RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Brian Cashman

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.43× league · TAB +13.8
+13.8TAB — talent above budget3rd/30
+4.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)12th/30
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars4th/30
-3.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag4th/30
16%dead money %1st/30
0.562win %8th/30
52.4roster fWAR3rd/30
-10surplus $M (value vs cost)15th/30
$187Mpayroll $M3rd/30

2017: made playoffs · 91–71. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFJacoby Ellsbury 97GAaron Hicks 52GBrett Gardner 22G
LFBrett Gardner 122GClint Frazier 30GAaron Hicks 22G
RFAaron Judge 141GAaron Hicks 14GTyler Austin 7G
SSDidi Gregorius 135GRonald Torreyes 36GTyler Wade 7G
2BStarlin Castro 109GRonald Torreyes 54GTyler Wade 15G
3BTodd Frazier 133GChase Headley 86GRonald Torreyes 26G
1BChris Carter 56GGreg Bird 46GChase Headley 45G
STARTERSLuis Severino 5.6WARJordan Montgomery 2.6WARMasahiro Tanaka 2.6WARCC Sabathia 1.8WARMichael Pineda 1.0WAR
CGary Sánchez 104GAustin Romine 67GKyle Higashioka 8G
DHMatt Holliday 90GGary Sánchez 18GChase Headley 14G
BULLPEN★ Aroldis Chapman 22svDellin Betances 19hTommy Kahnle 15hAdam Warren 11hChad Green 9hDavid Robertson 8hJonathan Holder 4hChasen Shreve 1h
CGary Sánchez 104 · Austin Romine 67 · Kyle Higashioka 8
1BChris Carter 56 · Greg Bird 46 · Chase Headley 45
2BStarlin Castro 109 · Ronald Torreyes 54 · Tyler Wade 15
3BTodd Frazier 133 · Chase Headley 86 · Ronald Torreyes 26
SSDidi Gregorius 135 · Ronald Torreyes 36 · Tyler Wade 7
LFBrett Gardner 122 · Clint Frazier 30 · Aaron Hicks 22
CFJacoby Ellsbury 97 · Aaron Hicks 52 · Brett Gardner 22
RFAaron Judge 141 · Aaron Hicks 14 · Tyler Austin 7
DHMatt Holliday 90 · Gary Sánchez 18 · Chase Headley 14
SPLuis Severino 5.6 · Jordan Montgomery 2.6 · Masahiro Tanaka 2.6 · CC Sabathia 1.8 · Michael Pineda 1.0
BP★ Aroldis Chapman 22 · Dellin Betances 19 · Tommy Kahnle 15 · Adam Warren 11 · Chad Green 9 · David Robertson 8 · Jonathan Holder 4 · Chasen Shreve 1

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.

