chair when he peaked), trade/FA/R5 to the GM who made the move. Players acquired as prospects before debuting (e.g. Smoltz, Bagwell; Rule-5 picks like Uggla) are counted as trade/R5, not home-grown. All are franchise-level outcomes during the stint, not solely attributable to one executive.

Graphs

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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.