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Mets NYM

1986108–54 (0.667)★ 1986 World Series Champions
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GM: Frank Cashen

Overview

Ranks vs the 30 teams in 1986, or a custom range (defaults to every team-season since 1985, when our data starts).

to

Front Office

PoorAverageGreat
Value
Payroll $M
$15M
Surplus $M
+1
Win %
0.667
TAB
+16.6
WAB
+22.7
Roster composition
Roster fWAR
54.1
Dead money %
30%
Depth Players
12.0
Dead WAR
-0.9

Offense

PoorAverageGreat

Pitching & Defense

PoorAverageGreat

Roster

1986 depth chart — stacked by playing time

C

RGary Carter122
REd Hearn45
RJohn Gibbons8
RBarry Lyons3

1B

LKeith Hernandez149
BLee Mazzilli⇄15
RGary Carter9
LDave Magadan9
RTim Teufel3
RKevin Mitchell2
RRay Knight1
LTim Corcoran1

2B

BWally Backman113
RTim Teufel84
RRafael Santana1

3B

RRay Knight132
BHoward Johnson45
RKevin Mitchell7
RGary Carter1
RTim Teufel1

SS

RRafael Santana137
BHoward Johnson34
RKevin Mitchell24
RKevin Elster19

LF

BMookie Wilson78
LDanny Heep44
RKevin Mitchell40
BLee Mazzilli⇄24
RGary Carter2
LDarryl Strawberry1
BHoward Johnson1
LLenny Dykstra1
RRoger McDowell1
BStan Jefferson1

CF

LLenny Dykstra138
BMookie Wilson65
BStan Jefferson7
RKevin Mitchell6

RF

LDarryl Strawberry130
RKevin Mitchell29
LDanny Heep13
BMookie Wilson3
BLee Mazzilli⇄2
RGary Carter2
RJesse Orosco1
RRoger McDowell1

DH

—

Starters

RDwight Gooden4.5 WAR
LSid Fernandez4.2 WAR
LBob Ojeda3.9 WAR
RRon Darling3.2 WAR
RRick Aguilera1.9 WAR
RRick Anderson0.5 WAR
LRandy Niemann0.3 WAR
RJohn Mitchell-0.1 WAR
RBruce Berenyi-0.3 WAR

Bullpen

★ RRoger McDowell22 sv
LJesse Orosco0 h
RDoug Sisk0 h
LRandy Niemann0 h
LRandy Myers0 h
RTerry Leach0 h
RJohn Mitchell0 h
REd Lynch⇄0 h

Each position shows its top 3 by games (top = starter) — click "+more" for the rest. The letter is bats/throws; ⇄ marks a player traded mid-season. Starters are ranked by WAR, bullpen by holds; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

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

Contract Value

WAR translated into tier-adjusted market value, then compared with what the player was paid by Mets. Guaranteed contracts from the 2015-present contract-data period use the known contract period through 1986; everyone else is shown as a 1986 season snapshot.

