RRosternomics
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Mets NYM

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GM: Steve Phillips

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.44× league · TAB -9.4
-9.4TAB — talent above budget23rd/30
-4.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)19th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars8th/30
-4.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag11th/30
27%dead money %12th/30
0.506win %16th/30
29.3roster fWAR20th/30
-43surplus $M (value vs cost)27th/30
$89Mpayroll $M6th/30

Roster

CFJay Payton 103GTsuyoshi Shinjo 53GDarryl Hamilton 11G
LFBenny Agbayani 84GJoe McEwing 48GTsuyoshi Shinjo 46G
RFMatt Lawton III 142GTimo Perez 62GTsuyoshi Shinjo 39G
SSRey Ordonez 148GDesi Relaford 25GJoe McEwing 12G
2BEdgardo Alfonzo 122GDesi Relaford 54GJoe McEwing 5G
3BRobin Ventura 139GJoe McEwing 25GDesi Relaford 20G
1BTodd Zeile 149GMark Johnson 21GLenny Harris 7G
STARTERSAl Leiter 3.4WARKevin Appier 3.2WARGlendon Rusch 2.6WARSteve Trachsel 1.9WARDicky Gonzalez 0.7WAR
CMike Piazza 131GVance Wilson 27GJason Phillips 5G
DHMike Piazza 5GMark Johnson 3GLenny Harris 1G
BULLPEN★ Armando Benítez 43svJohn Franco 17hRick White 10hC.J. Nitkowski 6hJerrod Riggan 4hGrant Roberts 1hTom Martin 1hDonne Wall 0h
CMike Piazza 131 · Vance Wilson 27 · Jason Phillips 5
1BTodd Zeile 149 · Mark Johnson 21 · Lenny Harris 7
2BEdgardo Alfonzo 122 · Desi Relaford 54 · Joe McEwing 5
3BRobin Ventura 139 · Joe McEwing 25 · Desi Relaford 20
SSRey Ordonez 148 · Desi Relaford 25 · Joe McEwing 12
LFBenny Agbayani 84 · Joe McEwing 48 · Tsuyoshi Shinjo 46
CFJay Payton 103 · Tsuyoshi Shinjo 53 · Darryl Hamilton 11
RFMatt Lawton III 142 · Timo Perez 62 · Tsuyoshi Shinjo 39
DHMike Piazza 5 · Mark Johnson 3 · Lenny Harris 1
SPAl Leiter 3.4 · Kevin Appier 3.2 · Glendon Rusch 2.6 · Steve Trachsel 1.9 · Dicky Gonzalez 0.7
BP★ Armando Benítez 43 · John Franco 17 · Rick White 10 · C.J. Nitkowski 6 · Jerrod Riggan 4 · Grant Roberts 1 · Tom Martin 1 · Donne Wall 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.

