RRosternomics
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Mets NYM

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GM: Joe McIlvaine

Overview

WINDOW ↘ cooling
cheap & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.98× league · TAB +0.6
+0.6TAB — talent above budget12th/28
+6.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)9th/28
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars13th/28
-4.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag10th/28
22%dead money %8th/28
0.543win %7th/28
34.7roster fWAR11th/28
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)12th/28
$39Mpayroll $M18th/28

Roster

CFBrian McRae 148GCarl Everett 71GSteve Bieser 13G
LFBernard Gilkey 136GButch Huskey 30GCarl Everett 9G
RFAlex Ochoa 84GButch Huskey 72GCarl Everett 65G
SSRey Ordonez 118GLuis Lopez 45GEdgardo Alfonzo 12G
2BCarlos Baerga 131GJason Hardtke 21GLuis Lopez 20G
3BEdgardo Alfonzo 143GMatt Franco 39GButch Huskey 15G
1BJohn Olerud 146GButch Huskey 22GMatt Franco 13G
STARTERSRick Reed 4.0WARDave Mlicki 2.6WARBobby Jones 1.7WARArmando Reynoso 1.3WARBrian Bohanon 1.1WAR
CTodd Hundley 122GTodd Pratt 36GAlberto Castillo 34G
DHButch Huskey 4GBernard Gilkey 2GTodd Hundley 2G
BULLPEN★ John Franco 36svMel Rojas 0hGreg McMichael 0hTurk Wendell 0hCory Lidle 0hTakashi Kashiwada 0hRicky Trlicek 0hJuan Acevedo 0h
CTodd Hundley 122 · Todd Pratt 36 · Alberto Castillo 34
1BJohn Olerud 146 · Butch Huskey 22 · Matt Franco 13
2BCarlos Baerga 131 · Jason Hardtke 21 · Luis Lopez 20
3BEdgardo Alfonzo 143 · Matt Franco 39 · Butch Huskey 15
SSRey Ordonez 118 · Luis Lopez 45 · Edgardo Alfonzo 12
LFBernard Gilkey 136 · Butch Huskey 30 · Carl Everett 9
CFBrian McRae 148 · Carl Everett 71 · Steve Bieser 13
RFAlex Ochoa 84 · Butch Huskey 72 · Carl Everett 65
DHButch Huskey 4 · Bernard Gilkey 2 · Todd Hundley 2
SPRick Reed 4.0 · Dave Mlicki 2.6 · Bobby Jones 1.7 · Armando Reynoso 1.3 · Brian Bohanon 1.1
BP★ John Franco 36 · Mel Rojas 0 · Greg McMichael 0 · Turk Wendell 0 · Cory Lidle 0 · Takashi Kashiwada 0 · Ricky Trlicek 0 · Juan Acevedo 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.

1997 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Edgardo Alfonzo 23 pre-arb 1515.6 0.2 +5.5
John Olerud 28 FA-elig 1544.4 6.5 -2.0
Todd Hundley 28 FA-elig 1324.4 4.2 +0.3
Rick Reed 32 FA-elig 334.0 0.2 +3.9
Dave Mlicki 29 arb 332.6 0.6 +2.1
Bernard Gilkey 30 FA-elig 1452.4 3.9 -1.4
Bobby Jones 27 arb 301.7 1.9 -0.2
Lance Johnson↔ CHC 33 FA-elig 721.6 2.0 -0.3
Greg McMichael 30 arb 731.5 1.1 +0.4
Armando Reynoso 31 FA-elig 161.3 1.0 +0.4
John Franco 36 FA-elig 591.3 3.0 -1.7
Butch Huskey 25 arb 1421.2 0.2 +1.0
Todd Pratt 30 arb 391.1 0.2 +0.9
Brian Bohanon 28 FA-elig 211.1 0.2 +0.9
Carlos Baerga 28 FA-elig 1331.0 4.8 -3.8
Manny Alexander↔ CHC 26 arb 540.8 0.1 +0.7
Cory Lidle 25 pre-arb 540.6 0.1 +0.5
Rey Ordonez 26 pre-arb 1200.6 0.2 +0.4
Mark Clark↔ CHC 29 FA-elig 230.5 1.6 -1.1
Mel Rojas↔ CHC 30 FA-elig 230.3 1.4 -1.1
Matt Franco 27 pre-arb 1120.2 0.2 +0.1
Luis Lopez 26 – 780.2 – –
Carlos Mendoza 22 – 150.1 – –
Carl Everett 26 arb 1420.1 0.2 -0.1
Ricardo Jordan 27 pre-arb 220.1 0.2 -0.1
Jason Isringhausen 24 pre-arb 60.0 0.2 -0.2
Jason Hardtke 25 – 300.0 – –
Kevin Morgan 28 – 1-0.0 – –
Brian McRae↔ CHC 29 FA-elig 45-0.1 1.1 -1.2
Steve Bieser 29 pre-arb 47-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Andy Tomberlin 30 arb 6-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Roberto Petagine 26 – 12-0.1 – –
Gary Thurman 32 – 11-0.1 – –
Alberto Castillo 27 pre-arb 35-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Yorkis Perez 29 FA-elig 9-0.2 0.4 -0.5
Ricky Trlicek↔ BOS 28 arb 9-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Alex Ochoa 25 pre-arb 113-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Joe Crawford 27 – 19-0.2 – –
Juan Acevedo 27 – 25-0.3 – –
Pete Harnisch↔ MIL 30 FA-elig 6-0.3 1.9 -2.3
Shawn Gilbert 32 – 29-0.3 – –
Toby Borland↔ BOS 28 arb 13-0.4 0.2 -0.6
Takashi Kashiwada 26 – 35-0.4 – –
Turk Wendell↔ CHC 30 arb 13-0.5 0.1 -0.5
Barry Manuel 31 FA-elig 19-0.5 0.2 -0.7

Key additions (new vs 1996)

PlayerfWAR
John Olerud4.4
Rick Reed4.0
Greg McMichael1.5
Armando Reynoso1.3
Todd Pratt1.1
Brian Bohanon1.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1996)

Player1996 fWAR
Jose Vizcaino1.7
Jeff Kent1.3
Paul Wilson1.0
Alvaro Espinoza0.6
Kevin Roberson0.3
Robert Person0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1997 payroll
$38.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1997, 1997–2003. 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 (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
John Olerud288.000$6.5M$3.8M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Carlos Baerga287.000$4.8M$4.7MFREE AGENT
Todd Hundley287.000$4.2M$4.9MFREE AGENT
Bernard Gilkey307.000$3.9M$3.7MFREE AGENT
John Franco3613.000$3.0M$2.9M$3.0M$3.4M$3.6MFREE AGENT$3.8M
Lance Johnson3310.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Pete Harnisch309.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Mark Clark296.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Mel Rojas307.000$1.4M$4.6MFREE AGENT
Brian McRae297.000$1.1M$3.9M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Armando Reynoso316.000$1.0M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Yorkis Perez296.000$375kFREE AGENT
Rick Reed329.000$212k$1.4M$1.7M$4.4M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Brian Bohanon287.000$205k$224kFREE AGENT
Barry Manuel316.000$185kFREE AGENT
Gary Thurman3210.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Bobby Jones274.000$1.9MARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg McMichael304.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Mlicki295.000$610kFREE AGENT
Toby Borland283.000$213kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Butch Huskey254.000$212kARB 3FREE AGENT
Carl Everett264.000$205kARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Pratt305.000$200kFREE AGENT
Andy Tomberlin304.000$200kARB 3FREE AGENT
Manny Alexander265.000$127kFREE AGENT
Turk Wendell304.000$70kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricky Trlicek285.000$61kFREE AGENT
Luis Lopez264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Roberto Petagine263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Edgardo Alfonzo232.000$215kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Isringhausen242.000$212kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rey Ordonez261.000$192kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Franco272.000$160kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricardo Jordan272.000$155kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alberto Castillo272.000$152kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Ochoa252.000$152kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Bieser290.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cory Lidle250.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Acevedo272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Crawford27–—
Shawn Gilbert32–—
Jason Hardtke25–—
Takashi Kashiwada26–—
Carlos Mendoza22–—
Kevin Morgan28–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mets 1997; 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.