RRosternomics
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Dodgers LAD

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GM: Al Campanis

Overview

CONTEND → steady
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.06× league · TAB +14.0
+14.0TAB — talent above budget2nd/26
+12.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/26
-2.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag5th/26
25%dead money %11th/26
0.586win %5th/26
49.0roster fWAR3rd/26
+2surplus $M (value vs cost)4th/26
$10Mpayroll $M12th/26

1985: made playoffs · 95–67. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFKen Landreaux 126GCandy Maldonado 57GPedro Guerrero 10G
LFPedro Guerrero 71GCandy Maldonado 44GTerry Whitfield 21G
RFMike Marshall 124GCandy Maldonado 24GR.J. Reynolds 24G
SSMariano Duncan 123GDave Anderson 25GBill Russell 23G
2BSteve Sax 135GMariano Duncan 19GBob Bailor 16G
3BBill Madlock 130GDave Anderson 51GBob Bailor 45G
1BGreg Brock 122GEnos Cabell 70GLen Matuszek 14G
STARTERSOrel Hershiser 5.9WARFernando Valenzuela 5.9WARJerry Reuss 2.5WARBob Welch 2.3WARRick Honeycutt 1.6WAR
CMike Scioscia 139GSteve Yeager 48GGilberto Reyes 6G
BULLPEN★ Tom Niedenfuer 19svKen Howell 0hCarlos Diaz 0hDennis Powell 0hTom Brennan 0hBrian Holton 0hAlejandro Pena 0h
CMike Scioscia 139 · Steve Yeager 48 · Gilberto Reyes 6
1BGreg Brock 122 · Enos Cabell 70 · Len Matuszek 14
2BSteve Sax 135 · Mariano Duncan 19 · Bob Bailor 16
3BBill Madlock 130 · Dave Anderson 51 · Bob Bailor 45
SSMariano Duncan 123 · Dave Anderson 25 · Bill Russell 23
LFPedro Guerrero 71 · Candy Maldonado 44 · Terry Whitfield 21
CFKen Landreaux 126 · Candy Maldonado 57 · Pedro Guerrero 10
RFMike Marshall 124 · Candy Maldonado 24 · R.J. Reynolds 24
SPOrel Hershiser 5.9 · Fernando Valenzuela 5.9 · Jerry Reuss 2.5 · Bob Welch 2.3 · Rick Honeycutt 1.6
BP★ Tom Niedenfuer 19 · Ken Howell 0 · Carlos Diaz 0 · Dennis Powell 0 · Tom Brennan 0 · Brian Holton 0 · Alejandro Pena 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
Pedro Guerrero 29 FA-elig 1377.8 1.3 +0.8
Orel Hershiser 26 pre-arb 375.9 0.2 +1.3
Fernando Valenzuela 24 arb 355.9 1.2 +0.3
Mike Scioscia 26 arb 1415.5 0.4 +1.0
Mike Marshall 25 arb 1353.1 0.3 +0.5
Tom Niedenfuer 25 arb 642.7 0.4 +0.3
Jerry Reuss 36 FA-elig 342.5 1.0 -0.3
Greg Brock 28 arb 1292.4 0.1 +0.5
Bob Welch 28 FA-elig 252.3 0.6 -0.0
Ken Landreaux 30 FA-elig 1471.9 0.5 -0.0
Rick Honeycutt 31 FA-elig 321.6 0.7 -0.3
Bill Madlock↔ PIT 34 FA-elig 341.3 0.2 +0.1
Mariano Duncan 22 pre-arb 1421.2 0.1 +0.3
Steve Sax 25 arb 1361.0 0.5 -0.2
Enos Cabell↔ HOU 35 FA-elig 571.0 0.1 +0.1
Ken Howell 24 – 560.8 – –
Carlos Diaz 27 arb 460.8 0.1 +0.1
Dave Anderson 24 – 770.8 – –
Bob Bailor 33 FA-elig 740.5 0.3 -0.2
R.J. Reynolds↔ PIT 26 – 730.5 – –
Len Matuszek↔ TOR 30 arb 430.4 0.1 +0.0
Candy Maldonado 24 arb 1210.4 0.1 -0.0
Tom Brennan 32 – 120.3 – –
Steve Yeager 36 FA-elig 530.2 0.5 -0.4
Jose Gonzalez 20 – 230.2 – –
Terry Whitfield 32 FA-elig 790.2 0.3 -0.3
Bill Russell 36 FA-elig 760.2 0.5 -0.4
Gilberto Reyes 21 – 60.1 – –
Brian Holton 25 – 30.0 – –
Ralph Bryant 24 – 60.0 – –
Steve Howe↔ MIN 27 – 190.0 – –
Franklin Stubbs 24 – 10-0.1 – –
Stu Pederson 25 – 8-0.1 – –
Jay Johnstone 39 FA-elig 17-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Alejandro Pena 26 arb 2-0.2 0.3 -0.4
Mike Ramsey 31 – 9-0.2 – –
Reggie Williams 24 – 22-0.2 – –
Sid Bream↔ PIT 24 – 24-0.3 – –
Al Oliver↔ TOR 38 FA-elig 35-0.3 0.3 -0.4
Bobby Castillo 30 – 36-0.4 – –
Dennis Powell 21 – 16-0.6 – –

Key additions (new vs 1984)

PlayerfWAR
Pedro Guerrero7.8
Orel Hershiser5.9
Fernando Valenzuela5.9
Mike Scioscia5.5
Mike Marshall3.1
Tom Niedenfuer2.7

Key subtractions (gone from 1984)

Player1984 fWAR
—

Current & Historical Payroll

1985 payroll
$10.4M

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 (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Pedro Guerrero297.000$1.3M$1.4M$1.5M$985kFREE AGENT
Jerry Reuss3616.000$980k$1.0M$748kFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt318.000$705k$755k$639kFREE AGENT
Bob Welch287.000$644k$744k$838kFREE AGENT
Ken Landreaux308.000$538k$638k$738kFREE AGENT
Steve Yeager3613.000$500kFREE AGENT
Bill Russell3616.000$450k$450kFREE AGENT
Bob Bailor3310.000$330kFREE AGENT
Terry Whitfield3211.000$317kFREE AGENT
Al Oliver3817.000$273kFREE AGENT
Bill Madlock3412.000$230k$842k$685kFREE AGENT
Jay Johnstone3919.000$150kFREE AGENT
Enos Cabell3513.000$142k$450kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Fernando Valenzuela245.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Steve Sax254.000$465kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Scioscia265.000$435kFREE AGENT
Tom Niedenfuer254.000$370kARB 3FREE AGENT
Alejandro Pena264.000$350kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Marshall254.000$333kARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Brock283.000$150kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Candy Maldonado244.000$140kARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Diaz273.000$120kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Len Matuszek304.000$76kARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Howe275.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Orel Hershiser262.000$212kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mariano Duncan220.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Anderson242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sid Bream242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Brennan32–—
Ralph Bryant24–—
Bobby Castillo30–—
Jose Gonzalez200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Holton250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Howell241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Stu Pederson25–—
Dennis Powell210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Ramsey31–—
Gilberto Reyes21–—
R.J. Reynolds262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Franklin Stubbs241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reggie Williams240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Dodgers 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.