RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Brian Cashman

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 2.88× league · TAB -14.7
-14.7TAB — talent above budget29th/30
-0.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)17th/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars3rd/30
-10.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag30th/30
23%dead money %5th/30
0.586win %3rd/30
32.6roster fWAR17th/30
-149surplus $M (value vs cost)30th/30
$208Mpayroll $M1st/30

2005: made playoffs · 95–67. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFBernie Williams 112GBubba Crosby 41GHideki Matsui 28G
LFHideki Matsui 115GTony Womack 40GMatt Lawton III 26G
RFGary Sheffield 131GMatt Lawton III 113GBubba Crosby 23G
SSDerek Jeter 157GRey Sanchez 10GFelix Escalona 5G
2BRobinson Canó 131GMark Bellhorn 85GTony Womack 24G
3BAlex Rodriguez 161GRuss Johnson 8GMark Bellhorn 4G
1BTino Martinez 122GJason Giambi 78GAndy Phillips 19G
STARTERSRandy Johnson 4.0WARMike Mussina 2.5WARKevin Brown 1.5WARChien-Ming Wang 1.4WARAaron Small 1.3WAR
CJorge Posada 133GJohn Flaherty 45GWil Nieves 3G
DHJason Giambi 59GRuben Sierra 28GGary Sheffield 23G
BULLPEN★ Mariano Rivera 43svTom Gordon 33hTanyon Sturtze 16hAlan Embree 10hFelix Rodriguez 3hWayne Franklin 3hScott Proctor 0hJorge De Paula 0h
CJorge Posada 133 · John Flaherty 45 · Wil Nieves 3
1BTino Martinez 122 · Jason Giambi 78 · Andy Phillips 19
2BRobinson Canó 131 · Mark Bellhorn 85 · Tony Womack 24
3BAlex Rodriguez 161 · Russ Johnson 8 · Mark Bellhorn 4
SSDerek Jeter 157 · Rey Sanchez 10 · Felix Escalona 5
LFHideki Matsui 115 · Tony Womack 40 · Matt Lawton III 26
CFBernie Williams 112 · Bubba Crosby 41 · Hideki Matsui 28
RFGary Sheffield 131 · Matt Lawton III 113 · Bubba Crosby 23
DHJason Giambi 59 · Ruben Sierra 28 · Gary Sheffield 23
SPRandy Johnson 4.0 · Mike Mussina 2.5 · Kevin Brown 1.5 · Chien-Ming Wang 1.4 · Aaron Small 1.3
BP★ Mariano Rivera 43 · Tom Gordon 33 · Tanyon Sturtze 16 · Alan Embree 10 · Felix Rodriguez 3 · Wayne Franklin 3 · Scott Proctor 0 · Jorge De Paula 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.

2005 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Alex Rodriguez 29 FA-elig 1629.1 26.0 -8.9
Derek Jeter 31 FA-elig 1594.4 19.6 -11.3
Jason Giambi 34 FA-elig 1394.2 13.4 -5.5
Randy Johnson 41 FA-elig 344.0 16.0 -8.5
Jorge Posada 34 FA-elig 1423.3 11.0 -4.8
Mariano Rivera 35 FA-elig 712.9 10.5 -5.1
Mike Mussina 36 FA-elig 302.5 19.0 -14.2
Hideki Matsui 31 pre-arb 1622.5 8.0 -3.4
Gary Sheffield 36 FA-elig 1542.4 13.0 -8.4
Kevin Brown 40 FA-elig 131.5 15.7 -12.9
Chien-Ming Wang 25 – 181.4 – –
Aaron Small 33 – 151.3 – –
Shawn Chacon↔ COL 27 arb 141.0 1.2 +0.6
Tom Gordon 37 FA-elig 790.9 3.8 -2.1
Al Leiter↔ MIA 39 FA-elig 160.6 3.4 -2.2
Carl Pavano 29 FA-elig 170.5 9.0 -8.1
Felix Escalona 26 – 100.3 – –
Tino Martinez 37 FA-elig 1310.2 2.8 -2.4
Robinson Canó 22 – 1320.2 – –
Mike Stanton↔ BOS 38 FA-elig 280.1 1.9 -1.7
Jaret Wright 29 FA-elig 130.1 5.7 -5.5
Steve Karsay↔ TEX 33 FA-elig 60.1 1.8 -1.7
Alan Embree↔ BOS 35 FA-elig 240.0 1.1 -1.0
Wayne Franklin 31 – 130.0 – –
Colter Bean 28 – 10.0 – –
Mark Bellhorn↔ BOS 30 FA-elig 9-0.0 0.3 -0.3
Felix Rodriguez 32 FA-elig 34-0.0 3.1 -3.2
Tim Redding↔ SDP 27 arb 1-0.0 0.1 -0.2
Jason Anderson 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Kevin Reese 27 – 2-0.1 – –
Buddy Groom↔ ARI 39 – 24-0.1 – –
Mike Vento 27 – 2-0.1 – –
Bubba Crosby 28 pre-arb 76-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Wil Nieves 27 – 3-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Ramiro Mendoza 33 – 1-0.1 – –
Russ Johnson 32 – 22-0.1 – –
Jorge De Paula 26 – 3-0.1 – –
Alex Graman 27 – 2-0.1 – –
Tanyon Sturtze 34 FA-elig 64-0.2 0.8 -1.2
Paul Quantrill↔ MIA 36 FA-elig 22-0.2 1.3 -1.7
Rey Sanchez 37 FA-elig 23-0.2 0.6 -1.0
Scott Proctor 28 – 29-0.3 – –
Andy Phillips 28 pre-arb 27-0.3 0.3 -0.9
Darrell May↔ SDP 33 FA-elig 2-0.4 0.3 -0.9
Sean Henn 24 – 3-0.4 – –
Melky Cabrera 20 – 6-0.5 – –
Matt Lawton III↔ CHC 33 FA-elig 21-0.7 1.2 -2.6
Ruben Sierra 39 FA-elig 61-0.9 1.5 -3.3
John Flaherty 37 FA-elig 47-1.0 0.8 -2.8
Bernie Williams 36 FA-elig 141-2.3 12.4 -16.7
Tony Womack 35 FA-elig 108-2.3 2.0 -6.4

