RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Hardy Peterson

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.17× league · TAB -15.4
-15.4TAB — talent above budget25th/26
-17.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)26th/26
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars26th/26
-7.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag24th/26
58%dead money %26th/26
0.414win %25th/26
20.9roster fWAR25th/26
-10surplus $M (value vs cost)24th/26
$20Mpayroll $M8th/26

Roster

CFRoberto Kelly 151GDeion Sanders 15GJesse Barfield 4G
LFOscar Azocar 47GMel Hall 36GDeion Sanders 29G
RFJesse Barfield 151GMel Hall 15GClaudell Washington 13G
SSAlvaro Espinoza 150GWayne Tolleson 45GRandy Velarde 15G
2BSteve Sax 154GWayne Tolleson 13GRandy Velarde 3G
3BRandy Velarde 74GJim Leyritz 69GMike Blowers 45G
1BDon Mattingly 89GKevin Maas 57GSteve Balboni 28G
STARTERSTim Leary 3.0WARChuck Cary 2.1WARDave LaPoint 1.9WARMike Witt 1.4WARGreg Cadaret 0.8WAR
CBob Geren 107GMatt Nokes 65GRick Cerone 35G
DHMatt Nokes 46GMel Hall 45GSteve Balboni 44G
BULLPEN★ Dave Righetti 36svLee Guetterman 0hJeff Robinson 0hEric Plunk 0hAlan Mills 0hMark Leiter 0hJohn Habyan 0hRich Monteleone 0h
CBob Geren 107 · Matt Nokes 65 · Rick Cerone 35
1BDon Mattingly 89 · Kevin Maas 57 · Steve Balboni 28
2BSteve Sax 154 · Wayne Tolleson 13 · Randy Velarde 3
3BRandy Velarde 74 · Jim Leyritz 69 · Mike Blowers 45
SSAlvaro Espinoza 150 · Wayne Tolleson 45 · Randy Velarde 15
LFOscar Azocar 47 · Mel Hall 36 · Deion Sanders 29
CFRoberto Kelly 151 · Deion Sanders 15 · Jesse Barfield 4
RFJesse Barfield 151 · Mel Hall 15 · Claudell Washington 13
DHMatt Nokes 46 · Mel Hall 45 · Steve Balboni 44
SPTim Leary 3.0 · Chuck Cary 2.1 · Dave LaPoint 1.9 · Mike Witt 1.4 · Greg Cadaret 0.8
BP★ Dave Righetti 36 · Lee Guetterman 0 · Jeff Robinson 0 · Eric Plunk 0 · Alan Mills 0 · Mark Leiter 0 · John Habyan 0 · Rich Monteleone 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
Roberto Kelly 25 arb 1625.4 0.3 +2.1
Jesse Barfield 30 FA-elig 1534.6 1.2 +0.8
Tim Leary 31 FA-elig 313.0 0.8 +0.5
Chuck Cary 30 arb 282.1 0.2 +0.7
Dave LaPoint 30 FA-elig 281.9 0.8 +0.0
Mike Witt↔ ANA 29 FA-elig 161.4 0.8 -0.2
Kevin Maas 25 pre-arb 791.3 0.1 +0.5
Lee Guetterman 31 FA-elig 641.2 0.5 +0.1
Steve Sax 30 FA-elig 1551.1 0.9 -0.5
Randy Velarde 27 arb 951.0 0.1 +0.3
Rick Cerone 36 FA-elig 490.9 0.6 -0.2
Greg Cadaret 28 arb 540.8 0.3 +0.1
Dave Eiland 23 pre-arb 50.7 0.1 +0.2
Oscar Azocar 25 pre-arb 650.6 0.1 +0.2
Pascual Perez 33 FA-elig 30.6 1.4 -1.1
Bob Geren 28 pre-arb 1100.4 0.2 -0.0
Jeff Robinson 29 FA-elig 540.3 0.9 -0.8
Alvaro Espinoza 28 FA-elig 1500.2 0.3 -0.1
Eric Plunk 26 arb 470.2 0.5 -0.4
Matt Nokes↔ DET 26 arb 920.2 0.4 -0.4
Rich Monteleone 27 – 50.2 – –
John Habyan 26 – 60.1 – –
Hensley Meulens 23 – 230.1 – –
Andy Hawkins 30 FA-elig 280.0 1.1 -1.1
Lance McCullers Sr.↔ DET 26 arb 11-0.0 0.4 -0.4
Clay Parker↔ DET 27 arb 5-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Luis Polonia↔ ANA 26 arb 11-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Jim Walewander 28 – 9-0.0 – –
Mark Leiter 27 – 8-0.1 – –
Jimmy Jones 26 arb 17-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Don Mattingly 29 FA-elig 102-0.2 2.5 -2.6
Dave Righetti 31 FA-elig 53-0.4 1.6 -1.7
Dave Winfield↔ ANA 38 FA-elig 20-0.4 0.3 -0.5
Brian Dorsett 29 arb 14-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Wayne Tolleson 34 FA-elig 73-0.5 0.4 -0.6
Steve Balboni 33 FA-elig 116-0.5 0.9 -1.1
Jim Leyritz 26 pre-arb 92-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Steve Adkins 25 – 5-0.5 – –
Alan Mills 23 pre-arb 36-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Mel Hall 29 FA-elig 113-0.7 1.1 -1.4
Mike Blowers 25 pre-arb 48-0.7 0.1 -0.4
Claudell Washington↔ ANA 35 FA-elig 33-0.8 0.5 -0.8
Deion Sanders 22 – 57-0.8 – –

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Tim Leary3.0
Mike Witt1.4
Kevin Maas1.3
Rick Cerone0.9
Oscar Azocar0.6
Pascual Perez0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Rickey Henderson3.1
Don Slaught2.2
Bob Brower1.1
Walt Terrell0.5
John Candelaria0.4
Tommy John0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$19.9M

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
Don Mattingly298.000$2.5M$3.4M$3.6M$3.8M$4.0M$4.4MFREE AGENT
Dave Righetti3111.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Pascual Perez3310.000$1.4M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Jesse Barfield309.000$1.2M$1.3M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Andy Hawkins308.000$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Mel Hall299.000$1.1M$1.1M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Steve Sax309.000$950k$1.7MFREE AGENT
Jeff Robinson296.000$925kFREE AGENT
Steve Balboni339.000$900kFREE AGENT
Dave LaPoint3010.000$850kFREE AGENT
Tim Leary319.000$825k$2.0M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Mike Witt299.000$800k$2.4MFREE AGENT$2.2M
Rick Cerone3615.000$600kFREE AGENT
Claudell Washington3516.000$495kFREE AGENT
Lee Guetterman316.000$465k$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Wayne Tolleson349.000$425kFREE AGENT
Dave Winfield3817.000$297kFREE AGENT
Alvaro Espinoza286.000$256k$650kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Eric Plunk264.000$450kARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Nokes265.000$440kFREE AGENT
Lance McCullers Sr.265.000$358kFREE AGENT
Roberto Kelly253.000$265kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Cadaret283.000$265kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chuck Cary305.000$200kFREE AGENT
Jimmy Jones264.000$190kARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Velarde273.000$136kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Dorsett293.000$107kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clay Parker273.000$26kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Polonia263.000$18kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Habyan265.000—FREE AGENT
Rich Monteleone273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Bob Geren282.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Blowers251.000$107kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Eiland232.000$104kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Oscar Azocar250.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Leyritz260.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Maas250.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alan Mills230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Adkins25–—
Mark Leiter270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hensley Meulens231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Deion Sanders221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Walewander28–—

Graphs

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