RRosternomics
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Twins MIN

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GM: Howard Fox

Overview

WINDOW → steady
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.55× league · TAB +6.0
+6.0TAB — talent above budget9th/26
+2.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)11th/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars9th/26
-1.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/26
11%dead money %2nd/26
0.475win %17th/26
32.8roster fWAR14th/26
+2surplus $M (value vs cost)3rd/26
$5Mpayroll $M25th/26

Roster

CFKirby Puckett 161GDave Meier 3GTom Brunansky 1G
LFMickey Hatcher 96GDave Meier 56GRandy Bush 38G
RFTom Brunansky 155GMike Stenhouse 9GRandy Bush 4G
SSGreg Gagne 106GRoy Smalley III 49GRon Washington 31G
2BTim Teufel 137GSteve Lombardozzi Sr. 26GRon Washington 24G
3BGary Gaetti 156GRoy Smalley III 14GRon Washington 7G
1BKent Hrbek 156GMike Stenhouse 8GMickey Hatcher 4G
STARTERSFrank Viola 3.9WARMike Smithson 3.2WARJohn Butcher 2.7WARBert Blyleven 2.7WARPete Filson 0.2WAR
CMark Salas 115GTim Laudner 68GDave Engle 17G
DHRoy Smalley III 46GDave Engle 33GRandy Bush 26G
BULLPEN★ Ron Davis 25svFrank Eufemia 0hRick Lysander 0hSteve Howe 0hTom Klawitter 0hMark Portugal 0hMark Brown 0hDennis Burtt 0h
CMark Salas 115 · Tim Laudner 68 · Dave Engle 17
1BKent Hrbek 156 · Mike Stenhouse 8 · Mickey Hatcher 4
2BTim Teufel 137 · Steve Lombardozzi Sr. 26 · Ron Washington 24
3BGary Gaetti 156 · Roy Smalley III 14 · Ron Washington 7
SSGreg Gagne 106 · Roy Smalley III 49 · Ron Washington 31
LFMickey Hatcher 96 · Dave Meier 56 · Randy Bush 38
CFKirby Puckett 161 · Dave Meier 3 · Tom Brunansky 1
RFTom Brunansky 155 · Mike Stenhouse 9 · Randy Bush 4
DHRoy Smalley III 46 · Dave Engle 33 · Randy Bush 26
SPFrank Viola 3.9 · Mike Smithson 3.2 · John Butcher 2.7 · Bert Blyleven 2.7 · Pete Filson 0.2
BP★ Ron Davis 25 · Frank Eufemia 0 · Rick Lysander 0 · Steve Howe 0 · Tom Klawitter 0 · Mark Portugal 0 · Mark Brown 0 · Dennis Burtt 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
Frank Viola 25 arb 363.9 0.4 +0.6
Mike Smithson 30 arb 373.2 0.3 +0.5
Kirby Puckett 25 pre-arb 1612.8 0.1 +0.6
Bert Blyleven↔ CLE 34 FA-elig 142.7 0.2 +0.5
Gary Gaetti 26 arb 1602.7 0.4 +0.3
John Butcher 28 arb 342.7 0.3 +0.4
Kent Hrbek 25 arb 1582.5 0.6 +0.1
Mark Salas 24 pre-arb 1202.3 0.1 +0.5
Tom Brunansky 24 arb 1571.6 0.4 -0.0
Steve Lombardozzi Sr. 25 – 281.5 – –
Roy Smalley III 32 FA-elig 1291.3 0.7 -0.4
Tim Teufel 26 pre-arb 1381.0 0.1 +0.1
Mickey Hatcher 30 FA-elig 1160.8 0.3 -0.1
Ron Davis 29 FA-elig 570.7 0.7 -0.5
Greg Gagne 23 – 1140.7 – –
Rick Lysander 32 – 350.6 – –
Tim Laudner 27 arb 720.5 0.1 -0.0
Dave Engle 28 arb 700.5 0.2 -0.1
Randy Bush 26 arb 970.4 0.1 -0.0
Mark Funderburk 28 – 230.3 – –
Dennis Burtt 27 – 50.3 – –
Steve Howe↔ LAD 27 – 130.2 – –
Dave Meier 25 – 710.2 – –
Pete Filson 26 arb 400.2 0.1 -0.1
Ron Washington 33 – 700.2 – –
Mike Stenhouse 27 – 810.1 – –
Alvaro Espinoza 23 – 320.1 – –
Ken Schrom 30 arb 290.1 0.1 -0.1
Mark Portugal 22 – 60.1 – –
Frank Eufemia 25 – 390.0 – –
Mark Brown 25 – 6-0.0 – –
Rich Yett 22 – 1-0.1 – –
Jeff Reed 22 – 7-0.1 – –
Tom Klawitter 27 – 7-0.4 – –
Len Whitehouse 27 – 5-0.4 – –
Curt Wardle↔ CLE 24 – 35-0.5 – –

Key additions (new vs 1984)

PlayerfWAR
Frank Viola3.9
Mike Smithson3.2
Kirby Puckett2.8
Bert Blyleven2.7
Gary Gaetti2.7
John Butcher2.7

Key subtractions (gone from 1984)

Player1984 fWAR
—

Current & Historical Payroll

1985 payroll
$5.4M

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 (5)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Roy Smalley III3210.000$729k$740k$740kFREE AGENT
Ron Davis297.000$650k$492kFREE AGENT
Mickey Hatcher306.000$294k$667kFREE AGENT
Bert Blyleven3415.000$246k$1.4M$1.1M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Ron Washington338.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Kent Hrbek254.000$560kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Brunansky244.000$425kARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Gaetti264.000$415kARB 3FREE AGENT
Frank Viola253.000$375kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Smithson303.000$335kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Butcher285.000$320kFREE AGENT
Dave Engle284.000$215kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Schrom305.000$150kFREE AGENT
Tim Laudner274.000$145kARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Filson263.000$120kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Bush263.000$120kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Howe275.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Kirby Puckett251.000$130kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Teufel262.000$110kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Salas241.000$60kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Brown25–—
Dennis Burtt27–—
Alvaro Espinoza231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Frank Eufemia25–—
Mark Funderburk28–—
Greg Gagne232.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Klawitter27–—
Steve Lombardozzi Sr.250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Lysander32–—
Dave Meier25–—
Mark Portugal220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Reed221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Stenhouse27–—
Curt Wardle24–—
Len Whitehouse27–—
Rich Yett220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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