2001 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mike Piazza 32 FA-elig 1414.6 13.6 -6.1
Al Leiter 35 FA-elig 293.4 9.8 -4.2
Kevin Appier 33 FA-elig 333.2 8.5 -3.4
Robin Ventura 33 FA-elig 1422.7 8.0 -3.6
Rick Reed↔ MIN 36 FA-elig 202.7 4.2 +0.2
Glendon Rusch 26 arb 332.6 1.8 +2.5
Desi Relaford 27 arb 1202.1 0.5 +2.8
Steve Trachsel 30 FA-elig 281.9 3.0 +0.1
Tsuyoshi Shinjo 29 pre-arb 1231.7 0.5 +2.3
Edgardo Alfonzo 27 FA-elig 1241.5 5.8 -3.3
Joe McEwing 28 arb 1161.5 0.3 +2.1
Todd Zeile 35 FA-elig 1510.9 6.8 -5.4
Dicky Gonzalez 22 – 160.7 – –
Matt Lawton III↔ MIN 29 FA-elig 480.6 1.2 -0.3
Rick White 32 FA-elig 550.6 1.1 -0.2
Grant Roberts 23 – 160.5 – –
Vance Wilson 28 – 320.4 – –
Armando Benitez 28 FA-elig 730.3 5.8 -5.4
Jay Payton 28 arb 1040.2 0.3 +0.1
Pete Walker 32 – 20.2 – –
Bruce Chen↔ PHI 24 arb 110.2 0.1 +0.2
John Franco 40 FA-elig 580.2 3.6 -3.3
Mark Johnson 33 – 710.2 – –
Jerrod Riggan 27 – 350.1 – –
Dennis Cook↔ PHI 38 FA-elig 430.1 1.7 -1.5
C.J. Nitkowski↔ DET 28 FA-elig 50.1 0.1 +0.0
Gary Bennett↔ COL 29 FA-elig 10.0 0.0 +0.1
Rey Ordonez 30 arb 1490.0 4.0 -4.0
Mark Corey 26 – 2-0.0 – –
Jorge Velandia 26 – 9-0.0 – –
Jason Phillips 24 – 6-0.1 – –
Darren Bragg↔ NYY 31 – 18-0.1 – –
Brian Rose↔ TBR 25 arb 3-0.2 0.1 -0.4
Jorge Toca 26 – 13-0.2 – –
Brett Hinchliffe 26 – 1-0.2 – –
Timo Perez 26 pre-arb 85-0.2 0.2 -0.6
Donne Wall 33 FA-elig 33-0.3 1.1 -1.6
Benny Agbayani 29 arb 91-0.3 0.3 -0.7
Darryl Hamilton 36 FA-elig 52-0.3 3.3 -3.8
Turk Wendell↔ PHI 34 FA-elig 49-0.3 2.2 -2.6
Todd Pratt↔ PHI 34 FA-elig 45-0.3 0.3 -0.9
Alex Escobar 22 – 18-0.4 – –
Tom Martin 31 – 14-0.4 – –
Lenny Harris 36 FA-elig 110-0.8 1.1 -2.3

Key additions (new vs 2000)

PlayerfWAR
Kevin Appier3.2
Desi Relaford2.1
Steve Trachsel1.9
Tsuyoshi Shinjo1.7
Dicky Gonzalez0.7
Matt Lawton III0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 2000)

Player2000 fWAR
Mike Hampton5.2
Derek Bell1.4
Bobby Jones0.7
Melvin Mora0.3
Jon Nunnally0.2
Bubba Trammell0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2001 payroll
$89.3M

What the front office was committed to as of 2001, 2001–2007. 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 (23)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Mike Piazza329.000$13.6M$10.6M$15.6M$16.1M$16.1MFREE AGENT
Al Leiter3514.000$9.8M$9.2M$8.0M$10.3MFREE AGENT
Kevin Appier3312.000$8.5MFREE AGENT
Robin Ventura3312.000$8.0MFREE AGENT
Todd Zeile3512.000$6.8MFREE AGENT$1.0M
Armando Benitez287.000$5.8M$5.8M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Edgardo Alfonzo276.000$5.8M$6.2MFREE AGENT
Rick Reed3613.000$4.2MFREE AGENT
John Franco4017.000$3.6MFREE AGENT$3.8M$1.0M
Darryl Hamilton3613.000$3.3MFREE AGENT
Steve Trachsel308.000$3.0M$4.3M$3.0M$5.0M$6.8M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Turk Wendell348.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Dennis Cook3813.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Matt Lawton III296.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Rick White327.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Donne Wall336.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Lenny Harris3613.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Todd Pratt349.000$338kFREE AGENT
C.J. Nitkowski286.000$98kFREE AGENT
Gary Bennett296.000$5kFREE AGENT
Darren Bragg317.000—FREE AGENT
Mark Johnson336.000—$475kFREE AGENT
Pete Walker326.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Rey Ordonez305.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Glendon Rusch264.000$1.8MARB 3FREE AGENT
Desi Relaford275.000$475kFREE AGENT
Jay Payton283.000$290kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Benny Agbayani293.000$260kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe McEwing283.000$252kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bruce Chen243.000$122kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Rose254.000$83kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Martin314.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jorge Velandia264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (11)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Tsuyoshi Shinjo290.000$500kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Timo Perez261.000$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Vance Wilson282.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brett Hinchliffe262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Grant Roberts231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jorge Toca26–—
Dicky Gonzalez22–—
Alex Escobar220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Phillips240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jerrod Riggan271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Corey26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mets 2001; 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.