RRosternomics
𝕏

Mets NYM

‹ ›

GM: Jim Duquette

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.26× league · TAB -13.5
-13.5TAB — talent above budget28th/30
-14.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)27th/30
3.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars27th/30
-4.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag9th/30
45%dead money %24th/30
0.438win %22nd/30
23.6roster fWAR23rd/30
-52surplus $M (value vs cost)29th/30
$84Mpayroll $M8th/30

Roster

CFMike Cameron 135GGerald Williams 20GJoe McEwing 6G
LFCliff Floyd 106GShane Spencer 43GEric Valent 32G
RFRichard Hidalgo 139GShane Spencer 19GVictor Diaz 14G
SSKazuo Matsui 110GWilson Delgado 39GJoe McEwing 13G
2BDanny Garcia 44GJosé Reyes 43GJoe McEwing 34G
3BDavid Wright 69GTodd Zeile 46GRicky Gutierrez 2G
1BMike Piazza 68GTodd Zeile 67GJason Phillips 38G
STARTERSTom Glavine 3.3WARSteve Trachsel 1.6WARAl Leiter 1.3WARKris Benson 1.0WARMatt Ginter 0.9WAR
CJason Phillips 87GVance Wilson 69GMike Piazza 50G
DHMike Piazza 8GCliff Floyd 1G
BULLPEN★ Braden Looper 29svMike Stanton 25hRicky Bottalico 12hJohn Franco 11hMike DeJean 3hOrber Moreno 3hPedro Feliciano 2hBartolome Fortunato 2h
CJason Phillips 87 · Vance Wilson 69 · Mike Piazza 50
1BMike Piazza 68 · Todd Zeile 67 · Jason Phillips 38
2BDanny Garcia 44 · José Reyes 43 · Joe McEwing 34
3BDavid Wright 69 · Todd Zeile 46 · Ricky Gutierrez 2
SSKazuo Matsui 110 · Wilson Delgado 39 · Joe McEwing 13
LFCliff Floyd 106 · Shane Spencer 43 · Eric Valent 32
CFMike Cameron 135 · Gerald Williams 20 · Joe McEwing 6
RFRichard Hidalgo 139 · Shane Spencer 19 · Victor Diaz 14
DHMike Piazza 8 · Cliff Floyd 1
SPTom Glavine 3.3 · Steve Trachsel 1.6 · Al Leiter 1.3 · Kris Benson 1.0 · Matt Ginter 0.9
BP★ Braden Looper 29 · Mike Stanton 25 · Ricky Bottalico 12 · John Franco 11 · Mike DeJean 3 · Orber Moreno 3 · Pedro Feliciano 2 · Bartolome Fortunato 2

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.

