RRosternomics
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Yankees NYY

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GM: Brian Cashman

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.78× league · TAB -1.6
-1.6TAB — talent above budget
-0.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)
1.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars11th/30
-2.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag9th/30
41%dead money %10th/30
0.550win %10th/30
14.8roster fWAR12th/30
-103surplus $M (value vs cost)28th/30
$211Mpayroll $M2nd/30

2020: made playoffs · 33–27. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFAaron Hicks 50GBrett Gardner 10GMike Tauchman 5G
LFBrett Gardner 39GMike Tauchman 20GClint Frazier 8G
RFClint Frazier 28GAaron Judge 25GMike Tauchman 19G
SSGleyber Torres 40GTyler Wade 22GJordy Mercer 6G
2BDJ LeMahieu 37GTyler Wade 31GThairo Estrada 20G
3BGio Urshela 43GDJ LeMahieu 11GThairo Estrada 6G
1BLuke Voit 48GMike Ford 13GDJ LeMahieu 11G
STARTERSGerrit Cole 1.4WARJordan Montgomery 0.9WARDeivi García 0.8WARMasahiro Tanaka 0.8WARJ.A. Happ 0.6WAR
CGary Sánchez 41GKyle Higashioka 14GErik Kratz 12G
DHGiancarlo Stanton 23GLuke Voit 8GMiguel Andujar 7G
BULLPEN★ Zack Britton 8svChad Green 6hAdam Ottavino 2hJonathan Loáisiga 2hNick Nelson 1hLuis Cessa 1hJonathan Holder 0hAroldis Chapman 0h
CGary Sánchez 41 · Kyle Higashioka 14 · Erik Kratz 12
1BLuke Voit 48 · Mike Ford 13 · DJ LeMahieu 11
2BDJ LeMahieu 37 · Tyler Wade 31 · Thairo Estrada 20
3BGio Urshela 43 · DJ LeMahieu 11 · Thairo Estrada 6
SSGleyber Torres 40 · Tyler Wade 22 · Jordy Mercer 6
LFBrett Gardner 39 · Mike Tauchman 20 · Clint Frazier 8
CFAaron Hicks 50 · Brett Gardner 10 · Mike Tauchman 5
RFClint Frazier 28 · Aaron Judge 25 · Mike Tauchman 19
DHGiancarlo Stanton 23 · Luke Voit 8 · Miguel Andujar 7
SPGerrit Cole 1.4 · Jordan Montgomery 0.9 · Deivi García 0.8 · Masahiro Tanaka 0.8 · J.A. Happ 0.6
BP★ Zack Britton 8 · Chad Green 6 · Adam Ottavino 2 · Jonathan Loáisiga 2 · Nick Nelson 1 · Luis Cessa 1 · Jonathan Holder 0 · Aroldis Chapman 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.