PlayerPeriodfWARTier Market $MPaid $MSurplus $M$ / WARTierContract
Dwight Gooden 1986 +4.5 +78.9 1.3 +77.6 $0.3M 2.19× –
Sid Fernandez 1986 +4.2 +73.6 0.2 +73.4 $0.0M 2.19× –
Bob Ojeda 1986 +3.9 +68.4 0.6 +67.8 $0.1M 2.19× –
Lenny Dykstra 1986 +4.5 +64.7 0.1 +64.6 $0.0M 1.79× –
Keith Hernandez 1986 +5.8 +63.4 1.6 +61.7 $0.3M 1.37× –
Ron Darling 1986 +3.2 +50.2 0.4 +49.7 $0.1M 1.96× –
Darryl Strawberry 1986 +3.4 +43.2 0.9 +42.3 $0.3M 1.60× –
Mookie Wilson 1986 +2.9 +37.4 0.7 +36.7 $0.2M 1.60× –
Kevin Mitchell 1986 +2.7 +34.6 0.1 +34.6 $0.0M 1.60× –
Gary Carter 1986 +3.8 +33.7 2.2 +31.6 $0.6M 1.12× –
Wally Backman 1986 +3.1 +26.5 0.3 +26.1 $0.1M 1.07× –
Ray Knight 1986 +2.7 +23.7 0.6 +23.1 $0.2M 1.12× –
Rick Aguilera 1986 +1.9 +22.9 0.1 +22.8 $0.1M 1.49× –
Roger McDowell 1986 +1.4 +14.6 0.2 +14.4 $0.1M 1.34× –
Howard Johnson 1986 +1.3 +6.2 0.2 +5.9 $0.2M 0.58× –
Danny Heep 1986 +0.8 +5.4 0.3 +5.0 $0.4M 0.83× –
Lee Mazzilli↔ 1986 +0.6 +3.7 0.2 +3.5 $0.4M 0.83× –
Jesse Orosco 1986 +0.4 +3.8 0.8 +2.9 $2.3M 1.34× –
John Gibbons 1986 +0.6 +2.5 0.1 +2.4 $0.1M 0.52× –
Tim Teufel 1986 +0.4 +2.0 0.2 +1.8 $0.5M 0.56× –
Randy Niemann 1986 +0.3 +1.7 0.1 +1.6 $0.3M 0.67× –
Ed Hearn 1986 +0.4 +1.5 0.1 +1.4 $0.2M 0.52× –
Rafael Santana 1986 +0.3 +1.6 0.2 +1.4 $0.7M 0.61× –
Doug Sisk 1986 +0.3 +1.4 0.3 +1.2 $1.0M 0.67× –
Ed Lynch↔ 1986 +0.1 +0.5 0.0 +0.5 $0.2M 0.67× –
Kevin Elster 1986 +0.0 +0.2 0.1 +0.2 $1.2M 0.61× –
George Foster↔ 1986 +0.3 +1.8 2.3 -0.5 $8.6M 0.83× –
Tim Corcoran 1986 -0.1 -0.6 0.2 -0.9 – 0.56× –
Barry Lyons 1986 -0.3 -1.3 – – – 0.52× –
Bruce Berenyi 1986 -0.3 -2.1 – – – 1.02× –
Dave Magadan 1986 +0.6 +2.5 – – – 0.56× –
John Mitchell 1986 -0.1 -0.5 – – – 0.67× –
Randy Myers 1986 -0.0 -0.3 – – – 0.67× –
Rick Anderson 1986 +0.5 +2.6 – – – 0.67× –
Stan Jefferson 1986 +0.2 +1.1 – – – 0.83× –
Terry Leach 1986 +0.1 +0.3 – – – 0.67× –
Total—+54.4+669.814.4+652.8—

Trades

Every graded 1986 deal involving the Mets — best expected value first. Surplus is realized value in $M; 10 total.

1986 · NYM / KCR
NYM · Frank Cashen +$0.8M
Tony Ferreira
KCR · John Schuerholz −$0.8M
Angel Salazar
NYM came out ahead by $0.8M
1986 · NYM / ATL
NYM · Frank Cashen +$4.8M
Mike Santiago
ATL · Bobby Cox −$4.8M
Ed Olwine
NYM came out ahead by $4.8M
1986 · NYM / MIN
NYM · Frank Cashen +$0.0M
Donnie Iasparro
MIN · Andy MacPhail +$0.0M
Ron Gardenhire
Even trade
1986 · NYM / PHI
NYM · Frank Cashen +$2.4M
Rodger Cole, Ron Gideon
PHI · Bill Giles −$2.4M
Ronn Reynolds, Jeff Bittiger
NYM came out ahead by $2.4M
1986 · NYM / BAL
NYM · Frank Cashen +$0.0M
Rick Lockwood
BAL · Hank Peters +$0.0M
Joe Redfield
Even trade
1986 · NYM / MIN
NYM · Frank Cashen +$11.2M
Tim Teufel, Pat Crosby
MIN · Andy MacPhail −$11.2M
Billy Beane, Bill Latham, Joe Klink
NYM came out ahead by $11.2M
1986 · NYM / WSN
NYM · Frank Cashen +$0.0M
Doug Frobel
WSN · Murray Cook +$0.0M
Rodger Cole, Joe Graves
Even trade
1986 · NYM / SEA
NYM · Frank Cashen +$0.0M
Ricky Nelson
SEA · Dick Balderson +$0.0M
Doug Gwosdz
Even trade
1986 · NYM / CHC
NYM · Frank Cashen +$5.6M
Dave Lenderman, Dave Liddell
CHC · Dallas Green −$5.6M
Ed Lynch
NYM came out ahead by $5.6M
1986 · NYM / SDP
NYM · Frank Cashen +$128.0M
Kevin McReynolds, Gene Walter, Adam Ging
SDP · Jack McKeon −$128.0M
Shawn Abner, Stan Jefferson, Kevin Mitchell, Kevin Armstrong, Kevin Brown
NYM came out ahead by $128.0M

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

How each 1986 acquisition stacked onto Mets's playoff-odds curve. The side table is ranked by PPA.

Rosternomics — front-office performance, roster value, and transaction history. Follow @rosternomics on X.
Decision-maker records extend to 1933; resource-controlled WAR and payroll metrics cover 1985–2026. Data sources include FanGraphs, Baseball-Reference, the Chadwick Bureau register, the Lahman Database, prospect rankings from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and FanGraphs, 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).
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