Key additions (new vs 2004)

PlayerfWAR
Randy Johnson4.0
Chien-Ming Wang1.4
Aaron Small1.3
Shawn Chacon1.0
Al Leiter0.6
Carl Pavano0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 2004)

Player2004 fWAR
Jon Lieber3.6
Javier Vazquez2.1
Orlando Hernandez1.7
Miguel Cairo0.5
John Olerud0.4
Brad Halsey0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

2005 payroll
$208.1M

What the front office was committed to as of 2005, 2005–2011. 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 (32)

PlayerAgeSvc2005200620072008200920102011
Alex Rodriguez2911.000$26.0M$21.7M$22.7M$28.0M$33.0M$33.0M$32.0M
Derek Jeter3110.000$19.6M$20.6M$21.6M$21.6M$21.6M$22.6M$14.7M
Mike Mussina3614.000$19.0M$19.0M$11.1M$11.1MFREE AGENT
Randy Johnson4117.000$16.0M$15.7MFREE AGENT
Kevin Brown4019.000$15.7MFREE AGENT
Jason Giambi3410.000$13.4M$20.4M$23.4M$23.4MFREE AGENT
Gary Sheffield3617.000$13.0M$10.8MFREE AGENT
Bernie Williams3614.000$12.4M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Jorge Posada3410.000$11.0M$12.0M$12.0M$13.1M$13.1M$13.1M$13.1M
Mariano Rivera3510.000$10.5M$10.5M$10.5M$15.0M$15.0M$15.0M$14.9M
Carl Pavano297.000$9.0MFREE AGENT$10.0M$11.0M
Jaret Wright298.000$5.7M$7.7MFREE AGENT
Tom Gordon3717.000$3.8MFREE AGENT
Al Leiter3918.000$3.4MFREE AGENT
Felix Rodriguez3210.000$3.1MFREE AGENT
Tino Martinez3715.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Tony Womack3512.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Mike Stanton3816.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Steve Karsay3312.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Ruben Sierra3919.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Paul Quantrill3613.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Matt Lawton III3310.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Alan Embree3513.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Tanyon Sturtze3410.000$850k$1.5MFREE AGENT
John Flaherty3713.000$800kFREE AGENT
Rey Sanchez3714.000$600kFREE AGENT
Darrell May3310.000$269kFREE AGENT
Mark Bellhorn308.000$263kFREE AGENT
Buddy Groom3913.000—FREE AGENT
Russ Johnson328.000—FREE AGENT
Ramiro Mendoza339.000—FREE AGENT
Aaron Small3311.000—$1.2MFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (5)

PlayerAgeSvc2005200620072008200920102011
Shawn Chacon274.000$1.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Wil Nieves273.000$316kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Redding274.000$75kARB 3FREE AGENT
Wayne Franklin315.000—FREE AGENT
Felix Escalona263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2005200620072008200920102011
Hideki Matsui312.000$8.0MARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bubba Crosby282.000$323kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Phillips281.000$317kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Graman27–—
Chien-Ming Wang250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Anderson262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jorge De Paula262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robinson Canó220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Proctor281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Henn240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Vento27–—
Colter Bean28–—
Kevin Reese27–—
Melky Cabrera200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 2005; 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.