2020 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
DJ LeMahieu 31 FA-elig 502.3 12.0 +5.0
Gerrit Cole 29 FA-elig 121.4 36.0 -25.7
Luke Voit 29 pre-arb 561.4 0.2 +10.0
Clint Frazier 25 pre-arb 391.3 0.2 +9.7
Gio Urshela 28 arb 431.2 2.5 +6.0
Aaron Judge 28 arb 280.9 8.5 -1.8
Jordan Montgomery 27 arb 100.9 0.8 +5.7
Aaron Hicks 30 FA-elig 540.9 10.8 -4.4
Masahiro Tanaka 31 FA-elig 100.8 23.0 -17.2
Deivi García 21 – 60.8 0.1 +5.5
J.A. Happ 37 FA-elig 90.6 17.0 -12.8
Gleyber Torres 23 pre-arb 420.6 0.3 +3.9
Zack Britton 32 FA-elig 200.5 13.0 -9.2
Giancarlo Stanton 30 FA-elig 230.5 26.0 -22.7
Tyler Wade 25 pre-arb 520.4 0.2 +3.0
Brett Gardner 36 FA-elig 490.4 10.0 -6.9
Kyle Higashioka 30 pre-arb 160.4 0.2 +2.7
James Paxton 31 FA-elig 50.3 12.5 -10.3
Aroldis Chapman 32 FA-elig 130.3 16.0 -13.9
Adam Ottavino 34 FA-elig 240.2 9.0 -7.3
Luis Cessa 28 arb 160.2 0.9 +0.6
Chad Green 29 arb 220.2 1.3 +0.2
Erik Kratz 40 FA-elig 180.2 0.1 +1.2
Mike Tauchman 29 pre-arb 430.1 0.2 +0.6
Jonathan Loáisiga 25 pre-arb 120.1 0.2 +0.6
David Hale↔ PHI 32 – 50.1 0.1 +0.8
Tommy Kahnle 30 FA-elig 10.1 2.6 -2.0
Clarke Schmidt 24 – 30.1 0.0 +0.5
Michael King 25 pre-arb 90.1 0.2 +0.3
Estevan Florial 22 – 10.0 0.0 +0.0
Jordy Mercer↔ DET 33 FA-elig 6-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Tyler Lyons 32 arb 1-0.0 0.0 -0.2
Miguel Yajure 22 – 3-0.0 0.1 -0.3
Jonathan Holder 27 arb 19-0.1 0.8 -1.4
Luis Avilán 30 FA-elig 10-0.1 0.1 -0.9
Ben Heller 28 pre-arb 6-0.1 0.1 -1.0
Brooks Kriske 26 – 4-0.1 0.0 -1.0
Nick Nelson 24 – 11-0.2 0.2 -1.4
Albert Abreu 24 – 2-0.2 0.0 -1.5
Gary Sánchez 27 arb 49-0.2 5.0 -6.5
Thairo Estrada 24 pre-arb 26-0.3 0.2 -2.4
Miguel Andujar 25 pre-arb 21-0.4 0.1 -2.9
Mike Ford 27 pre-arb 29-0.7 0.2 -5.1

Key additions (new vs 2019)

PlayerfWAR
Gerrit Cole1.4
Deivi García0.8
Erik Kratz0.2
Clarke Schmidt0.1
Estevan Florial0.0
Jordy Mercer-0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 2019)

Player2019 fWAR
Domingo Germán1.9
Cameron Maybin1.6
Austin Romine0.9
Edwin Encarnación0.8
CC Sabathia0.4
Dellin Betances0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2020 payroll
$210.6M
2021 guaranteed
$65.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2020, 2020–2026. Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2020; 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 (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2020202120222023202420252026
Gerrit Cole296.111$36.0M$36.0M$36.0M$36.0M$36.0M$36.0MOPT-OUT$36.0M
Giancarlo Stanton309.118$26.0M$29.0MOPT-OUT$29.0M$32.0M$32.0M$32.0M$19.0M
Masahiro Tanaka316.000$23.0MFREE AGENT
J.A. Happ3711.047$17.0MFREE AGENT
Aroldis Chapman329.009$16.0MFREE AGENT
Zack Britton327.158$13.0MFREE AGENT
DJ LeMahieu317.128$12.0MFREE AGENT
Aaron Hicks306.041$10.8MFREE AGENT
Brett Gardner3611.072$10.0MFREE AGENT
Adam Ottavino348.087$9.0MFREE AGENT
Luis Avilán308.000$100kFREE AGENT
Jordy Mercer337.095$67kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc2020202120222023202420252026
James Paxton315.151$12.5MFREE AGENT
Aaron Judge283.051$8.5MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Sánchez273.086$5.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tommy Kahnle304.130$2.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Gio Urshela285.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Chad Green293.050$1.3MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Erik Kratz405.054$100kFREE AGENT
Tyler Lyons324.064$17kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (23)

PlayerAgeSvc2020202120222023202420252026
Luis Cessa282.131$895kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jordan Montgomery272.153$805kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jonathan Holder272.124$750kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gleyber Torres231.162$250kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luke Voit291.169$235kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Tauchman291.055$223kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Wade251.093$216kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jonathan Loáisiga251.022$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Higashioka301.005$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael King250.011$190kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Ford270.080$173kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clint Frazier251.163$166kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Nelson240.000$165kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Thairo Estrada240.099$159kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Andujar252.020$119kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Heller282.096$106kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Deivi García210.000$65kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Hale322.163$55kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Yajure220.000$53kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brooks Kriske260.000$47kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clarke Schmidt240.000$34kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Albert Abreu240.000$28kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Estevan Florial220.000$12kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Yankees 2020; 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.