RRosternomics
𝕏

Yankees NYY

‹ ›

GM: Gene Michael

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.58× league · TAB -0.3
-0.3TAB — talent above budget14th/28
+0.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)13th/28
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars2nd/28
-4.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag8th/28
38%dead money %24th/28
0.549win %5th/28
35.2roster fWAR9th/28
-19surplus $M (value vs cost)26th/28
$53Mpayroll $M1st/28

1995: made playoffs · 79–65. Ranks are vs the 28 teams that season.

Roster

CFBernie Williams 144GGerald Williams 2G
LFGerald Williams 70GPaul O'Neill 25GDion James 23G
RFPaul O'Neill 107GRuben Sierra 72GGerald Williams 26G
SSTony Fernández 103GRandy Velarde 28GDerek Jeter 15G
2BPat Kelly 87GRandy Velarde 62GTony Fernández 4G
3BWade Boggs 117GRuss Davis 34GRandy Velarde 19G
1BDon Mattingly 125GJim Leyritz 18GWade Boggs 9G
STARTERSJack McDowell 3.5WARAndy Pettitte 3.2WARSterling Hitchcock 2.0WARDavid Cone 1.5WARScott Kamieniecki 0.7WAR
CMike Stanley 107GJim Leyritz 46GJorge Posada 1G
DHRuben Sierra 52GDion James 26GDarryl Strawberry 14G
BULLPEN★ John Wetteland 31svBob Wickman 0hSteve Howe 0hRick Honeycutt 0hBob MacDonald 0hJoe Ausanio 0hJosias Manzanillo 0hScott Bankhead 0h
CMike Stanley 107 · Jim Leyritz 46 · Jorge Posada 1
1BDon Mattingly 125 · Jim Leyritz 18 · Wade Boggs 9
2BPat Kelly 87 · Randy Velarde 62 · Tony Fernández 4
3BWade Boggs 117 · Russ Davis 34 · Randy Velarde 19
SSTony Fernández 103 · Randy Velarde 28 · Derek Jeter 15
LFGerald Williams 70 · Paul O'Neill 25 · Dion James 23
CFBernie Williams 144 · Gerald Williams 2
RFPaul O'Neill 107 · Ruben Sierra 72 · Gerald Williams 26
DHRuben Sierra 52 · Dion James 26 · Darryl Strawberry 14
SPJack McDowell 3.5 · Andy Pettitte 3.2 · Sterling Hitchcock 2.0 · David Cone 1.5 · Scott Kamieniecki 0.7
BP★ John Wetteland 31 · Bob Wickman 0 · Steve Howe 0 · Rick Honeycutt 0 · Bob MacDonald 0 · Joe Ausanio 0 · Josias Manzanillo 0 · Scott Bankhead 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.