2004 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mike Cameron 31 FA-elig 1403.8 4.3 +2.1
Tom Glavine 38 FA-elig 353.3 10.8 -5.1
David Wright 21 – 692.3 – –
Braden Looper 29 FA-elig 711.7 2.0 +0.9
Steve Trachsel 33 FA-elig 351.6 5.0 -2.2
Al Leiter 38 FA-elig 301.3 10.3 -8.0
Ty Wigginton↔ PIT 26 pre-arb 861.2 0.2 +1.8
Cliff Floyd 31 FA-elig 1131.2 6.5 -4.5
Kris Benson↔ PIT 29 arb 111.0 2.2 -0.5
Shane Spencer 32 FA-elig 740.9 0.5 +1.0
Matt Ginter 26 – 150.9 – –
Orber Moreno 27 arb 330.8 0.3 +1.0
Vance Wilson 31 arb 790.8 0.7 +0.6
Ricky Bottalico 34 – 600.7 – –
Danny Garcia 24 – 580.7 – –
Mike Stanton 37 FA-elig 830.6 3.0 -1.9
Wilson Delgado 31 – 420.6 – –
Mike DeJean↔ BAL 33 FA-elig 170.5 0.5 +0.5
José Reyes 21 pre-arb 530.5 0.3 +0.5
Mike Piazza 35 FA-elig 1290.5 16.1 -15.3
Victor Zambrano↔ TBR 28 arb 30.5 0.0 +0.8
Jae Weong Seo 27 – 260.5 – –
Richard Hidalgo↔ HOU 29 FA-elig 860.4 7.5 -6.7
Eric Valent 27 arb 1300.4 0.3 +0.4
Kazuo Matsui 28 pre-arb 1140.4 5.0 -4.4
Joe McEwing 31 FA-elig 750.3 0.5 +0.0
Dan Wheeler↔ HOU 26 arb 320.2 0.2 +0.1
Heath Bell 26 – 170.1 – –
Tyler Yates 26 pre-arb 210.1 0.3 -0.1
Jose Parra 31 – 130.1 – –
Aaron Heilman 25 – 50.0 – –
Bartolome Fortunato↔ TBR 29 – 150.0 – –
Jeff Keppinger 24 – 330.0 – –
Victor Diaz 22 – 150.0 – –
Joe Hietpas 25 – 10.0 – –
Esix Snead 28 – 1-0.0 – –
Craig Brazell 24 – 24-0.0 – –
Scott Erickson↔ TEX 36 FA-elig 2-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Jeff Duncan 25 – 13-0.1 – –
Vic Darensbourg↔ CHW 33 – 5-0.1 – –
Pedro Feliciano 27 – 22-0.1 – –
Tom Wilson↔ LAD 33 – 4-0.1 – –
John Franco 43 FA-elig 52-0.1 1.0 -1.2
Brian Buchanan↔ SDP 30 arb 2-0.1 0.0 -0.3
David Weathers↔ HOU 34 FA-elig 32-0.2 1.9 -2.3
Gerald Williams 37 – 57-0.2 – –
Grant Roberts 26 arb 4-0.3 0.3 -0.8
Todd Zeile 38 FA-elig 137-0.4 1.0 -1.6
James Baldwin 32 – 2-0.4 – –
Ricky Gutierrez↔ BOS 34 FA-elig 24-0.5 2.2 -3.0
Karim Garcia↔ BAL 28 FA-elig 62-0.6 0.6 -1.7
Jason Phillips 27 arb 128-0.9 0.3 -1.9

Key additions (new vs 2003)

PlayerfWAR
Mike Cameron3.8
David Wright2.3
Braden Looper1.7
Kris Benson1.0
Shane Spencer0.9
Matt Ginter0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 2003)

Player2003 fWAR
Jeromy Burnitz1.5
Armando Benitez0.5
Graeme Lloyd0.4
Scott Strickland0.2
Roberto Alomar0.1
Marco Scutaro0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2004 payroll
$84.2M

What the front office was committed to as of 2004, 2004–2010. 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 (24)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Mike Piazza3512.000$16.1M$16.1MFREE AGENT
Tom Glavine3817.000$10.8M$10.8M$10.0M$7.5MFREE AGENT
Al Leiter3817.000$10.3MFREE AGENT
Richard Hidalgo297.000$7.5MFREE AGENT
Cliff Floyd3111.000$6.5M$6.6M$6.6MFREE AGENT
Steve Trachsel3311.000$5.0M$6.8M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Mike Cameron319.000$4.3M$7.3MFREE AGENT
Mike Stanton3715.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Ricky Gutierrez3411.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Braden Looper296.000$2.0M$800kFREE AGENT
David Weathers3413.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Todd Zeile3815.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
John Franco4320.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Karim Garcia289.000$584kFREE AGENT
Shane Spencer326.000$538kFREE AGENT
Joe McEwing316.000$500kFREE AGENT
Mike DeJean337.000$472k$662kFREE AGENT
Scott Erickson3614.000$233kFREE AGENT
James Baldwin329.000—FREE AGENT
Ricky Bottalico3410.000—FREE AGENT
Wilson Delgado318.000—FREE AGENT
Jose Parra319.000—FREE AGENT
Gerald Williams3712.000—FREE AGENT
Vic Darensbourg336.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Kris Benson295.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Vance Wilson315.000$715kFREE AGENT
Grant Roberts264.000$320kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Phillips273.000$318kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orber Moreno275.000$318kFREE AGENT
Eric Valent273.000$302kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Wheeler265.000$217kFREE AGENT
Victor Zambrano283.000$38kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Buchanan304.000$32kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Wilson333.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Ginter264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Kazuo Matsui280.000$5.0MPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
José Reyes211.000$308kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Yates260.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ty Wigginton262.000$189kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jae Weong Seo272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Esix Snead28–—
Pedro Feliciano272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Heilman251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Duncan25–—
Craig Brazell24–—
Heath Bell260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Hietpas25–—
Victor Diaz220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Garcia24–—
Bartolome Fortunato29–—
David Wright210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Keppinger240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Mets 2004; 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.