RRosternomics
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Mets NYM

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GM: Frank Cashen

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.3× league · TAB +16.6
+16.6TAB — talent above budget1st/26
+22.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)1st/26
12.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-0.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/26
30%dead money %9th/26
0.667win %1st/26
54.1roster fWAR1st/26
+1surplus $M (value vs cost)5th/26
$15Mpayroll $M4th/26

1986: World Series champions · 108–54. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFLenny Dykstra 138GMookie Wilson 65GStan Jefferson 7G
LFMookie Wilson 78GDanny Heep 44GKevin Mitchell 40G
RFDarryl Strawberry 130GKevin Mitchell 29GDanny Heep 13G
SSRafael Santana 137GHoward Johnson 34GKevin Mitchell 24G
2BWally Backman 113GTim Teufel 84GRafael Santana 1G
3BRay Knight 132GHoward Johnson 45GKevin Mitchell 7G
1BKeith Hernandez 149GLee Mazzilli 15GGary Carter 9G
STARTERSDwight Gooden 4.5WARSid Fernandez 4.2WARBob Ojeda 3.9WARRon Darling 3.2WARRick Aguilera 1.9WAR
CGary Carter 122GEd Hearn 45GJohn Gibbons 8G
BULLPEN★ Roger McDowell 22svJesse Orosco 0hDoug Sisk 0hRandy Niemann 0hRandy Myers 0hTerry Leach 0hJohn Mitchell 0h
CGary Carter 122 · Ed Hearn 45 · John Gibbons 8
1BKeith Hernandez 149 · Lee Mazzilli 15 · Gary Carter 9
2BWally Backman 113 · Tim Teufel 84 · Rafael Santana 1
3BRay Knight 132 · Howard Johnson 45 · Kevin Mitchell 7
SSRafael Santana 137 · Howard Johnson 34 · Kevin Mitchell 24
LFMookie Wilson 78 · Danny Heep 44 · Kevin Mitchell 40
CFLenny Dykstra 138 · Mookie Wilson 65 · Stan Jefferson 7
RFDarryl Strawberry 130 · Kevin Mitchell 29 · Danny Heep 13
SPDwight Gooden 4.5 · Sid Fernandez 4.2 · Bob Ojeda 3.9 · Ron Darling 3.2 · Rick Aguilera 1.9
BP★ Roger McDowell 22 · Jesse Orosco 0 · Doug Sisk 0 · Randy Niemann 0 · Randy Myers 0 · Terry Leach 0 · John Mitchell 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.

1986 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Keith Hernandez 32 FA-elig 1495.8 1.6 +0.1
Lenny Dykstra 23 pre-arb 1474.5 0.1 +1.3
Dwight Gooden 21 pre-arb 334.5 1.3 +0.0
Sid Fernandez 23 arb 324.2 0.2 +1.1
Bob Ojeda 28 FA-elig 323.9 0.6 +0.6
Gary Carter 32 FA-elig 1323.8 2.2 -1.0
Darryl Strawberry 24 arb 1363.4 0.9 +0.1
Ron Darling 25 arb 343.2 0.4 +0.5
Wally Backman 26 FA-elig 1243.1 0.3 +0.6
Mookie Wilson 30 FA-elig 1232.9 0.7 +0.2
Kevin Mitchell 24 pre-arb 1082.7 0.1 +0.7
Ray Knight 33 FA-elig 1372.7 0.6 +0.1
Rick Aguilera 24 pre-arb 321.9 0.1 +0.4
Roger McDowell 25 pre-arb 751.4 0.2 +0.2
Howard Johnson 25 arb 881.3 0.2 +0.2
Danny Heep 28 FA-elig 860.8 0.3 -0.1
John Gibbons 24 pre-arb 80.6 0.1 +0.1
Dave Magadan 23 – 100.6 – –
Lee Mazzilli↔ PIT 31 FA-elig 390.6 0.2 -0.1
Rick Anderson 29 – 150.5 – –
Tim Teufel 27 arb 930.4 0.2 -0.1
Ed Hearn 25 pre-arb 490.4 0.1 +0.0
Jesse Orosco 29 FA-elig 580.4 0.8 -0.7
Rafael Santana 28 arb 1390.3 0.2 -0.1
Randy Niemann 30 FA-elig 310.3 0.1 +0.0
George Foster↔ CHW 37 FA-elig 720.3 2.3 -2.2
Doug Sisk 28 arb 410.3 0.3 -0.2
Stan Jefferson 23 – 140.2 – –
Ed Lynch↔ CHC 30 FA-elig 10.1 0.0 +0.0
Terry Leach 32 – 60.1 – –
Kevin Elster 21 pre-arb 190.0 0.1 -0.0
Randy Myers 23 – 10-0.0 – –
John Mitchell 20 – 4-0.1 – –
Tim Corcoran 33 FA-elig 6-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Bruce Berenyi 31 – 14-0.3 – –
Barry Lyons 26 – 6-0.3 – –

Key additions (new vs 1985)

PlayerfWAR
Bob Ojeda3.9
Kevin Mitchell2.7
John Gibbons0.6
Dave Magadan0.6
Lee Mazzilli0.6
Rick Anderson0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1985)

Player1985 fWAR
Bill Latham0.4
Rusty Staub0.3
Ronn Reynolds0.1
Tom Paciorek0.0
Ron Gardenhire0.0
Billy Beane-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1986 payroll
$14.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1986, 1986–1992. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
George Foster3717.000$2.3MFREE AGENT
Gary Carter3212.000$2.2M$2.1M$2.2M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Keith Hernandez3212.000$1.6M$1.8M$1.9M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Jesse Orosco297.000$825k$925kFREE AGENT
Mookie Wilson306.000$700k$800k$900k$597kFREE AGENT
Ray Knight3312.000$645kFREE AGENT
Bob Ojeda286.000$550k$650k$725k$925k$1.3MFREE AGENT
Danny Heep287.000$350kFREE AGENT
Wally Backman266.000$325k$550k$650kFREE AGENT
Lee Mazzilli3110.000$234k$62k$350k$221kFREE AGENT
Tim Corcoran339.000$220kFREE AGENT
Randy Niemann307.000$83kFREE AGENT
Ed Lynch306.000$22kFREE AGENT
Bruce Berenyi316.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Darryl Strawberry243.000$945kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Darling253.000$440kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Sisk284.000$275kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Santana283.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Howard Johnson254.000$228kARB 3FREE AGENT
Sid Fernandez233.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Teufel273.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Leach325.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Dwight Gooden212.000$1.3MARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Roger McDowell251.000$185kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Aguilera241.000$130kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lenny Dykstra231.000$92kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Gibbons242.000$65kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Hearn250.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Elster210.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Mitchell242.000$60kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Anderson29–—
Stan Jefferson230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Barry Lyons260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Magadan230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Mitchell200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Myers231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mets 1986; 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.