RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Brian Cashman

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 2.0× league · TAB +13.6
+13.6TAB — talent above budget4th/30
+12.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)6th/30
11.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/30
-4.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag17th/30
16%dead money %9th/30
0.640win %1st/30
56.1roster fWAR1st/30
-35surplus $M (value vs cost)27th/30
$132Mpayroll $M1st/30

2002: made playoffs · 103–58. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFBernie Williams 147GRaúl Mondesi 11GGerald Williams 6G
LFRondell White 113GShane Spencer 40GJuan Rivera 15G
RFRaúl Mondesi 121GShane Spencer 55GJohn Vander Wal 49G
SSDerek Jeter 156GEnrique Wilson 14GAlex Arias 1G
2BAlfonso Soriano 155GEnrique Wilson 7G
3BRobin Ventura 137GEnrique Wilson 26GRon Coomer 26G
1BJason Giambi 92GNick Johnson 78GRon Coomer 11G
STARTERSMike Mussina 4.7WARDavid Wells 4.4WARRoger Clemens 4.4WARAndy Pettitte 3.9WAROrlando Hernandez 3.1WAR
CJorge Posada 138GChris Widger 21GAlberto Castillo 14G
DHJason Giambi 63GNick Johnson 49GRaúl Mondesi 14G
BULLPEN★ Mariano Rivera 28svMike Stanton 17hSteve Karsay 14hRamiro Mendoza 12hSterling Hitchcock 0hRandy Choate 0hMike Thurman 0hBrandon Knight 0h
CJorge Posada 138 · Chris Widger 21 · Alberto Castillo 14
1BJason Giambi 92 · Nick Johnson 78 · Ron Coomer 11
2BAlfonso Soriano 155 · Enrique Wilson 7
3BRobin Ventura 137 · Enrique Wilson 26 · Ron Coomer 26
SSDerek Jeter 156 · Enrique Wilson 14 · Alex Arias 1
LFRondell White 113 · Shane Spencer 40 · Juan Rivera 15
CFBernie Williams 147 · Raúl Mondesi 11 · Gerald Williams 6
RFRaúl Mondesi 121 · Shane Spencer 55 · John Vander Wal 49
DHJason Giambi 63 · Nick Johnson 49 · Raúl Mondesi 14
SPMike Mussina 4.7 · David Wells 4.4 · Roger Clemens 4.4 · Andy Pettitte 3.9 · Orlando Hernandez 3.1
BP★ Mariano Rivera 28 · Mike Stanton 17 · Steve Karsay 14 · Ramiro Mendoza 12 · Sterling Hitchcock 0 · Randy Choate 0 · Mike Thurman 0 · Brandon Knight 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.

