RRosternomics
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Nationals WSN

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GM: Murray Cook

Overview

WINDOW → steady
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.93× league · TAB +3.1
+3.1TAB — talent above budget11th/26
+3.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)9th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/26
-6.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag23rd/26
31%dead money %15th/26
0.522win %10th/26
36.2roster fWAR9th/26
-1surplus $M (value vs cost)11th/26
$9Mpayroll $M19th/26

Roster

CFHerm Winningham 115GMitch Webster 52GAndre Dawson 24G
LFTim Raines Sr. 146GDoug Frobel 21GJim Wohlford 8G
RFAndre Dawson 122GJim Wohlford 36GTerry Francona 24G
SSHubie Brooks 155GU L Washington 10GAl Newman 2G
2BVance Law 126GU L Washington 43GAl Newman 15G
3BTim Wallach 154GVance Law 11GSkeeter Barnes 4G
1BTerry Francona 57GScot Thompson 27GAndres Galarraga 23G
STARTERSBryn Smith 5.5WARJoe Hesketh 3.2WARBill Gullickson 3.2WARDavid Palmer 2.3WARDan Schatzeder 1.1WAR
CMike Fitzgerald 108GSal Butera 66GMike O'Berry 20G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Reardon 41svTim Burke 0hGary Lucas 0hBert Roberge 0hRandy St. Claire 0hJack O'Connor 0hRick Grapenthin 0hJohn Dopson 0h
CMike Fitzgerald 108 · Sal Butera 66 · Mike O'Berry 20
1BTerry Francona 57 · Scot Thompson 27 · Andres Galarraga 23
2BVance Law 126 · U L Washington 43 · Al Newman 15
3BTim Wallach 154 · Vance Law 11 · Skeeter Barnes 4
SSHubie Brooks 155 · U L Washington 10 · Al Newman 2
LFTim Raines Sr. 146 · Doug Frobel 21 · Jim Wohlford 8
CFHerm Winningham 115 · Mitch Webster 52 · Andre Dawson 24
RFAndre Dawson 122 · Jim Wohlford 36 · Terry Francona 24
SPBryn Smith 5.5 · Joe Hesketh 3.2 · Bill Gullickson 3.2 · David Palmer 2.3 · Dan Schatzeder 1.1
BP★ Jeff Reardon 41 · Tim Burke 0 · Gary Lucas 0 · Bert Roberge 0 · Randy St. Claire 0 · Jack O'Connor 0 · Rick Grapenthin 0 · John Dopson 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
Tim Raines Sr. 25 FA-elig 1507.2 1.2 +0.7
Bryn Smith 29 arb 325.5 0.3 +1.1
Tim Wallach 27 arb 1555.1 0.6 +0.8
Vance Law 28 arb 1473.9 0.4 +0.6
Joe Hesketh 26 – 263.2 – –
Bill Gullickson 26 FA-elig 293.2 0.7 +0.1
David Palmer 27 FA-elig 242.3 0.4 +0.2
Hubie Brooks 28 arb 1562.3 0.6 +0.0
Andre Dawson 30 FA-elig 1392.1 1.0 -0.5
Mitch Webster↔ TOR 26 – 741.4 – –
Jeff Reardon 29 FA-elig 631.2 0.8 -0.5
Dan Schatzeder 30 FA-elig 241.1 0.4 -0.1
Floyd Youmans 21 – 140.8 – –
Tim Burke 26 – 780.6 – –
Mickey Mahler↔ DET 32 – 90.5 – –
Dan Driessen↔ SFG 33 FA-elig 910.4 0.5 -0.4
Steve Rogers 35 – 80.4 – –
U L Washington 31 FA-elig 680.4 0.7 -0.6
Herm Winningham 23 – 1250.3 – –
Fred Manrique 23 – 90.2 – –
Randy St. Claire 24 – 420.2 – –
Jack O'Connor 27 – 200.1 – –
Bert Roberge 30 FA-elig 420.1 0.1 -0.1
Mike O'Berry 31 – 200.0 – –
Rick Grapenthin 27 – 5-0.0 – –
Ed Glynn 32 – 3-0.0 – –
Scot Thompson↔ SFG 29 FA-elig 34-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Skeeter Barnes 28 – 19-0.1 – –
Doug Frobel↔ PIT 26 – 12-0.1 – –
Roy Johnson 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Doug Flynn↔ DET 34 FA-elig 9-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Andres Galarraga 24 – 24-0.2 – –
John Dopson 21 – 4-0.2 – –
Gary Lucas 30 arb 49-0.2 0.5 -0.6
Al Newman 25 – 25-0.3 – –
Jim Wohlford 34 FA-elig 70-0.5 0.3 -0.4
Ned Yost III 29 – 5-0.5 – –
Terry Francona 26 arb 107-0.5 0.2 -0.4
Steve Nicosia↔ TOR 29 FA-elig 42-0.5 0.1 -0.2
Mike Fitzgerald 24 – 108-0.5 – –
Sal Butera 32 – 67-0.6 – –
Razor Shines 28 – 47-0.6 – –
Miguel Dilone↔ SDP 30 FA-elig 51-0.6 0.1 -0.3
Bill Laskey↔ SFG 27 arb 11-0.6 0.1 -0.3

Key additions (new vs 1984)

PlayerfWAR
Tim Raines Sr.7.2
Bryn Smith5.5
Tim Wallach5.1
Vance Law3.9
Joe Hesketh3.2
Bill Gullickson3.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1984)

Player1984 fWAR
—

Current & Historical Payroll

1985 payroll
$9.1M

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 (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Tim Raines Sr.256.000$1.2M$1.5M$1.7M$1.7M$2.1M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Andre Dawson309.000$1.0M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Jeff Reardon296.000$850k$850kFREE AGENT
Bill Gullickson266.000$700kFREE AGENT
U L Washington318.000$650kFREE AGENT
Dan Driessen3312.000$482kFREE AGENT
Dan Schatzeder308.000$375k$236kFREE AGENT
David Palmer277.000$375kFREE AGENT
Jim Wohlford3413.000$308k$350kFREE AGENT
Miguel Dilone3011.000$114kFREE AGENT
Bert Roberge306.000$95k$138kFREE AGENT
Steve Nicosia297.000$92kFREE AGENT
Doug Flynn3410.000$77kFREE AGENT
Scot Thompson297.000$68kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Tim Wallach275.000$565kFREE AGENT
Hubie Brooks285.000$550kFREE AGENT
Gary Lucas305.000$514kFREE AGENT
Vance Law285.000$375kFREE AGENT
Bryn Smith294.000$290kARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Francona264.000$250kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Laskey273.000$130kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sal Butera325.000—FREE AGENT
Fred Manrique234.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack O'Connor274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1985198619871988198919901991
Skeeter Barnes282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Burke260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Dopson210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Fitzgerald242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Frobel26–—
Andres Galarraga240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Glynn32–—
Rick Grapenthin27–—
Joe Hesketh261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Roy Johnson26–—
Mickey Mahler32–—
Al Newman250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike O'Berry31–—
Steve Rogers35–—
Randy St. Claire241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Razor Shines28–—
Mitch Webster262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Herm Winningham231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ned Yost III29–—
Floyd Youmans210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

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