RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Woody Woodward

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.53× league · TAB -3.3
-3.3TAB — talent above budget15th/26
+1.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)12th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars18th/26
-3.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag9th/26
27%dead money %9th/26
0.549win %8th/26
36.2roster fWAR10th/26
-6surplus $M (value vs cost)24th/26
$17Mpayroll $M1st/26

Roster

CFClaudell Washington 69GHenry Cotto 41GRickey Henderson 39G
LFGary Ward 69GDan Pasqua 61GMike Easler 44G
RFDave Winfield 145GDan Pasqua 14GGary Ward 5G
SSWayne Tolleson 119GBobby Meacham 56GRandy Velarde 8G
2BWillie Randolph 119GBobby Meacham 25GJuan Bonilla 22G
3BMike Pagliarulo 147GJerry Royster 43GLenn Sakata 12G
1BDon Mattingly 140GGary Ward 15GDan Pasqua 12G
STARTERSTommy John 3.5WARRick Rhoden 2.5WARRon Guidry 2.2WARCharles Hudson 1.5WARBill Gullickson 0.6WAR
CRick Cerone 111GJoel Skinner 64GMark Salas 55G
DHRon Kittle 39GGary Ward 33GMike Easler 29G
BULLPEN★ Dave Righetti 31svTim Stoddard 0hPat Clements 0hCecilio Guante 0hRich Bordi 0hPete Filson 0hBrad Arnsberg 0hAl Leiter 0h
CRick Cerone 111 · Joel Skinner 64 · Mark Salas 55
1BDon Mattingly 140 · Gary Ward 15 · Dan Pasqua 12
2BWillie Randolph 119 · Bobby Meacham 25 · Juan Bonilla 22
3BMike Pagliarulo 147 · Jerry Royster 43 · Lenn Sakata 12
SSWayne Tolleson 119 · Bobby Meacham 56 · Randy Velarde 8
LFGary Ward 69 · Dan Pasqua 61 · Mike Easler 44
CFClaudell Washington 69 · Henry Cotto 41 · Rickey Henderson 39
RFDave Winfield 145 · Dan Pasqua 14 · Gary Ward 5
DHRon Kittle 39 · Gary Ward 33 · Mike Easler 29
SPTommy John 3.5 · Rick Rhoden 2.5 · Ron Guidry 2.2 · Charles Hudson 1.5 · Bill Gullickson 0.6
BP★ Dave Righetti 31 · Tim Stoddard 0 · Pat Clements 0 · Cecilio Guante 0 · Rich Bordi 0 · Pete Filson 0 · Brad Arnsberg 0 · Al Leiter 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
Don Mattingly 26 arb 1415.3 2.0 -0.4
Rickey Henderson 28 FA-elig 955.0 1.7 -0.2
Willie Randolph 32 FA-elig 1204.7 0.9 +0.5
Tommy John 44 FA-elig 333.5 0.3 +0.7
Rick Rhoden 34 FA-elig 302.5 0.6 +0.1
Ron Guidry 36 FA-elig 222.2 0.8 -0.2
Mike Pagliarulo 27 arb 1502.0 0.2 +0.4
Dave Winfield 35 FA-elig 1561.7 1.9 -1.4
Charles Hudson 28 arb 351.5 0.3 +0.1
Bobby Meacham 26 arb 771.2 0.1 +0.2
Dave Righetti 28 FA-elig 601.2 0.8 -0.5
Claudell Washington 32 FA-elig 1021.0 0.5 -0.2
Rick Cerone 33 FA-elig 1130.9 0.2 +0.0
Joe Niekro↔ MIN 42 FA-elig 80.8 0.2 +0.0
Tim Stoddard 34 FA-elig 570.8 0.8 -0.5
Pat Clements 25 pre-arb 550.8 0.1 +0.1
Bill Gullickson↔ CIN 28 FA-elig 80.6 0.2 -0.0
Ron Kittle 29 arb 590.5 0.4 -0.3
Al Leiter 21 – 40.5 – –
Henry Cotto 26 – 680.4 – –
Dan Pasqua 25 pre-arb 1130.4 0.1 -0.0
Neil Allen↔ CHW 29 FA-elig 80.3 0.4 -0.3
Roberto Kelly 22 – 230.3 – –
Bob Tewksbury↔ CHC 26 pre-arb 80.2 0.0 +0.0
Lenn Sakata 33 FA-elig 190.2 0.1 -0.1
Pete Filson 28 arb 70.2 0.2 -0.1
Dennis Rasmussen↔ CIN 28 arb 260.1 0.1 -0.1
Jerry Royster↔ CHW 34 FA-elig 180.1 0.1 -0.0
Steve Trout↔ CHC 29 FA-elig 140.1 0.5 -0.5
Cecilio Guante 27 arb 230.1 0.4 -0.4
Gary Ward 33 FA-elig 1460.1 0.6 -0.6
Orestes Destrade 25 – 90.1 – –
Juan Bonilla 32 – 230.0 – –
Jeff Moronko 27 – 7-0.0 – –
Mike Easler↔ PHI 36 FA-elig 65-0.1 0.5 -0.5
Bob Shirley↔ KCR 33 FA-elig 12-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Randy Velarde 24 pre-arb 8-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Keith Hughes↔ PHI 23 pre-arb 4-0.1 0.0 -0.0
Phil Lombardi 24 – 5-0.1 – –
Wayne Tolleson 31 FA-elig 121-0.1 0.4 -0.4
Al Holland 34 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.4 -0.4
Rich Bordi 28 – 16-0.2 – –
Jay Buhner 22 – 7-0.2 – –
Mark Salas↔ MIN 26 arb 50-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Bill Fulton 23 – 3-0.3 – –
Brad Arnsberg 23 pre-arb 6-0.3 0.1 -0.1
Paul Zuvella 28 – 14-0.5 – –
Joel Skinner 26 arb 64-0.9 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Rick Rhoden2.5
Charles Hudson1.5
Rick Cerone0.9
Pat Clements0.8
Bill Gullickson0.6
Al Leiter0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Ron Hassey1.7
Doug Drabek1.5
Ken Griffey Sr.0.9
Rod Scurry0.6
Butch Wynegar0.5
Dale Berra0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$16.6M

