RRosternomics
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Cubs CHC

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GM: Dallas Green

Overview

FORCED-SPEND → steady
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.34× league · TAB -7.4
-7.4TAB — talent above budget19th/26
-8.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)20th/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars9th/26
-4.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag15th/26
22%dead money %7th/26
0.478win %16th/26
30.2roster fWAR17th/26
-5surplus $M (value vs cost)24th/26
$13Mpayroll $M3rd/26

Roster

CFBob Dernier 116GBilly Hatcher 27GDavey Lopes 25G
LFGary Matthews Sr. 85GDavey Lopes 48GThad Bosley 46G
RFKeith Moreland 148GDavey Lopes 17GGary Woods 12G
SSShawon Dunston 73GChris Speier 58GDave Owen 7G
2BRyne Sandberg 153GChris Speier 13GDave Owen 4G
3BRon Cey 140GChris Speier 32GKeith Moreland 11G
1BLeon Durham 151GRichie Hebner 12GKeith Moreland 12G
STARTERSDennis Eckersley 4.4WARRick Sutcliffe 2.7WARScott Sanderson 1.9WARSteve Trout 1.2WARReggie Patterson 0.7WAR
CJody Davis 138GSteve Lake 55GKeith Moreland 2G
BULLPEN★ Lee Smith 33svWarren Brusstar 0hGeorge Frazier 0hLary Sorensen 0hRon Meridith 0hJay Baller 0hDave Gumpert 0hDave Beard 0h
CJody Davis 138 · Steve Lake 55 · Keith Moreland 2
1BLeon Durham 151 · Richie Hebner 12 · Keith Moreland 12
2BRyne Sandberg 153 · Chris Speier 13 · Dave Owen 4
3BRon Cey 140 · Chris Speier 32 · Keith Moreland 11
SSShawon Dunston 73 · Chris Speier 58 · Dave Owen 7
LFGary Matthews Sr. 85 · Davey Lopes 48 · Thad Bosley 46
CFBob Dernier 116 · Billy Hatcher 27 · Davey Lopes 25
RFKeith Moreland 148 · Davey Lopes 17 · Gary Woods 12
SPDennis Eckersley 4.4 · Rick Sutcliffe 2.7 · Scott Sanderson 1.9 · Steve Trout 1.2 · Reggie Patterson 0.7
BP★ Lee Smith 33 · Warren Brusstar 0 · George Frazier 0 · Lary Sorensen 0 · Ron Meridith 0 · Jay Baller 0 · Dave Gumpert 0 · Dave Beard 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.

1985 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Ryne Sandberg 25 arb 1535.9 0.5 +1.0
Dennis Eckersley 30 FA-elig 264.4 0.8 +0.4
Rick Sutcliffe 29 FA-elig 202.7 1.3 -0.6
Lee Smith 27 arb 652.7 0.7 +0.0
Jody Davis 28 arb 1422.4 0.6 +0.1
Leon Durham 27 arb 1532.3 0.8 -0.2
Davey Lopes 40 FA-elig 992.2 0.5 +0.1
Thad Bosley 28 FA-elig 1082.1 0.2 +0.3
Scott Sanderson 28 FA-elig 191.9 0.5 +0.0
Keith Moreland 31 FA-elig 1611.9 0.9 -0.4
Steve Trout 27 FA-elig 241.2 0.6 -0.3
Shawon Dunston 22 – 740.9 – –
Bob Dernier 28 arb 1210.8 0.4 -0.2
Dick Ruthven 34 FA-elig 200.7 0.8 -0.6
Reggie Patterson 26 – 80.7 – –
Larry Bowa↔ NYM 39 FA-elig 720.6 0.4 -0.3
Ron Cey 37 FA-elig 1450.6 1.4 -1.3
Gary Matthews Sr. 34 FA-elig 970.5 0.6 -0.5
Gary Woods 31 FA-elig 810.3 0.3 -0.2
Ray Fontenot 27 pre-arb 380.1 0.2 -0.2
Ron Meridith 28 – 320.0 – –
Lary Sorensen 29 FA-elig 450.0 0.3 -0.3
Dave Owen 27 – 220.0 – –
Dave Gumpert 27 – 9-0.0 – –
Brian Dayett 28 – 22-0.0 – –
Johnny Abrego 22 – 6-0.1 – –
Steve Engel 23 – 11-0.1 – –
Jay Baller 24 – 20-0.1 – –
Steve Lake 28 – 58-0.1 – –
Dave Beard 25 – 9-0.2 – –
Larry Gura↔ KCR 37 – 5-0.2 – –
Darrin Jackson 22 – 5-0.2 – –
Chico Walker 27 – 21-0.2 – –
Chris Speier 35 FA-elig 106-0.3 0.2 -0.3
Derek Botelho 28 – 11-0.3 – –
Jon Perlman 28 – 6-0.3 – –
Richie Hebner 37 FA-elig 83-0.4 0.3 -0.4
Billy Hatcher 24 – 53-0.5 – –
Warren Brusstar 33 FA-elig 51-0.5 0.4 -0.5
George Frazier 30 FA-elig 51-1.3 0.5 -0.8

Key additions (new vs 1984)

PlayerfWAR
Ryne Sandberg5.9
Dennis Eckersley4.4
Rick Sutcliffe2.7
Lee Smith2.7
Jody Davis2.4
Leon Durham2.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1984)

Player1984 fWAR
—

Current & Historical Payroll

1985 payroll
$13.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 1985, 1985–1991. 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 (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Ron Cey3714.000$1.4M$1.4MFREE AGENT
Rick Sutcliffe299.000$1.3M$1.5M$1.8M$2.1M$2.3M$1.9M$2.3M
Keith Moreland317.000$865k$760k$1.0MFREE AGENT
Dick Ruthven3412.000$767k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Dennis Eckersley3010.000$750k$783kFREE AGENT
Steve Trout277.000$640k$890k$498kFREE AGENT
Gary Matthews Sr.3413.000$600k$850k$445kFREE AGENT
Scott Sanderson287.000$500k$800k$850k$950k$800kFREE AGENT
Davey Lopes4013.000$490k$301kFREE AGENT
George Frazier307.000$483k$443kFREE AGENT
Larry Bowa3915.000$440kFREE AGENT
Warren Brusstar338.000$375kFREE AGENT
Gary Woods319.000$322kFREE AGENT
Lary Sorensen298.000$320kFREE AGENT
Richie Hebner3717.000$310kFREE AGENT
Chris Speier3514.000$225k$275kFREE AGENT
Thad Bosley288.000$215k$328kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Leon Durham275.000$800kFREE AGENT
Lee Smith275.000$670kFREE AGENT
Jody Davis284.000$550kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryne Sandberg254.000$505kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Dernier285.000$406kFREE AGENT
Jay Baller243.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Beard255.000—FREE AGENT
Dave Gumpert273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chico Walker275.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Ray Fontenot272.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Johnny Abrego22–—
Derek Botelho28–—
Brian Dayett282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawon Dunston220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Engel23–—
Larry Gura37–—
Billy Hatcher241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darrin Jackson220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Lake282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Meridith28–—
Dave Owen27–—
Reggie Patterson26–—
Jon Perlman28–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cubs 1985; 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.