2017 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Aaron Judge 25 pre-arb 1558.7 0.5 +28.8
Luis Severino 23 pre-arb 315.6 0.6 +18.4
Gary Sánchez 24 pre-arb 1224.1 0.6 +13.3
Brett Gardner 33 FA-elig 1513.8 12.5 +0.4
Starlin Castro 27 FA-elig 1122.8 9.9 -0.5
Aaron Hicks 27 arb 882.6 1.4 +7.5
Jordan Montgomery 24 pre-arb 292.6 0.5 +8.3
Didi Gregorius 27 arb 1362.6 5.1 +3.6
Masahiro Tanaka 28 arb 302.6 22.0 -13.4
Chad Green 26 pre-arb 402.4 0.4 +7.7
Chase Headley 33 FA-elig 1471.9 13.0 -6.6
CC Sabathia 36 FA-elig 271.8 25.0 -19.1
Todd Frazier↔ CHW 31 FA-elig 661.7 5.4 +0.4
Jacoby Ellsbury 33 FA-elig 1121.5 21.1 -15.9
Aroldis Chapman 29 FA-elig 521.5 17.2 -12.1
Dellin Betances 29 FA-elig 661.2 3.0 +1.0
Adam Warren 29 arb 461.2 2.3 +1.7
David Robertson↔ CHW 32 FA-elig 301.1 5.9 -2.2
Ronald Torreyes 24 pre-arb 1081.1 0.6 +3.0
Michael Pineda 28 FA-elig 171.0 7.4 -3.9
Tommy Kahnle↔ CHW 27 arb 320.7 0.2 +2.2
Sonny Gray↔ OAK 27 arb 110.5 1.5 +0.3
Jonathan Holder 24 pre-arb 370.5 0.5 +1.2
Jaime García↔ ATL 30 FA-elig 80.3 3.6 -2.5
Miguel Andujar 22 – 50.2 0.1 +0.7
Ben Heller 25 pre-arb 90.2 0.1 +0.5
Bryan Mitchell 26 arb 200.2 0.6 +0.1
Giovanny Gallegos 25 – 160.2 0.2 +0.4
Clint Frazier 22 – 390.1 0.3 +0.2
Garrett Cooper 26 – 130.1 0.2 +0.3
Domingo Germán 24 pre-arb 70.1 0.1 +0.4
Chasen Shreve 26 arb 440.1 0.6 -0.1
Erik Kratz 37 arb 40.1 0.1 +0.3
Ji Man Choi 26 – 60.1 0.1 +0.3
Dustin Fowler 22 – 1-0.0 0.3 -0.3
Matt Holliday 37 FA-elig 105-0.0 13.0 -13.1
Tommy Layne 32 arb 19-0.0 1.1 -1.2
Tyler Austin 25 pre-arb 20-0.0 0.5 -0.6
Caleb Smith 25 – 9-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Mason Williams 25 pre-arb 5-0.1 0.0 -0.2
Tyler Webb↔ MIL 26 – 7-0.1 0.0 -0.3
Ronald Herrera 22 – 2-0.1 0.0 -0.3
Tyler Clippard↔ CHW 32 FA-elig 40-0.1 3.7 -4.0
Luis Cessa 25 pre-arb 10-0.1 0.2 -0.7
Pete Kozma↔ TEX 29 FA-elig 11-0.2 0.2 -1.0
Kyle Higashioka 27 – 9-0.3 0.1 -1.0
Chris Carter 30 FA-elig 62-0.3 3.5 -4.4
Austin Romine 28 FA-elig 80-0.3 0.8 -1.8
Greg Bird 24 pre-arb 48-0.3 0.5 -1.6
Rob Refsnyder↔ TOR 26 – 20-0.4 0.1 -1.4
Tyler Wade 22 – 30-0.7 0.2 -2.5

Key additions (new vs 2016)

PlayerfWAR
Jordan Montgomery2.6
Todd Frazier1.7
David Robertson1.1
Tommy Kahnle0.7
Sonny Gray0.5
Jaime García0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 2016)

Player2016 fWAR
Andrew Miller1.9
Carlos Beltrán1.8
Nathan Eovaldi0.7
Iván Nova0.4
Chris Parmelee0.3
Richard Bleier0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

2017 payroll
$186.8M
2018 guaranteed
$0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2017, 2017–2023. Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2017; arbitration & free-agent years are projected from service time. Hover a figure for its luxury-tax (CBT) & actual-cash values.

current $ guaranteed $ arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent club option player option mutual option vesting option

Guaranteed / signed (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
CC Sabathia3616.000$25.0MFREE AGENT
Jacoby Ellsbury339.037$21.1MFREE AGENT
Aroldis Chapman296.009$17.2MFREE AGENT
Matt Holliday3713.000$13.0MFREE AGENT
Chase Headley338.123$13.0MFREE AGENT
Brett Gardner338.072$12.5MFREE AGENT
Starlin Castro276.150$9.9MFREE AGENT
David Robertson328.070$5.9MFREE AGENT
Tyler Clippard327.148$3.7MFREE AGENT
Jaime García308.047$3.6MFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
Masahiro Tanaka283.000$22.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Pineda285.099$7.4MFREE AGENT
Todd Frazier315.071$5.4MFREE AGENT
Didi Gregorius273.159$5.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Carter305.087$3.5MFREE AGENT
Dellin Betances293.078$3.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Warren294.036$2.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
Sonny Gray273.061$1.5MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Hicks273.041$1.4MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Layne325.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Austin Romine283.044$805kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Erik Kratz373.167$94kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (29)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
Ronald Torreyes241.022$562kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Sánchez240.086$558kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chasen Shreve262.015$552kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Severino230.170$551kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Mitchell261.129$551kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Bird241.053$546kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Judge250.051$544kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Austin250.051$544kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jonathan Holder240.031$537kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jordan Montgomery240.000$535kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Green260.079$418kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dustin Fowler220.000$278kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clint Frazier220.000$272kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Kahnle272.015$248kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Cessa250.098$246kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Wade220.000$237kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Garrett Cooper260.000$222kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Caleb Smith250.000$175kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Giovanny Gallegos250.000$172kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Kozma292.108$162kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Heller250.053$120kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Domingo Germán240.034$102kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rob Refsnyder260.158$98kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Higashioka270.000$82kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ji Man Choi261.000$54kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Andujar220.000$53kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Webb260.000$43kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mason Williams251.070$29kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ronald Herrera220.000$15kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 2017; 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.