SPPete Harnisch 2.0 · Ben McDonald 1.8 · John Mitchell 0.9 · Jose Mesa 0.5 · Dave Johnson 0.1
BP★ Gregg Olson 37 · Joe Price 0 · Mark Williamson 0 · Kevin Hickey 0 · Curt Schilling 0 · Brian Holton 0 · Jose Bautista 0 · Mickey Weston 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
Player
Age
Service
G
fWAR
Salary $M
Surplus $M
Cal Ripken Jr.
29
FA-elig
161
6.2
1.3
+1.4
Randy Milligan
28
arb
109
3.9
0.2
+1.6
Billy Ripken
25
arb
129
2.9
0.2
+1.1
Mickey Tettleton
29
FA-elig
135
2.9
0.8
+0.5
Joe Orsulak
28
FA-elig
124
2.2
0.6
+0.4
Pete Harnisch
23
pre-arb
31
2.0
0.1
+0.8
Gregg Olson
23
pre-arb
64
1.8
0.3
+0.5
Ben McDonald
22
pre-arb
21
1.8
0.2
+0.5
Tim Hulett Sr.
30
FA-elig
53
1.0
0.2
+0.2
Sam Horn
26
arb
79
0.9
0.1
+0.3
John Mitchell
24
arb
24
0.9
0.1
+0.3
Curt Schilling
23
pre-arb
35
0.7
0.1
+0.2
Mark Williamson
30
arb
49
0.7
0.3
+0.0
Bob Melvin
28
arb
93
0.7
0.3
-0.1
Mike Devereaux
27
arb
108
0.6
0.1
+0.1
Phil Bradley↔ CHW
31
FA-elig
72
0.5
0.7
-0.5
Brad Komminsk↔ SFG
29
–
46
0.5
–
–
Craig Worthington
25
pre-arb
133
0.5
0.2
+0.0
Jose Mesa
24
arb
7
0.5
0.1
+0.1
Rene Gonzales
29
FA-elig
67
0.4
0.2
-0.0
Brady Anderson
26
pre-arb
89
0.3
0.1
+0.0
Joe Price
33
FA-elig
50
0.2
0.3
-0.2
Donell Nixon
28
–
8
0.2
–
–
Jay Tibbs↔ PIT
28
FA-elig
10
0.1
0.2
-0.2
Dave Johnson
30
arb
30
0.1
0.1
-0.1
Anthony Telford
24
pre-arb
8
0.1
0.1
-0.1
Dave Gallagher↔ CHW
29
arb
23
0.1
0.0
+0.0
Steve Finley
25
pre-arb
142
0.1
0.1
-0.1
Dorn Taylor
31
–
4
0.1
–
–
Danny Boone
36
–
4
0.0
–
–
Bob Milacki
25
pre-arb
27
-0.0
0.2
-0.2
Jose Bautista
25
pre-arb
22
-0.1
0.1
-0.2
Mike Smith
26
pre-arb
2
-0.1
0.1
-0.2
Jay Aldrich
29
–
7
-0.1
–
–
Marty Brown
27
pre-arb
9
-0.1
0.1
-0.2
Leo Gomez
24
pre-arb
12
-0.1
0.1
-0.2
Kevin Hickey
34
FA-elig
37
-0.1
0.2
-0.3
Juan Bell
22
pre-arb
5
-0.2
0.1
-0.2
Jeff McKnight
27
–
29
-0.2
–
–
Brian Holton
30
arb
33
-0.3
0.3
-0.5
Chris Hoiles
25
pre-arb
23
-0.3
0.1
-0.2
Greg Walker↔ CHW
30
–
14
-0.4
–
–
Stan Jefferson↔ CLE
27
arb
10
-0.4
0.0
-0.2
Mickey Weston
29
pre-arb
9
-0.4
0.1
-0.3
Ron Kittle↔ CHW
32
FA-elig
22
-0.5
0.1
-0.4
David Segui
23
pre-arb
40
-0.6
0.1
-0.3
Jeff Ballard
26
arb
44
-0.6
0.2
-0.5
Key additions (new vs 1989)
Player
fWAR
Sam Horn
0.9
John Mitchell
0.9
Brad Komminsk
0.5
Jose Mesa
0.5
Joe Price
0.2
Donell Nixon
0.2
Key subtractions (gone from 1989)
Player
1989 fWAR
Mark Thurmond
0.7
Mark Huismann
0.5
Jamie Quirk
0.3
Francisco Melendez
-0.0
Butch Davis
-0.0
Jim Traber
-0.1
Current & Historical Payroll
1990 payroll
$9.2M
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 (12)
Player
Age
Svc
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
Cal Ripken Jr.
29
9.000
$1.3M
$2.6M
$2.1M
$5.2M
$5.5M
$6.7M
$6.7M
Mickey Tettleton
29
6.000
$750k
FREE AGENT
Phil Bradley
31
7.000
$708k
FREE AGENT
Joe Orsulak
28
7.000
$610k
$1.1M
$1.3M
FREE AGENT
Joe Price
33
10.000
$325k
FREE AGENT
Kevin Hickey
34
9.000
$250k
FREE AGENT
Jay Tibbs
28
6.000
$223k
FREE AGENT
Tim Hulett Sr.
30
7.000
$208k
$328k
$420k
$400k
$550k
FREE AGENT
Rene Gonzales
29
6.000
$191k
FREE AGENT
Ron Kittle
32
8.000
$115k
FREE AGENT
Brad Komminsk
29
7.000
—
FREE AGENT
Greg Walker
30
8.000
—
FREE AGENT
Arbitration-eligible (15)
Player
Age
Svc
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
Bob Melvin
28
5.000
$350k
FREE AGENT
Brian Holton
30
5.000
$348k
FREE AGENT
Mark Williamson
30
3.000
$275k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Billy Ripken
25
3.000
$215k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Jeff Ballard
26
3.000
$200k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Randy Milligan
28
3.000
$155k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Mike Devereaux
27
3.000
$145k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Sam Horn
26
3.000
$120k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Dave Johnson
30
3.000
$114k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
John Mitchell
24
4.000
$111k
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Jose Mesa
24
3.000
$100k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Dave Gallagher
29
3.000
$34k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Stan Jefferson
27
4.000
$26k
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Jay Aldrich
29
3.000
—
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Donell Nixon
28
3.000
—
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Pre-arbitration (20)
Player
Age
Svc
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
Gregg Olson
23
2.000
$270k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Ben McDonald
22
1.000
$242k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Bob Milacki
25
2.000
$235k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Craig Worthington
25
2.000
$208k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Brady Anderson
26
2.000
$120k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Pete Harnisch
23
2.000
$120k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Jose Bautista
25
2.000
$120k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Steve Finley
25
1.000
$120k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Mickey Weston
29
1.000
$104k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Curt Schilling
23
2.000
$103k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Chris Hoiles
25
1.000
$102k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Mike Smith
26
1.000
$102k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Marty Brown
27
2.000
$100k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Juan Bell
22
1.000
$100k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Leo Gomez
24
0.000
$100k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Anthony Telford
24
0.000
$100k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
David Segui
23
0.000
$100k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Danny Boone
36
–
—
Jeff McKnight
27
1.000
—
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Dorn Taylor
31
–
—
Graphs
Orioles's path through relative payroll × TAB, smoothed; markers grow and the arrow points toward the present. WINDOW cheap&winning · CONTEND expensive&winning · FORCED-SPEND dead zone · REBUILD cheap&losing. Compare franchises →
Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Orioles 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