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 (23)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Dave Winfield3514.000$1.9M$2.0MFREE AGENT$1.7M
Rickey Henderson288.000$1.7M$1.8M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Willie Randolph3212.000$900k$875kFREE AGENT
Ron Guidry3612.000$850k$825kFREE AGENT
Dave Righetti288.000$800k$1.3M$1.4M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Tim Stoddard3412.000$775k$700kFREE AGENT
Gary Ward338.000$633k$625k$63kFREE AGENT
Rick Rhoden3413.000$600k$900kFREE AGENT
Steve Trout299.000$498kFREE AGENT
Claudell Washington3213.000$480k$480kFREE AGENT$495k
Mike Easler3614.000$464kFREE AGENT
Neil Allen298.000$435k$250kFREE AGENT
Al Holland3410.000$400kFREE AGENT
Wayne Tolleson316.000$385k$410kFREE AGENT$425k
Tommy John4424.000$350k$375kFREE AGENT
Rick Cerone3312.000$250kFREE AGENT$600k
Joe Niekro4220.000$230kFREE AGENT
Bill Gullickson288.000$206kFREE AGENT
Bob Shirley3310.000$200kFREE AGENT
Lenn Sakata3310.000$125kFREE AGENT
Jerry Royster3414.000$64kFREE AGENT
Juan Bonilla326.000—FREE AGENT
Rich Bordi287.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Don Mattingly265.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Ron Kittle295.000$425kFREE AGENT
Cecilio Guante275.000$405kFREE AGENT
Charles Hudson284.000$305kARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Filson285.000$180kFREE AGENT
Mike Pagliarulo273.000$175kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dennis Rasmussen284.000$138kARB 3FREE AGENT
Joel Skinner264.000$110kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Meacham264.000$105kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Salas263.000$95kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Henry Cotto263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Zuvella285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Pat Clements252.000$125kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Pasqua252.000$110kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Arnsberg231.000$68kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Velarde240.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Tewksbury261.000$45kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Hughes230.000$6kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Buhner220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orestes Destrade250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Fulton23–—
Roberto Kelly220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Leiter210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Phil Lombardi24–—
Jeff Moronko27–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 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.