RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Gene Michael

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 5 in this regime · payroll 1.14× league · TAB -10.2
-10.2TAB — talent above budget23rd/26
-12.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)25th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/26
-5.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag17th/26
37%dead money %19th/26
0.438win %23rd/26
25.7roster fWAR23rd/26
-13surplus $M (value vs cost)22nd/26
$26Mpayroll $M8th/26

Roster

CFBernie Williams 85GRoberto Kelly 73GPat Sheridan 6G
LFMel Hall 63GHensley Meulens 61GRoberto Kelly 52G
RFJesse Barfield 81GMel Hall 64GPat Sheridan 26G
SSAlvaro Espinoza 147GRandy Velarde 31GCarlos Rodriguez 11G
2BSteve Sax 149GPat Kelly 19GCarlos Rodriguez 3G
3BPat Kelly 80GRandy Velarde 50GTorey Lovullo 22G
1BDon Mattingly 127GKevin Maas 36GHensley Meulens 7G
STARTERSScott Sanderson 4.2WARGreg Cadaret 1.6WARJeff Johnson 1.3WARPascual Perez 1.1WARWade Taylor 0.9WAR
CMatt Nokes 130GBob Geren 63GJohn Ramos 5G
DHKevin Maas 103GDon Mattingly 22GHensley Meulens 12G
BULLPEN★ Steve Farr 23svJohn Habyan 0hLee Guetterman 0hSteve Howe 0hRich Monteleone 0hAlan Mills 0hDarrin Chapin 0hMike Witt 0h
CMatt Nokes 130 · Bob Geren 63 · John Ramos 5
1BDon Mattingly 127 · Kevin Maas 36 · Hensley Meulens 7
2BSteve Sax 149 · Pat Kelly 19 · Carlos Rodriguez 3
3BPat Kelly 80 · Randy Velarde 50 · Torey Lovullo 22
SSAlvaro Espinoza 147 · Randy Velarde 31 · Carlos Rodriguez 11
LFMel Hall 63 · Hensley Meulens 61 · Roberto Kelly 52
CFBernie Williams 85 · Roberto Kelly 73 · Pat Sheridan 6
RFJesse Barfield 81 · Mel Hall 64 · Pat Sheridan 26
DHKevin Maas 103 · Don Mattingly 22 · Hensley Meulens 12
SPScott Sanderson 4.2 · Greg Cadaret 1.6 · Jeff Johnson 1.3 · Pascual Perez 1.1 · Wade Taylor 0.9
BP★ Steve Farr 23 · John Habyan 0 · Lee Guetterman 0 · Steve Howe 0 · Rich Monteleone 0 · Alan Mills 0 · Darrin Chapin 0 · Mike Witt 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.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Scott Sanderson 34 FA-elig 344.2 2.1 +0.4
Steve Sax 31 FA-elig 1583.7 1.7 +0.5
John Habyan 27 FA-elig 662.6 0.1 +1.4
Roberto Kelly 26 arb 1262.5 0.9 +0.6
Matt Nokes 27 FA-elig 1352.4 0.9 +0.5
Jesse Barfield 31 FA-elig 842.0 1.3 -0.1
Don Mattingly 30 FA-elig 1521.7 3.4 -2.4
Greg Cadaret 29 arb 681.6 0.7 +0.3
Steve Farr 34 FA-elig 601.4 2.4 -1.5
Alvaro Espinoza 29 FA-elig 1481.3 0.7 +0.2
Jeff Johnson 24 – 231.3 – –
Steve Howe 33 – 371.2 – –
Pascual Perez 34 FA-elig 141.1 2.1 -1.5
Wade Taylor 25 – 230.9 – –
Kevin Maas 26 pre-arb 1480.7 0.2 +0.1
Pat Kelly 23 – 960.5 – –
Lee Guetterman 32 FA-elig 640.4 1.1 -0.8
Bernie Williams 22 pre-arb 850.4 0.1 +0.2
Scott Kamieniecki 27 – 90.2 – –
Alan Mills 24 pre-arb 60.2 0.1 -0.0
Chuck Cary 31 FA-elig 100.2 0.6 -0.5
Dave Eiland 24 arb 180.2 0.1 -0.0
Randy Velarde 28 arb 800.2 0.1 -0.0
Rich Monteleone 28 – 260.2 – –
Mike Humphreys 24 – 250.0 – –
Tim Leary 32 FA-elig 280.0 2.0 -2.0
Darrin Chapin 25 – 3-0.0 – –
Mike Witt 30 FA-elig 2-0.0 2.4 -2.4
Eric Plunk 27 arb 43-0.1 1.0 -1.0
John Ramos 25 – 10-0.1 – –
Carlos Rodriguez 23 – 15-0.2 – –
Bob Geren 29 arb 64-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Scott Lusader 26 – 11-0.2 – –
Mike Blowers 26 pre-arb 15-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Pat Sheridan 33 – 62-0.3 – –
Mel Hall 30 FA-elig 141-0.4 1.1 -1.3
Andy Hawkins↔ OAK 31 FA-elig 4-0.4 0.3 -0.6
Torey Lovullo 25 arb 22-0.4 0.1 -0.4
Jim Leyritz 27 pre-arb 32-0.5 0.1 -0.4
Hensley Meulens 24 pre-arb 96-2.2 0.1 -1.5

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Scott Sanderson4.2
Steve Farr1.4
Jeff Johnson1.3
Steve Howe1.2
Wade Taylor0.9
Pat Kelly0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Dave LaPoint1.9
Rick Cerone0.9
Oscar Azocar0.6
Jeff Robinson0.3
Lance McCullers Sr.-0.0
Clay Parker-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$26.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. 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 (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Don Mattingly309.000$3.4M$3.6M$3.8M$4.0M$4.4MFREE AGENT
Mike Witt3010.000$2.4MFREE AGENT$2.2M
Steve Farr347.000$2.4M$2.4M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Pascual Perez3411.000$2.1MFREE AGENT
Scott Sanderson3413.000$2.1M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Tim Leary3210.000$2.0M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Steve Sax3110.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Jesse Barfield3110.000$1.3M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Mel Hall3010.000$1.1M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Lee Guetterman327.000$1.1M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Matt Nokes276.000$888k$2.5M$2.5M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Alvaro Espinoza297.000$650kFREE AGENT
Chuck Cary316.000$570kFREE AGENT
Andy Hawkins319.000$323kFREE AGENT
John Habyan276.000$105k$500k$450kFREE AGENT
Steve Howe3311.000—$700k$2.5M$2.1M$2.3M$500kFREE AGENT
Pat Sheridan3310.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Eric Plunk275.000$975kFREE AGENT
Roberto Kelly264.000$900kARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Cadaret294.000$675kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Geren293.000$230kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Velarde284.000$145kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Eiland243.000$110kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Torey Lovullo253.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Lusader264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Monteleone284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Kevin Maas261.000$250kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Leyritz271.000$135kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Blowers262.000$130kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alan Mills241.000$125kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hensley Meulens242.000$120kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bernie Williams220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Darrin Chapin25–—
Mike Humphreys240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Johnson240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Kamieniecki270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Kelly230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Ramos25–—
Carlos Rodriguez230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wade Taylor25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 1991; 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.