All-time NY Mets roster based only on WAR

It has been about a year and a half since we last created an all-time New York Mets roster based on nothing but WAR. How much has changed? Half a 2023 campaign and the full 2024 season to add, we’re certain to see some changes along the way.

First, let’s lay out some ground rules. This is using Baseball-Reference’s WAR statistic because no one can possibly wait for FanGraphs to load to get the information. The roster will consist of 26 players made up of 5 starting pitchers, a starter at each position, the next highest WAR player as the DH, four-man bench consisting of a backup catcher, infielder, outfielder, and one other player based on who the DH is (i.e. if the DH is an outfielder, the bench will include the next highest WAR infielder), and 8 relief pitchers. We’ll finish things off by putting together an actual lineup of these players at the end. The starting spot goes to the player with the higher WAR and a tie is broken with common sense.

Let’s get onto it and see how the roster looks today.

Mets starting pitchers based on WAR

1) Tom Seaver 78.8
2) Dwight Gooden 46.4
3) Jacob deGrom 43.9
4) Jerry Koosman 36.9
5) Sid Fernandez 29.2

No changes here from our last look. The top four remains an easy choice with Sid Fernandez as the fifth starter being a justified and underrated addition. The top three are Cy Young winners as members of the Mets. All inactive players other than Fernandez have now had their number retired by the franchise.

The Mets are known as an organization that cares a lot about pitching. It shows heavily in this statistic with these starting pitchers closely resembling the WAR accrued by players at all positions. Only a certain third baseman, ranking second, was able to sneak in.