RRosternomics
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Royals KCR

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GM: John Schuerholz

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.35× league · TAB -10.3
-10.3TAB — talent above budget24th/26
-10.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)23rd/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/26
-5.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag17th/26
41%dead money %18th/26
0.466win %19th/26
27.4roster fWAR20th/26
-10surplus $M (value vs cost)25th/26
$23Mpayroll $M1st/26

Roster

CFBo Jackson 61GWillie Wilson 48GBrian McRae 45G
LFJim Eisenreich 70GWillie Wilson 54GBo Jackson 36G
RFJim Eisenreich 78GDanny Tartabull 52GJeff Schulz 16G
SSKurt Stillwell 141GSteve Jeltz 23GBill Pecota 21G
2BFrank White 79GBill Pecota 50GSteve Jeltz 34G
3BKevin Seitzer 152GBill Pecota 11GSean Berry 8G
1BGeorge Brett 102GGerald Perry 51GJeff Conine 9G
STARTERSKevin Appier 3.2WARBret Saberhagen 2.9WARTom Gordon 2.5WARSteve Farr 1.6WARMark Gubicza 1.6WAR
CMike Macfarlane 112GBob Boone 40GRey Palacios 27G
DHGerald Perry 68GDanny Tartabull 32GGeorge Brett 31G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Montgomery 24svMark Davis 0hSteve Crawford 0hLuis Aquino 0hMel Stottlemyre Jr. 0hLarry McWilliams 0hIsrael Sanchez 0hChris Codiroli 0h
CMike Macfarlane 112 · Bob Boone 40 · Rey Palacios 27
1BGeorge Brett 102 · Gerald Perry 51 · Jeff Conine 9
2BFrank White 79 · Bill Pecota 50 · Steve Jeltz 34
3BKevin Seitzer 152 · Bill Pecota 11 · Sean Berry 8
SSKurt Stillwell 141 · Steve Jeltz 23 · Bill Pecota 21
LFJim Eisenreich 70 · Willie Wilson 54 · Bo Jackson 36
CFBo Jackson 61 · Willie Wilson 48 · Brian McRae 45
RFJim Eisenreich 78 · Danny Tartabull 52 · Jeff Schulz 16
DHGerald Perry 68 · Danny Tartabull 32 · George Brett 31
SPKevin Appier 3.2 · Bret Saberhagen 2.9 · Tom Gordon 2.5 · Steve Farr 1.6 · Mark Gubicza 1.6
BP★ Jeff Montgomery 24 · Mark Davis 0 · Steve Crawford 0 · Luis Aquino 0 · Mel Stottlemyre Jr. 0 · Larry McWilliams 0 · Israel Sanchez 0 · Chris Codiroli 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
George Brett 37 FA-elig 1424.2 2.3 -0.4
Kevin Appier 22 pre-arb 323.2 0.1 +1.3
Bo Jackson 27 arb 1113.1 1.0 +0.4
Bret Saberhagen 26 FA-elig 202.9 1.4 -0.1
Kevin Seitzer 28 arb 1582.8 1.0 +0.2
Tom Gordon 22 pre-arb 332.5 0.2 +0.9
Bill Pecota 30 arb 871.7 0.1 +0.6
Steve Farr 33 FA-elig 571.6 0.8 -0.0
Mark Gubicza 27 FA-elig 161.6 2.1 -1.3
Jeff Montgomery 28 arb 731.6 0.3 +0.4
Storm Davis 28 FA-elig 211.4 1.2 -0.5
Danny Tartabull 27 FA-elig 881.0 1.6 -1.2
Willie Wilson 34 FA-elig 1151.0 0.8 -0.4
Mike Macfarlane 26 arb 1240.9 0.1 +0.3
Brian McRae 22 pre-arb 460.8 0.1 +0.3
Andy McGaffigan↔ SFG 33 – 240.8 – –
Jim Eisenreich 31 FA-elig 1420.7 0.5 -0.2
Kurt Stillwell 25 arb 1440.5 0.8 -0.6
Steve Crawford 32 FA-elig 460.4 0.4 -0.2
Russ Morman 28 – 120.3 – –
Daryl Smith 29 – 20.2 – –
Carlos Maldonado 23 pre-arb 40.1 0.1 -0.1
Rey Palacios 27 pre-arb 410.1 0.1 -0.1
Jim Campbell 24 pre-arb 20.1 0.1 -0.1
Luis Encarnacion 26 – 40.0 – –
Mel Stottlemyre Jr. 26 pre-arb 13-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Israel Sanchez 26 pre-arb 11-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Gerald Perry 29 FA-elig 133-0.1 0.7 -0.7
Jeff Schulz 29 pre-arb 30-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Jeff Conine 24 – 9-0.1 – –
Bob Boone 42 FA-elig 40-0.1 1.9 -1.9
Richard Dotson 31 FA-elig 8-0.1 0.6 -0.6
Hector Wagner 21 – 5-0.1 – –
Jay Baller 29 – 3-0.2 – –
Luis Aquino 26 arb 20-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Terry Shumpert 23 pre-arb 32-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Brent Mayne 22 – 5-0.2 – –
Frank White 39 FA-elig 82-0.3 1.1 -1.3
Sean Berry 24 – 8-0.3 – –
Larry McWilliams 36 FA-elig 13-0.4 0.3 -0.5
Pete Filson 31 FA-elig 8-0.4 0.1 -0.3
Chris Codiroli 32 – 6-0.4 – –
Mark Davis 29 FA-elig 53-0.6 2.1 -2.4
Steve Jeltz 31 – 74-0.7 – –
Gary Thurman 25 arb 23-0.7 0.1 -0.4
Pat Tabler↔ NYM 32 FA-elig 75-0.9 0.6 -1.0

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Storm Davis1.4
Brian McRae0.8
Andy McGaffigan0.8
Russ Morman0.3
Daryl Smith0.2
Carlos Maldonado0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Charlie Leibrandt1.2
Floyd Bannister0.6
Brad Wellman0.2
Jerry Don Gleaton0.1
Terry Leach-0.0
Luis de los Santos-0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$23.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (21)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
George Brett3717.000$2.3M$3.1M$3.1M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Mark Davis2910.000$2.1M$3.6M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Mark Gubicza276.000$2.1M$2.2M$3.0M$1.2M$610k$750k$1.6M
Bob Boone4218.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Danny Tartabull276.000$1.6M$2.2MFREE AGENT
Bret Saberhagen266.000$1.4M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Storm Davis288.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Frank White3917.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Willie Wilson3414.000$800kFREE AGENT
Steve Farr336.000$775kFREE AGENT
Gerald Perry297.000$662kFREE AGENT
Pat Tabler329.000$591kFREE AGENT
Richard Dotson3111.000$550kFREE AGENT
Jim Eisenreich318.000$475k$950k$1.6MFREE AGENT
Steve Crawford3210.000$375kFREE AGENT
Larry McWilliams3612.000$300kFREE AGENT
Pete Filson318.000$100kFREE AGENT
Jay Baller298.000—FREE AGENT
Chris Codiroli328.000—FREE AGENT
Steve Jeltz317.000—FREE AGENT
Andy McGaffigan339.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Kevin Seitzer284.000$1.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Bo Jackson274.000$1.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Kurt Stillwell254.000$795kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Montgomery283.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Pecota304.000$115kARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Aquino264.000$108kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Macfarlane263.000$105kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Thurman253.000$100kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Morman284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Tom Gordon222.000$185kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Appier221.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Campbell240.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian McRae220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Maldonado230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rey Palacios272.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Israel Sanchez262.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Schulz291.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Shumpert230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mel Stottlemyre Jr.260.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Berry240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Conine240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Encarnacion26–—
Brent Mayne220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Daryl Smith29–—
Hector Wagner21–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 1990; 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.