2002 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jason Giambi 31 FA-elig 1556.6 10.4 +0.8
Alfonso Soriano 26 arb 1565.6 0.6 +9.0
Derek Jeter 28 FA-elig 1575.2 14.6 -5.6
Bernie Williams 33 FA-elig 1544.9 12.4 -3.9
Mike Mussina 33 FA-elig 334.7 11.0 -2.9
David Wells 39 FA-elig 314.4 2.2 +5.4
Roger Clemens 39 FA-elig 294.4 10.3 -2.7
Andy Pettitte 30 FA-elig 223.9 9.5 -2.8
Jorge Posada 31 FA-elig 1433.8 7.0 -0.5
Robin Ventura 34 FA-elig 1413.7 8.5 -2.2
Orlando Hernandez 36 arb 243.1 3.2 +2.2
Mariano Rivera 32 FA-elig 451.4 9.4 -7.0
Ramiro Mendoza 30 FA-elig 621.3 2.6 -0.4
Mike Stanton 35 FA-elig 791.2 2.5 -0.5
Ted Lilly↔ OAK 26 arb 161.1 0.2 +1.7
Steve Karsay 30 FA-elig 781.1 4.0 -2.1
Jeff Weaver↔ DET 25 arb 151.0 1.1 +0.7
Nick Johnson 23 pre-arb 1290.6 0.2 +0.9
Shane Spencer 30 arb 940.6 0.9 +0.2
Mike Thurman 28 – 120.4 – –
Sterling Hitchcock 31 FA-elig 200.4 4.9 -4.3
Chris Widger 31 – 210.3 – –
John Vander Wal 36 FA-elig 840.2 1.9 -1.5
Randy Choate 26 pre-arb 180.1 0.2 -0.1
Raul Mondesi↔ TOR 31 FA-elig 710.1 5.3 -5.2
Drew Henson 22 – 3-0.0 – –
Jay Tessmer 30 arb 2-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Karim Garcia↔ CLE 26 – 2-0.0 – –
Marcus Thames 25 – 7-0.0 – –
Brandon Knight 26 – 7-0.1 – –
Alex Arias 34 – 6-0.1 – –
Adrian Hernandez 27 – 2-0.1 – –
Alberto Castillo 32 FA-elig 15-0.3 0.7 -1.2
Gerald Williams 35 FA-elig 33-0.4 2.0 -2.7
Rondell White 30 FA-elig 126-0.6 4.5 -5.6
Juan Rivera 23 – 28-0.7 – –
Ron Coomer 35 FA-elig 55-0.8 0.8 -2.1
Enrique Wilson 28 arb 60-0.9 0.7 -2.2

Key additions (new vs 2001)

PlayerfWAR
Jason Giambi6.6
David Wells4.4
Robin Ventura3.7
Steve Karsay1.1
Jeff Weaver1.0
Mike Thurman0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 2001)

Player2001 fWAR
Scott Brosius2.2
Tino Martinez2.1
Chuck Knoblauch0.7
Paul O'Neill0.6
David Justice0.6
Jay Witasick0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

2002 payroll
$131.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 2002, 2002–2008. 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 (23)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Derek Jeter287.000$14.6M$15.6M$18.6M$19.6M$20.6M$21.6M$21.6M
Bernie Williams3311.000$12.4M$12.4M$12.4M$12.4M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Mike Mussina3311.000$11.0M$12.0M$16.0M$19.0M$19.0M$11.1M$11.1M
Jason Giambi317.000$10.4M$11.4M$12.4M$13.4M$20.4M$23.4M$23.4M
Roger Clemens3918.000$10.3M$10.1MFREE AGENT$17.4M
Andy Pettitte307.000$9.5M$11.5MFREE AGENT$16.0M$16.0M
Mariano Rivera327.000$9.4M$10.5M$10.9M$10.5M$10.5M$10.5M$15.0M
Robin Ventura3413.000$8.5M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Jorge Posada317.000$7.0M$8.0M$9.0M$11.0M$12.0M$12.0M$13.1M
Raul Mondesi319.000$5.3M$8.9MFREE AGENT
Sterling Hitchcock3110.000$4.9M$4.6MFREE AGENT
Rondell White309.000$4.5MFREE AGENT
Steve Karsay309.000$4.0MFREE AGENT$6.0M$4.2M
Ramiro Mendoza306.000$2.6MFREE AGENT
Mike Stanton3513.000$2.5MFREE AGENT$2.0M
David Wells3915.000$2.2M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Gerald Williams3510.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
John Vander Wal3611.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Ron Coomer357.000$750kFREE AGENT
Alberto Castillo327.000$650kFREE AGENT
Alex Arias3410.000—FREE AGENT
Karim Garcia267.000—$616kFREE AGENT
Chris Widger317.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Orlando Hernandez364.000$3.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Weaver253.000$1.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shane Spencer304.000$885kARB 3FREE AGENT
Enrique Wilson285.000$720kFREE AGENT
Alfonso Soriano263.000$630kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Tessmer304.000$210kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ted Lilly263.000$172kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Thurman285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (7)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Randy Choate262.000$223kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Johnson231.000$221kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brandon Knight26–—
Adrian Hernandez271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Rivera231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marcus Thames250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Drew Henson22–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 2002; 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.