RRosternomics
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Mets NYM

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GM: Frank Cashen

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 6 in this regime · payroll 1.29× league · TAB +13.3
+13.3TAB — talent above budget3rd/26
+5.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)5th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-3.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag3rd/26
21%dead money %4th/26
0.562win %4th/26
50.7roster fWAR2nd/26
+1surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/26
$22Mpayroll $M3rd/26

Roster

CFDaryl Boston 108GKeith Miller 53GMark Carreon 36G
LFKevin McReynolds 144GMark Carreon 16GPat Tabler 14G
RFDarryl Strawberry 149GPat Tabler 39GMark Carreon 13G
SSKevin Elster 92GHoward Johnson 73GMario Diaz 10G
2BTom Herr 140GGregg Jefferies 118GTim Teufel 24G
3BHoward Johnson 92GTom O'Malley 38GGregg Jefferies 34G
1BDave Magadan 113GTim Teufel 24GKelvin Torve 9G
STARTERSDwight Gooden 7.3WARFrank Viola 5.7WARDavid Cone 5.5WARSid Fernandez 3.3WARBob Ojeda 0.6WAR
CMackey Sasser 87GCharlie O'Brien 74GTodd Hundley 36G
BULLPEN★ John Franco 33svAlejandro Pena 0hDan Schatzeder 0hWally Whitehurst 0hJeff Musselman 0hJeff Innis 0hJulio Valera 0h
CMackey Sasser 87 · Charlie O'Brien 74 · Todd Hundley 36
1BDave Magadan 113 · Tim Teufel 24 · Kelvin Torve 9
2BTom Herr 140 · Gregg Jefferies 118 · Tim Teufel 24
3BHoward Johnson 92 · Tom O'Malley 38 · Gregg Jefferies 34
SSKevin Elster 92 · Howard Johnson 73 · Mario Diaz 10
LFKevin McReynolds 144 · Mark Carreon 16 · Pat Tabler 14
CFDaryl Boston 108 · Keith Miller 53 · Mark Carreon 36
RFDarryl Strawberry 149 · Pat Tabler 39 · Mark Carreon 13
SPDwight Gooden 7.3 · Frank Viola 5.7 · David Cone 5.5 · Sid Fernandez 3.3 · Bob Ojeda 0.6
BP★ John Franco 33 · Alejandro Pena 0 · Dan Schatzeder 0 · Wally Whitehurst 0 · Jeff Musselman 0 · Jeff Innis 0 · Julio Valera 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Dwight Gooden 25 FA-elig 357.3 1.9 +1.4
Darryl Strawberry 28 FA-elig 1526.5 1.9 +1.0
Frank Viola 30 FA-elig 355.7 2.0 +0.5
David Cone 27 arb 325.5 1.3 +1.1
Dave Magadan 27 arb 1445.4 0.4 +2.0
Kevin McReynolds 30 FA-elig 1473.6 1.3 +0.3
Sid Fernandez 27 FA-elig 303.3 1.7 -0.2
Howard Johnson 29 FA-elig 1543.0 1.7 -0.3
Gregg Jefferies 22 arb 1532.7 0.2 +1.0
Daryl Boston↔ CHW 27 FA-elig 1151.6 0.3 +0.4
Mackey Sasser 27 arb 1001.5 0.2 +0.5
Alejandro Pena 31 FA-elig 521.4 1.0 -0.4
John Franco 29 FA-elig 551.2 1.6 -1.1
Mark Carreon 26 arb 821.1 0.1 +0.4
Wally Whitehurst 26 pre-arb 380.8 0.1 +0.3
Bob Ojeda 32 FA-elig 380.6 1.3 -1.0
Tim Teufel 31 FA-elig 800.5 0.6 -0.4
Darren Reed 24 pre-arb 260.4 0.1 +0.1
Pat Tabler↔ KCR 32 FA-elig 170.4 0.1 +0.1
Tom O'Malley 29 FA-elig 820.2 0.2 -0.0
Ron Darling 29 FA-elig 340.2 1.6 -1.5
Charlie O'Brien↔ MIL 30 arb 280.2 0.1 +0.0
Kelvin Torve 30 – 200.2 – –
Keith Miller 27 arb 880.1 0.1 -0.0
Kevin Elster 25 arb 920.1 0.3 -0.2
Dan Schatzeder↔ HOU 35 FA-elig 60.1 0.1 -0.0
Dave Liddell 24 – 10.1 – –
Julio Valera 21 pre-arb 30.0 0.1 -0.1
Kevin Brown↔ MIL 24 pre-arb 2-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Chuck Carr 22 – 4-0.0 – –
Mario Diaz 28 arb 16-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Alex Trevino↔ CIN 32 FA-elig 9-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Kevin Baez 23 pre-arb 5-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Keith Hughes 26 arb 8-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Jeff Musselman 27 arb 28-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Chris Jelic 26 – 4-0.2 – –
Julio Machado↔ MIL 24 pre-arb 27-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Todd Hundley 21 pre-arb 36-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Barry Lyons↔ LAD 30 arb 24-0.3 0.2 -0.3
Jeff Innis 27 arb 18-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Orlando Mercado↔ WSN 28 – 42-0.4 – –
Mike Marshall↔ BOS 30 FA-elig 53-0.4 0.7 -0.9
Tom Herr↔ PHI 34 FA-elig 27-0.4 0.2 -0.3

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Daryl Boston1.6
Alejandro Pena1.4
John Franco1.2
Darren Reed0.4
Pat Tabler0.4
Charlie O'Brien0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Lenny Dykstra2.2
Rick Aguilera1.7
Randy Myers1.6
Juan Samuel0.8
Mookie Wilson0.3
Lee Mazzilli0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$21.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Frank Viola308.000$2.0M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Dwight Gooden256.000$1.9M$2.5M$5.2M$5.9M$4.6MFREE AGENT
Darryl Strawberry287.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Sid Fernandez277.000$1.7M$2.2M$2.2M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Howard Johnson298.000$1.7M$2.2M$2.3M$2.1MFREE AGENT
John Franco296.000$1.6M$2.6M$3.3M$4.0M$4.0M$2.5M$2.6M
Ron Darling297.000$1.6M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Bob Ojeda3210.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Kevin McReynolds307.000$1.3M$2.3MFREE AGENT$2.9M
Alejandro Pena319.000$975k$746kFREE AGENT
Mike Marshall309.000$702kFREE AGENT
Tim Teufel317.000$612k$529kFREE AGENT
Daryl Boston276.000$297k$750k$935kFREE AGENT
Tom O'Malley298.000$155kFREE AGENT
Tom Herr3411.000$153k$961kFREE AGENT
Pat Tabler329.000$134kFREE AGENT
Alex Trevino3212.000$54kFREE AGENT
Dan Schatzeder3513.000$53kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
David Cone274.000$1.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Magadan274.000$395kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Musselman274.000$315kARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Elster254.000$260kARB 3FREE AGENT
Gregg Jefferies223.000$200kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Barry Lyons304.000$196kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mackey Sasser273.000$155kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Carreon263.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Innis273.000$110kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mario Diaz283.000$108kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Hughes263.000$105kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Miller273.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Charlie O'Brien305.000$57kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Wally Whitehurst261.000$101kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Julio Valera210.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Baez230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Hundley210.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darren Reed240.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Julio Machado241.000$73kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Brown240.000$29kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chuck Carr220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Jelic26–—
Dave Liddell24–—
Orlando Mercado28–—
Kelvin Torve30–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mets 1990; 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.