Rosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Bob Watson (since 1996)

1996 roster — every player, value & surplus

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+4.7
WAB — wins above budget
+2.3
TAB — roster Talent above budget
92–70 (0.568)
record · World Series champions
-15M
surplus $M (value/$)
41.6
roster fWAR
$49.5M
payroll
PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Andy Pettitte 24 pre-arb 35 4.6 0.2 +3.6
Mariano Rivera 26 pre-arb 61 4.3 0.1 +3.5
Bernie Williams 27 arb 143 3.9 3.0 +0.3
Paul O'Neill 33 FA-elig 150 3.7 5.3 -2.2
Wade Boggs 38 FA-elig 132 3.1 2.0 +0.5
Jimmy Key 35 FA-elig 30 2.7 1.8 +0.5
Tino Martinez 28 FA-elig 155 2.4 2.3 -0.3
Derek Jeter 22 pre-arb 157 2.2 0.1 +1.8
Kenny Rogers 31 FA-elig 30 2.2 5.0 -3.1
David Cone 33 FA-elig 11 2.2 4.7 -2.8
Dwight Gooden 31 FA-elig 29 2.1 0.9 +0.8
Mariano Duncan 33 FA-elig 109 2.0 0.8 +0.8
Jeff Nelson 29 arb 73 1.3 0.9 +0.2
John Wetteland 29 FA-elig 62 1.2 4.0 -3.0
Ramiro Mendoza 24 – 12 1.1 – –
Tim Raines Sr. 36 FA-elig 59 1.1 2.1 -1.1
Ruben Rivera 22 pre-arb 46 1.0 0.1 +0.8
Joe Girardi 31 FA-elig 124 1.0 2.3 -1.5
Jim Leyritz 32 FA-elig 88 0.8 1.5 -0.8
Bob Wickman↔ MIL 27 arb 58 0.7 0.7 -0.2
Dave Pavlas 33 FA-elig 16 0.6 0.1 +0.4
Darryl Strawberry 34 FA-elig 63 0.6 0.3 +0.2
Charlie Hayes↔ PIT 31 FA-elig 20 0.5 0.2 +0.2
Brian Boehringer 26 – 15 0.5 – –
Cecil Fielder↔ DET 32 FA-elig 53 0.4 3.1 -2.7
Mark Hutton↔ MIA 26 arb 12 0.2 0.1 +0.1
Luis Sojo↔ SEA 30 FA-elig 18 0.2 0.1 +0.1
Steve Howe 38 FA-elig 25 0.1 0.5 -0.4
David Weathers↔ MIA 26 arb 11 0.1 0.1 +0.0
Wally Whitehurst 32 FA-elig 2 0.1 0.1 -0.1
Jim Mecir 26 – 26 0.0 – –
Billy Brewer 28 – 4 0.0 – –
Paul Gibson 36 – 4 0.0 – –
Matt Luke 25 pre-arb 1 0.0 0.1 -0.1
Graeme Lloyd↔ MIL 29 arb 13 -0.1 0.0 -0.1
Mike Aldrete↔ ANA 35 FA-elig 32 -0.1 0.1 -0.2
Tim McIntosh 31 – 3 -0.1 – –
Robert Eenhoorn↔ ANA 28 pre-arb 12 -0.2 0.1 -0.2
Ricky Bones↔ MIL 27 arb 4 -0.2 0.2 -0.3
Dion James 33 – 6 -0.2 – –
Jorge Posada 24 – 8 -0.2 – –
Pat Kelly 28 arb 13 -0.3 0.9 -1.1
Dale Polley 30 pre-arb 32 -0.4 0.1 -0.4
Scott Kamieniecki 32 arb 7 -0.4 1.1 -1.5
Matt Howard 28 – 35 -0.6 – –
Ruben Sierra↔ DET 30 FA-elig 96 -0.8 4.2 -4.8
Andy Fox 25 pre-arb 113 -0.9 0.1 -0.8
Gerald Williams↔ MIL 29 arb 99 -0.9 0.2 -1.0

48 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 39 of them (81%). Players without a salary show "–" — no single historical salary source is fully complete (especially 2020–2022).

WAR = FanGraphs (fWAR). Green = produced more value than paid (bargain); red = paid more than produced. Service: pre-arb (<3 yr) / arb (3–6) / FA-eligible (6+). Click headers to sort.

History: front-office performance & develop-vs-buy (1985–2024)

Trade ledger (realized WAR, all-time)

Best acquisitions
PlayerYearWAR for NYY
Rickey Henderson198426.6
David Cone199516.6
Tino Martinez199516.0
Gleyber Torres201615.9
Willie Randolph197514.7
Nick Swisher200814.4
Giancarlo Stanton201711.1
Randy Velarde198710.1
Ones that got away
PlayerYear tradedWAR elsewhere
Rickey Henderson198926.8
Doug Drabek198621.4
Fred McGriff198219.7
Greg Gagne198215.6
Austin Jackson200914.8
Jake Westbrook200013.5
Eric Milton199813.4
Nick Johnson200310.5
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.