RRosternomics
𝕏

Mets NYM

‹ ›

GM: Frank Cashen

Overview

CONTEND → steady
expensive & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.31× league · TAB +10.6
+10.6TAB — talent above budget5th/26
+6.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)8th/26
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-0.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/26
16%dead money %2nd/26
0.568win %4th/26
48.2roster fWAR3rd/26
-1surplus $M (value vs cost)10th/26
$14Mpayroll $M2nd/26

Roster

CFLenny Dykstra 118GMookie Wilson 88GLee Mazzilli 2G
LFKevin McReynolds 150GMookie Wilson 20GLee Mazzilli 12G
RFDarryl Strawberry 151GMookie Wilson 14GLee Mazzilli 13G
SSRafael Santana 138GHoward Johnson 38GBill Almon 26G
2BTim Teufel 92GWally Backman 88GKeith Miller 16G
3BHoward Johnson 140GDave Magadan 50G
1BKeith Hernandez 154GDave Magadan 14GLee Mazzilli 13G
STARTERSDwight Gooden 4.8WARSid Fernandez 2.1WARRon Darling 2.0WARRick Aguilera 1.9WARJohn Mitchell 1.7WAR
CGary Carter 135GBarry Lyons 49G
BULLPEN★ Roger McDowell 25svJesse Orosco 0hDoug Sisk 0hRandy Myers 0hGene Walter 0hJeff Innis 0hDon Schulze 0hTom Edens 0h
CGary Carter 135 · Barry Lyons 49
1BKeith Hernandez 154 · Dave Magadan 14 · Lee Mazzilli 13
2BTim Teufel 92 · Wally Backman 88 · Keith Miller 16
3BHoward Johnson 140 · Dave Magadan 50
SSRafael Santana 138 · Howard Johnson 38 · Bill Almon 26
LFKevin McReynolds 150 · Mookie Wilson 20 · Lee Mazzilli 12
CFLenny Dykstra 118 · Mookie Wilson 88 · Lee Mazzilli 2
RFDarryl Strawberry 151 · Mookie Wilson 14 · Lee Mazzilli 13
SPDwight Gooden 4.8 · Sid Fernandez 2.1 · Ron Darling 2.0 · Rick Aguilera 1.9 · John Mitchell 1.7
BP★ Roger McDowell 25 · Jesse Orosco 0 · Doug Sisk 0 · Randy Myers 0 · Gene Walter 0 · Jeff Innis 0 · Don Schulze 0 · Tom Edens 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.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Darryl Strawberry 25 arb 1545.5 1.2 +0.3
Dwight Gooden 22 arb 254.8 1.5 -0.1
Howard Johnson 26 arb 1574.3 0.3 +0.9
Keith Hernandez 33 FA-elig 1543.6 1.8 -0.8
Tim Teufel 28 arb 973.1 0.3 +0.6
Lenny Dykstra 24 pre-arb 1323.1 0.2 +0.7
Mookie Wilson 31 FA-elig 1242.4 0.8 -0.1
Kevin McReynolds 27 arb 1512.2 0.6 +0.0
Sid Fernandez 24 arb 282.1 0.3 +0.3
Ron Darling 26 arb 322.0 1.1 -0.5
Rick Aguilera 25 pre-arb 181.9 0.2 +0.4
Dave Magadan 24 pre-arb 851.8 0.1 +0.5
John Mitchell 21 – 201.7 – –
Randy Myers 24 pre-arb 541.5 0.1 +0.4
Jesse Orosco 30 FA-elig 581.5 0.9 -0.5
Gary Carter 33 FA-elig 1391.4 2.1 -1.6
Keith Miller 24 pre-arb 251.1 0.1 +0.2
Lee Mazzilli 32 FA-elig 881.0 0.1 +0.2
Terry Leach 33 FA-elig 440.9 0.1 +0.2
Rafael Santana 29 arb 1390.7 0.2 -0.0
Bob Ojeda 29 FA-elig 100.5 0.7 -0.5
David Cone 24 pre-arb 210.4 0.1 +0.0
Doug Sisk 29 arb 550.3 0.3 -0.2
John Candelaria↔ ANA 33 FA-elig 30.3 0.1 -0.0
Kevin Elster 22 – 50.1 – –
Roger McDowell 26 pre-arb 560.1 0.3 -0.3
Gregg Jefferies 19 – 60.1 – –
Jeff Innis 24 – 170.1 – –
Wally Backman 27 FA-elig 940.1 0.6 -0.5
Bill Almon↔ PIT 34 FA-elig 490.0 0.2 -0.2
Barry Lyons 27 pre-arb 530.0 0.1 -0.1
Bob Gibson 30 – 10.0 – –
Randy Milligan 25 – 30.0 – –
Clint Hurdle 29 – 30.0 – –
Gene Walter 26 – 21-0.0 – –
Don Schulze 24 – 5-0.1 – –
Mark Carreon 23 – 9-0.1 – –
Al Pedrique↔ PIT 26 – 5-0.1 – –
Tom Edens 26 – 2-0.2 – –

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Kevin McReynolds2.2
Keith Miller1.1
David Cone0.4
John Candelaria0.3
Gregg Jefferies0.1
Jeff Innis0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Kevin Mitchell2.7
Ray Knight2.7
Danny Heep0.8
John Gibbons0.6
Rick Anderson0.5
Ed Hearn0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$14.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. 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 (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Gary Carter3313.000$2.1M$2.2M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Keith Hernandez3313.000$1.8M$1.9M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Jesse Orosco308.000$925kFREE AGENT
Mookie Wilson317.000$800k$900k$597kFREE AGENT
Bob Ojeda297.000$650k$725k$925k$1.3MFREE AGENT
Wally Backman277.000$550k$650kFREE AGENT
Bill Almon3413.000$180kFREE AGENT
John Candelaria3312.000$104kFREE AGENT
Terry Leach336.000$95k$190k$319kFREE AGENT
Lee Mazzilli3211.000$62k$350k$221kFREE AGENT
Clint Hurdle2910.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Dwight Gooden223.000$1.5MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darryl Strawberry254.000$1.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Darling264.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin McReynolds274.000$625kARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Sisk295.000$330kFREE AGENT
Sid Fernandez244.000$308kARB 3FREE AGENT
Howard Johnson265.000$298kFREE AGENT
Tim Teufel284.000$278kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Santana294.000$250kARB 3FREE AGENT
Don Schulze244.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Roger McDowell262.000$305kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lenny Dykstra242.000$202kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Aguilera252.000$195kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Myers242.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Cone241.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Miller240.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Barry Lyons271.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Magadan241.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Carreon230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Edens260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Elster221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Gibson30–—
Jeff Innis240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gregg Jefferies190.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Milligan250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Mitchell211.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Pedrique260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gene Walter262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mets 1987; 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.