ROTISSERIE: Strategies to build roster depth

When agent Brodie Van Wagenen took the reins of the New York Mets over the winter, countless baseball observers were eager to learn his approach and hear about his strategy. Van Wagenen repeated one word more than any other throughout the off-season: depth.

He shed the roster of little-known names like Matt den Dekker and Philip Evans, and back-filled with Jed Lowrie and Keon Broxton, and even gave a minor league deal to Carlos Gómez. The GM wanted the 2019 Mets to remind fans of the iconic 1986 team that had too many starting-caliber players for the everyday lineup. Wally Backman had Tim Teufel; Mookie Wilson had Lenny Dykstra; Howard Johnson had Ray Knight. Even Rafael Santana had Kevin Elster.

Nobody is confusing this year’s Mets...

Almost!

You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

More From Rotisserie

Our 22nd annual Straight Draft opus...
Mar 20 2026 2:57am
Five takeaways from the Tout Wars Mixed Draft in early March
FREE
Mar 16 2026 3:02am
Pitchers who didn't quite make the Santana Plan filters
Mar 7 2026 3:08am
Planning and execution of your draft strategy is key. Here's one example of how it's done, fresh out of Arizona.
Mar 7 2026 3:06am

Tools