RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Gene Michael

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.44× league · TAB +12.4
+12.4TAB — talent above budget7th/28
+9.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)2nd/28
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars2nd/28
-2.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag8th/28
8%dead money %1st/28
0.619win %2nd/28
35.6roster fWAR4th/28
-4surplus $M (value vs cost)13th/28
$46Mpayroll $M1st/28

Roster

CFBernie Williams 107GGerald Williams 8GDaryl Boston 7G
LFLuis Polonia 84GGerald Williams 26GPaul O'Neill 12G
RFPaul O'Neill 90GDanny Tartabull 26GGerald Williams 12G
SSMike Gallego 72GRandy Velarde 49GKevin Elster 7G
2BPat Kelly 93GMike Gallego 26GDave Silvestri 9G
3BWade Boggs 93GRandy Velarde 27GRuss Davis 4G
1BDon Mattingly 97GJim Leyritz 10GMike Stanley 7G
STARTERSJimmy Key 4.0WARMelido Perez 2.6WARJim Abbott 1.3WARScott Kamieniecki 1.1WARSterling Hitchcock 0.8WAR
CMike Stanley 72GJim Leyritz 37GMatt Nokes 17G
DHDanny Tartabull 74GJim Leyritz 23GDaryl Boston 8G
BULLPEN★ Steve Howe 15svBob Wickman 0hRob Murphy 0hGreg Harris 0hXavier Hernandez 0hPaul Gibson 0hJoe Ausanio 0hJeff Reardon 0h
CMike Stanley 72 · Jim Leyritz 37 · Matt Nokes 17
1BDon Mattingly 97 · Jim Leyritz 10 · Mike Stanley 7
2BPat Kelly 93 · Mike Gallego 26 · Dave Silvestri 9
3BWade Boggs 93 · Randy Velarde 27 · Russ Davis 4
SSMike Gallego 72 · Randy Velarde 49 · Kevin Elster 7
LFLuis Polonia 84 · Gerald Williams 26 · Paul O'Neill 12
CFBernie Williams 107 · Gerald Williams 8 · Daryl Boston 7
RFPaul O'Neill 90 · Danny Tartabull 26 · Gerald Williams 12
DHDanny Tartabull 74 · Jim Leyritz 23 · Daryl Boston 8
SPJimmy Key 4.0 · Melido Perez 2.6 · Jim Abbott 1.3 · Scott Kamieniecki 1.1 · Sterling Hitchcock 0.8
BP★ Steve Howe 15 · Bob Wickman 0 · Rob Murphy 0 · Greg Harris 0 · Xavier Hernandez 0 · Paul Gibson 0 · Joe Ausanio 0 · Jeff Reardon 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.

1994 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Paul O'Neill 31 FA-elig 1034.3 3.9 +1.2
Wade Boggs 36 FA-elig 974.2 3.2 +1.6
Jimmy Key 33 FA-elig 254.0 5.3 -0.8
Mike Stanley 31 FA-elig 823.5 0.6 +3.5
Bernie Williams 25 arb 1083.3 0.2 +3.6
Melido Perez 28 FA-elig 222.6 3.5 -0.4
Don Mattingly 33 FA-elig 972.0 4.0 -1.7
Mike Gallego 33 FA-elig 892.0 1.6 +0.7
Jim Leyritz 30 arb 751.7 0.7 +1.2
Bob Wickman 25 pre-arb 531.6 0.2 +1.7
Jim Abbott 26 arb 241.3 2.8 -1.3
Scott Kamieniecki 30 arb 221.1 0.2 +1.0
Pat Kelly 26 arb 931.0 0.8 +0.4
Steve Howe 36 FA-elig 401.0 2.1 -0.9
Randy Velarde 31 FA-elig 770.9 1.1 -0.1
Sterling Hitchcock 23 pre-arb 230.8 0.1 +0.8
Danny Tartabull 31 FA-elig 1040.7 4.5 -3.7
Luis Polonia 30 FA-elig 950.6 1.5 -0.8
Matt Nokes 30 FA-elig 280.5 2.5 -1.9
Terry Mulholland 31 FA-elig 240.5 3.4 -2.7
Donn Pall↔ CHC 32 FA-elig 260.3 0.5 -0.1
Gerald Williams 27 pre-arb 570.2 0.1 +0.1
Robert Eenhoorn 26 – 30.1 – –
Mark Hutton 24 – 20.1 – –
Joe Ausanio 28 – 130.0 – –
Greg Harris↔ BOS 38 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.1 -0.3
Xavier Hernandez 28 arb 31-0.1 1.5 -1.7
Bob Ojeda 36 – 2-0.2 – –
Dave Silvestri 26 pre-arb 12-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Bob Melvin↔ CHW 32 – 9-0.2 – –
Russ Davis 24 pre-arb 4-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Paul Gibson 34 FA-elig 30-0.2 0.2 -0.5
Jeff Reardon 38 FA-elig 11-0.2 0.2 -0.5
Rob Murphy↔ STL 34 FA-elig 3-0.3 0.0 -0.3
Kevin Elster 29 FA-elig 7-0.5 0.2 -0.8
Daryl Boston 31 FA-elig 52-0.6 0.4 -1.1

Key additions (new vs 1993)

PlayerfWAR
Luis Polonia0.6
Terry Mulholland0.5
Donn Pall0.3
Robert Eenhoorn0.1
Joe Ausanio0.0
Greg Harris-0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1993)

Player1993 fWAR
Dion James1.2
Bobby Munoz0.6
Frank Tanana0.3
Paul Assenmacher0.3
Spike Owen0.2
Lee Smith0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1994 payroll
$45.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 1994, 1994–2000. 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 (22)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Jimmy Key3310.000$5.3M$4.9M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Danny Tartabull3110.000$4.5M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Don Mattingly3312.000$4.0M$4.4MFREE AGENT
Paul O'Neill319.000$3.9M$2.9M$5.3M$5.5M$5.5M$6.2M$6.5M
Melido Perez287.000$3.5M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Terry Mulholland318.000$3.4MFREE AGENT
Wade Boggs3612.000$3.2M$4.7M$2.0M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Matt Nokes309.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Steve Howe3614.000$2.1M$2.3M$500kFREE AGENT
Mike Gallego339.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Luis Polonia307.000$1.5M$1.1MFREE AGENT$752k
Randy Velarde317.000$1.1M$500kFREE AGENT
Mike Stanley318.000$612k$912kFREE AGENT$1.6M
Donn Pall326.000$464kFREE AGENT
Daryl Boston3110.000$400kFREE AGENT
Jeff Reardon3815.000$250kFREE AGENT
Paul Gibson346.000$250kFREE AGENT
Kevin Elster298.000$200k$217kFREE AGENT
Greg Harris3813.000$136kFREE AGENT
Rob Murphy349.000$34kFREE AGENT
Bob Melvin329.000—FREE AGENT
Bob Ojeda3614.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (6)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Jim Abbott265.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Xavier Hernandez285.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Pat Kelly263.000$810kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Leyritz304.000$742kARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Kamieniecki303.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bernie Williams253.000$225kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1994199519961997199819992000
Bob Wickman252.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gerald Williams272.000$115kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Silvestri262.000$112kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sterling Hitchcock232.000$112kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Davis240.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Ausanio280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robert Eenhoorn260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Hutton241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 1994; 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.