RRosternomics
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Royals KCR

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GM: John Schuerholz

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.11× league · TAB -0.1
-0.1TAB — talent above budget13th/26
-0.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)14th/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars7th/26
-4.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag15th/26
25%dead money %8th/26
0.512win %11th/26
35.4roster fWAR12th/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)13th/26
$12Mpayroll $M11th/26

Roster

CFWillie Wilson 143GBo Jackson 21GGary Thurman 6G
LFBo Jackson 95GLonnie Smith 32GGary Thurman 22G
RFDanny Tartabull 149GThad Bosley 14GBo Jackson 3G
SSAngel Salazar 116GBill Pecota 36GRoss Jones 36G
2BFrank White 152GBill Pecota 15GRoss Jones 3G
3BKevin Seitzer 141GBill Pecota 17GGeorge Brett 11G
1BGeorge Brett 83GSteve Balboni 55GKevin Seitzer 24G
STARTERSBret Saberhagen 5.2WARCharlie Leibrandt 4.4WARDanny Jackson 4.3WARMark Gubicza 3.8WARBud Black 1.1WAR
CJamie Quirk 108GLarry Owen 76GMike Macfarlane 8G
DHSteve Balboni 50GJim Eisenreich 25GGeorge Brett 21G
BULLPEN★ Gene Garber 18svJerry Don Gleaton 0hSteve Farr 0hDan Quisenberry 0hJohn Davis 0hBob Stoddard 0hBob Shirley 0hDave Gumpert 0h
CJamie Quirk 108 · Larry Owen 76 · Mike Macfarlane 8
1BGeorge Brett 83 · Steve Balboni 55 · Kevin Seitzer 24
2BFrank White 152 · Bill Pecota 15 · Ross Jones 3
3BKevin Seitzer 141 · Bill Pecota 17 · George Brett 11
SSAngel Salazar 116 · Bill Pecota 36 · Ross Jones 36
LFBo Jackson 95 · Lonnie Smith 32 · Gary Thurman 22
CFWillie Wilson 143 · Bo Jackson 21 · Gary Thurman 6
RFDanny Tartabull 149 · Thad Bosley 14 · Bo Jackson 3
DHSteve Balboni 50 · Jim Eisenreich 25 · George Brett 21
SPBret Saberhagen 5.2 · Charlie Leibrandt 4.4 · Danny Jackson 4.3 · Mark Gubicza 3.8 · Bud Black 1.1
BP★ Gene Garber 18 · Jerry Don Gleaton 0 · Steve Farr 0 · Dan Quisenberry 0 · John Davis 0 · Bob Stoddard 0 · Bob Shirley 0 · Dave Gumpert 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.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Bret Saberhagen 23 arb 335.2 0.7 +0.8
Kevin Seitzer 25 pre-arb 1615.1 0.1 +1.4
Charlie Leibrandt 30 FA-elig 354.4 0.8 +0.4
Danny Jackson 25 arb 364.3 0.2 +1.0
Mark Gubicza 24 arb 353.8 0.5 +0.6
George Brett 34 FA-elig 1153.2 2.1 -1.1
Danny Tartabull 24 arb 1582.9 0.1 +0.7
Frank White 36 FA-elig 1542.6 0.9 -0.1
Willie Wilson 31 FA-elig 1461.7 1.4 -0.9
Bud Black 30 FA-elig 291.1 0.6 -0.3
Bill Pecota 27 pre-arb 660.9 0.1 +0.2
Steve Farr 30 – 470.8 – –
Dan Quisenberry 34 FA-elig 470.6 1.3 -1.1
Larry Owen 32 FA-elig 760.6 0.1 +0.1
Jerry Don Gleaton 29 FA-elig 480.6 0.1 +0.1
John Davis 24 pre-arb 270.6 0.1 +0.1
Gary Thurman 22 pre-arb 270.3 0.1 +0.0
Jamie Quirk 32 FA-elig 1090.3 0.2 -0.1
Hal McRae 41 FA-elig 180.2 0.1 -0.0
Ed Hearn 26 pre-arb 60.2 0.1 -0.0
Gene Garber↔ ATL 39 FA-elig 130.2 0.2 -0.1
Ross Jones 27 arb 390.1 0.1 -0.0
Scotti Madison 27 – 70.1 – –
Bob Stoddard 30 FA-elig 170.1 0.1 -0.0
Bo Jackson 24 pre-arb 1160.0 0.3 -0.3
Dave Gumpert 29 – 80.0 – –
Mike Macfarlane 23 – 8-0.0 – –
Melido Perez 21 – 3-0.0 – –
Jim Eisenreich 28 arb 44-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Thad Bosley 30 FA-elig 80-0.2 0.5 -0.5
Rick Anderson 30 – 6-0.2 – –
Lonnie Smith 31 FA-elig 48-0.2 0.5 -0.6
Jorge Orta 36 FA-elig 21-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Bob Shirley↔ NYY 33 FA-elig 3-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Buddy Biancalana↔ HOU 27 – 37-0.4 – –
Angel Salazar 25 arb 116-0.5 0.1 -0.3
Steve Balboni 30 FA-elig 121-0.7 0.6 -0.8
Juan Beniquez↔ TOR 37 – 57-1.2 – –

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Danny Tartabull2.9
Larry Owen0.6
Jerry Don Gleaton0.6
John Davis0.6
Gary Thurman0.3
Ed Hearn0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Dennis Leonard2.6
Scott Bankhead1.8
Jim Sundberg1.5
Mark Huismann0.3
David Cone0.1
Rudy Law0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$12.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
George Brett3414.000$2.1M$2.3M$2.0M$2.3M$3.1M$3.1M$2.8M
Willie Wilson3111.000$1.4M$1.4M$2.1M$800kFREE AGENT
Dan Quisenberry348.000$1.3M$973kFREE AGENT
Frank White3614.000$875k$825k$1.0M$1.1MFREE AGENT
Charlie Leibrandt308.000$850k$1.2M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Steve Balboni306.000$625k$288kFREE AGENT
Bud Black306.000$600k$327kFREE AGENT
Lonnie Smith319.000$500kFREE AGENT
Thad Bosley3010.000$458k$280kFREE AGENT
Jamie Quirk3212.000$200k$335kFREE AGENT
Gene Garber3918.000$165k$500kFREE AGENT
Jorge Orta3615.000$125kFREE AGENT
Hal McRae4119.000$110kFREE AGENT
Larry Owen326.000$100k$110kFREE AGENT
Jerry Don Gleaton298.000$95k$120kFREE AGENT
Bob Stoddard306.000$65kFREE AGENT
Bob Shirley3310.000$50kFREE AGENT
Juan Beniquez3716.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Bret Saberhagen233.000$740kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Gubicza243.000$450kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Jackson254.000$225kARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Tartabull243.000$145kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Angel Salazar254.000$100kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Eisenreich285.000$72kFREE AGENT
Ross Jones273.000$65kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Buddy Biancalana275.000—FREE AGENT
Steve Farr303.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Gumpert295.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Bo Jackson241.000$330kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Hearn261.000$76kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Davis240.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Pecota271.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Seitzer251.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Thurman220.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Anderson30–—
Mike Macfarlane230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scotti Madison272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Melido Perez210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 1987; 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.