1995 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Bernie Williams 26 arb 1446.4 0.4 +5.7
Wade Boggs 37 FA-elig 1264.0 4.7 -0.9
Jack McDowell 29 FA-elig 303.5 5.4 -2.1
Andy Pettitte 23 pre-arb 313.2 0.1 +3.0
Randy Velarde 32 FA-elig 1113.1 0.5 +2.5
Mike Stanley 32 FA-elig 1183.1 0.9 +2.1
Paul O'Neill 32 FA-elig 1273.1 2.9 +0.1
Gerald Williams 28 arb 1002.2 0.1 +1.9
Sterling Hitchcock 24 arb 272.0 0.1 +1.8
John Wetteland 28 FA-elig 601.7 3.4 -1.8
David Cone↔ TOR 32 FA-elig 131.5 3.5 -2.0
Bob Wickman 26 arb 630.8 0.2 +0.6
Scott Kamieniecki 31 arb 170.7 1.1 -0.4
Jimmy Key 34 FA-elig 50.6 4.9 -4.3
Darryl Strawberry 33 FA-elig 320.5 0.7 -0.2
Melido Perez 29 FA-elig 130.5 3.5 -3.0
Tony Fernandez 33 FA-elig 1080.5 1.6 -1.2
Pat Kelly 27 arb 890.4 1.1 -0.7
Jim Leyritz 31 arb 770.4 1.4 -0.9
Russ Davis 25 pre-arb 400.4 0.1 +0.3
Mariano Rivera 25 pre-arb 190.3 0.1 +0.2
Dave Pavlas 32 arb 40.2 0.1 +0.0
Dave Eiland 28 – 40.1 – –
Josias Manzanillo↔ NYM 27 arb 110.0 0.1 -0.0
Bob MacDonald 30 arb 330.0 0.3 -0.2
Ruben Rivera 21 – 5-0.0 – –
Jeff Patterson 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Dave Silvestri↔ WSN 27 arb 17-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Don Mattingly 34 FA-elig 128-0.1 4.4 -4.5
Ruben Sierra↔ OAK 29 FA-elig 56-0.1 2.8 -2.8
Luis Polonia↔ ATL 31 FA-elig 67-0.1 1.1 -1.2
Steve Howe 37 FA-elig 56-0.1 2.3 -2.4
Rick Honeycutt↔ OAK 41 FA-elig 3-0.2 0.0 -0.2
Robert Eenhoorn 27 – 5-0.2 – –
Kevin Elster↔ PHI 30 FA-elig 10-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Joe Ausanio 29 pre-arb 28-0.4 0.1 -0.5
Derek Jeter 21 – 15-0.4 0.0 -0.4
Dion James 32 FA-elig 85-0.5 0.3 -0.8
Scott Bankhead 31 FA-elig 20-0.5 0.5 -0.9
Danny Tartabull↔ OAK 32 FA-elig 59-0.5 3.8 -4.2
Brian Boehringer 26 pre-arb 7-0.6 0.1 -0.7

Key additions (new vs 1994)

PlayerfWAR
Jack McDowell3.5
Andy Pettitte3.2
John Wetteland1.7
David Cone1.5
Darryl Strawberry0.5
Tony Fernandez0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1994)

Player1994 fWAR
Mike Gallego2.0
Jim Abbott1.3
Matt Nokes0.5
Terry Mulholland0.5
Donn Pall0.3
Mark Hutton0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1995 payroll
$52.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1995, 1995–2001. 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 (21)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Jack McDowell298.000$5.4MFREE AGENT
Jimmy Key3411.000$4.9M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Wade Boggs3713.000$4.7M$2.0M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Don Mattingly3413.000$4.4MFREE AGENT
Danny Tartabull3211.000$3.8MFREE AGENT
David Cone329.000$3.5M$4.7M$6.7M$6.7M$9.5M$12.0MFREE AGENT
Melido Perez298.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
John Wetteland286.000$3.4M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Paul O'Neill3210.000$2.9M$5.3M$5.5M$5.5M$6.2M$6.5M$7.2M
Ruben Sierra299.000$2.8M$4.2MFREE AGENT
Steve Howe3715.000$2.3M$500kFREE AGENT
Tony Fernandez3312.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Luis Polonia318.000$1.1MFREE AGENT$752k
Mike Stanley329.000$912kFREE AGENT$1.6M
Darryl Strawberry3312.000$675k$300k$750k$875kFREE AGENT
Randy Velarde328.000$500kFREE AGENT$2.6M
Scott Bankhead319.000$500kFREE AGENT
Dion James3212.000$350kFREE AGENT
Kevin Elster309.000$83kFREE AGENT
Rick Honeycutt4118.000$12kFREE AGENT
Dave Eiland287.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Jim Leyritz315.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Scott Kamieniecki314.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Kelly274.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Bernie Williams264.000$400kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob MacDonald305.000$260kFREE AGENT
Bob Wickman263.000$220kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sterling Hitchcock243.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gerald Williams283.000$125kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Pavlas325.000$109kFREE AGENT
Josias Manzanillo274.000$84kARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Silvestri273.000$35kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1995199619971998199920002001
Joe Ausanio291.000$110kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Boehringer260.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Davis251.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mariano Rivera250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Pettitte230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Derek Jeter210.000$25kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robert Eenhoorn271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Patterson26–—
Ruben Rivera210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 1995; 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.