Building the Yankees Rosters

by James Vlietstra

January 13, 2026

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A lot goes into running a Major League Baseball organization.  This past season the Yankees spent $318 Million on their roster.  However, the 26-man roster is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Due to injuries and ineffective players, the Yankees fielded 52 players at the Major League level, slightly lower than the 54, 55, and 54 from 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively.  In a typical year, the last five or six roster spots on the 40-man roster will usher in and out close to 20 players.

Beyond the top level, each organization has four full-season minor league affiliates and three short season teams that are used to develop young talent.  Between the draft and signing international players, the Yankees bring in over 100 new players every year.  In total, the Yankees employed 395 players in 2025, down slightly from the 408, 412, and 413 in the previous three seasons.

Every year, I track every single player that the Yankees sign.  I scour the transaction pages, add all the draftees, even the international kids that are rumored to be signing with the Yankees are added.  Some players are only with the organization for mere days, others last for well over a decade. 

This year, I think i deleted six names: one was a draftee that didn't sign, two were IFA kids that, if they did sign, aren't listed on MiLB or Baseball Reference, and then there were three that have not played in two or three years but they don't have any transaction updates either.

Overall, the Yankees organization's record was 479-393.  The Yankees used their minor league system to make several trades to improve their big league team at the trade deadline last summer, acquiring several bullpen arms with several years of control which has limited the amount of offseason deals that the front office has had to make. 

This year, there are 47 players that will be Rule 5 eligible for the first time.  The biggest names of this group are Roderick Arias, Kyle Carr, and Carlos LaGrange.

There were 22 first round picks in the organization last year: Clayton Beeter, Gerrit Cole, Jake Gatewood, Trent Grisham, Ben Hess, Alex Jackson, Spencer Jones, Aaron Judge, Dax Kilby, Justin Lange, George Lombard Jr, Tyler Matzek, Adam Ottavino, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, Braden Shewmake, Dominic Smith, Marcus Stroman, Anthony Volpe, Luke Weaver, Austin Wells, Jake Woodford. 

Keep in mind, this is for the calendar year 2025.  Some of these players have been gone for almost a year already.  Others have just recently joined the team.  There's a lot of information here, please take your time and check it out.

Here is a breakdown of the previous couple of years:

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Here is the latest 2026 Yankees organizational chart: