RRosternomics
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Royals KCR

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GM: Herk Robinson

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.19× league · TAB -2.2
-2.2TAB — talent above budget16th/26
-2.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)15th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars14th/26
-1.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/26
34%dead money %16th/26
0.506win %15th/26
34.2roster fWAR14th/26
-9surplus $M (value vs cost)18th/26
$27Mpayroll $M7th/26

Roster

CFBrian McRae 150GJim Eisenreich 14GGary Thurman 9G
LFKirk Gibson 91GJim Eisenreich 59GGary Thurman 39G
RFDanny Tartabull 124GJim Eisenreich 42GGary Thurman 29G
SSKurt Stillwell 118GDavid Howard 63GBill Pecota 9G
2BTerry Shumpert 144GBill Pecota 34GDavid Howard 26G
3BBill Pecota 102GKevin Seitzer 68GSean Berry 30G
1BTodd Benzinger 96GWarren Cromartie 29GJim Eisenreich 15G
STARTERSKevin Appier 4.7WARBret Saberhagen 4.4WARMark Gubicza 2.1WARLuis Aquino 2.0WARMike Boddicker 1.7WAR
CBrent Mayne 80GMike Macfarlane 69GTim Spehr 37G
DHGeorge Brett 118GKirk Gibson 29GDanny Tartabull 6G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Montgomery 33svMike Magnante 0hSteve Crawford 0hWes Gardner 0hJoel Johnston 0hDan Schatzeder 0hCarlos Maldonado 0hAndy McGaffigan 0h
CBrent Mayne 80 · Mike Macfarlane 69 · Tim Spehr 37
1BTodd Benzinger 96 · Warren Cromartie 29 · Jim Eisenreich 15
2BTerry Shumpert 144 · Bill Pecota 34 · David Howard 26
3BBill Pecota 102 · Kevin Seitzer 68 · Sean Berry 30
SSKurt Stillwell 118 · David Howard 63 · Bill Pecota 9
LFKirk Gibson 91 · Jim Eisenreich 59 · Gary Thurman 39
CFBrian McRae 150 · Jim Eisenreich 14 · Gary Thurman 9
RFDanny Tartabull 124 · Jim Eisenreich 42 · Gary Thurman 29
DHGeorge Brett 118 · Kirk Gibson 29 · Danny Tartabull 6
SPKevin Appier 4.7 · Bret Saberhagen 4.4 · Mark Gubicza 2.1 · Luis Aquino 2.0 · Mike Boddicker 1.7
BP★ Jeff Montgomery 33 · Mike Magnante 0 · Steve Crawford 0 · Wes Gardner 0 · Joel Johnston 0 · Dan Schatzeder 0 · Carlos Maldonado 0 · Andy McGaffigan 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.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Kevin Appier 23 pre-arb 344.7 0.2 +2.6
Danny Tartabull 28 FA-elig 1324.5 2.2 +0.4
Bret Saberhagen 27 FA-elig 284.4 3.0 -0.4
Mike Macfarlane 27 arb 842.7 0.3 +1.3
Bill Pecota 31 arb 1252.5 0.3 +1.2
Mark Gubicza 28 FA-elig 262.1 2.2 -0.9
Luis Aquino 27 arb 382.0 0.2 +1.0
Mike Boddicker 33 FA-elig 301.7 3.2 -2.1
Tom Gordon 23 arb 451.6 0.3 +0.7
Jeff Montgomery 29 arb 671.6 1.1 -0.1
Kirk Gibson 34 FA-elig 1320.8 1.7 -1.2
Kevin Seitzer 29 arb 850.7 1.6 -1.2
Tim Spehr 24 – 370.7 – –
Todd Benzinger↔ CIN 28 arb 780.7 0.4 -0.0
Gary Thurman 26 – 800.6 – –
Brent Mayne 23 – 850.6 – –
Warren Cromartie 37 – 690.6 – –
Kurt Stillwell 26 arb 1220.5 1.3 -1.0
Mike Magnante 26 – 380.5 – –
Joel Johnston 24 – 130.5 – –
Steve Crawford 33 – 330.4 – –
Carmelo Martinez↔ CIN 30 FA-elig 440.4 0.4 -0.1
George Brett 38 FA-elig 1310.3 3.1 -2.9
Nelson Liriano 27 – 100.2 – –
Harvey Pulliam 23 – 180.2 – –
Jorge Pedre 24 – 100.2 – –
Brian McRae 23 pre-arb 1520.1 0.1 -0.0
Andy McGaffigan 34 – 40.1 – –
Storm Davis 29 – 510.1 – –
Wes Gardner↔ SDP 30 FA-elig 30.1 0.1 -0.1
Archie Corbin 23 – 2-0.0 – –
Bobby Moore 25 – 18-0.0 – –
Stu Cole 25 – 9-0.0 – –
Mark Davis 30 FA-elig 29-0.0 3.6 -3.7
Hector Wagner 22 – 2-0.0 – –
Dan Schatzeder 36 FA-elig 8-0.1 0.7 -0.7
Dave Clark 28 – 11-0.1 – –
Terry Puhl 34 – 15-0.1 – –
Carlos Maldonado 24 – 5-0.1 – –
Russ Morman 29 arb 12-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Jim Eisenreich 32 FA-elig 135-0.2 0.9 -1.1
Terry Shumpert 24 pre-arb 144-0.3 0.1 -0.3
David Howard 24 pre-arb 94-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Sean Berry 25 – 31-0.4 – –

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Mike Boddicker1.7
Kirk Gibson0.8
Tim Spehr0.7
Todd Benzinger0.7
Warren Cromartie0.6
Mike Magnante0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Bo Jackson3.1
Steve Farr1.6
Willie Wilson1.0
Daryl Smith0.2
Rey Palacios0.1
Jim Campbell0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$27.2M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. 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 (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Mark Davis3011.000$3.6M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Mike Boddicker3311.000$3.2M$3.1MFREE AGENT
George Brett3818.000$3.1M$3.1M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Bret Saberhagen277.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Danny Tartabull287.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Mark Gubicza287.000$2.2M$3.0M$1.2M$610k$750k$1.6MFREE AGENT
Kirk Gibson3412.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Jim Eisenreich329.000$950k$1.6MFREE AGENT
Dan Schatzeder3614.000$700kFREE AGENT
Carmelo Martinez308.000$377kFREE AGENT
Wes Gardner307.000$101kFREE AGENT
Steve Crawford3311.000—FREE AGENT
Storm Davis299.000—FREE AGENT
Andy McGaffigan3410.000—FREE AGENT
Terry Puhl3414.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Kevin Seitzer295.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Kurt Stillwell265.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Jeff Montgomery294.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Benzinger284.000$426kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Gordon233.000$325kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Pecota315.000$308kFREE AGENT
Mike Macfarlane274.000$280kARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Aquino275.000$160kFREE AGENT
Russ Morman295.000$115kFREE AGENT
Dave Clark285.000—FREE AGENT
Nelson Liriano274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gary Thurman264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Kevin Appier232.000$215kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian McRae231.000$124kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Shumpert241.000$110kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Howard240.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Berry251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Stu Cole25–—
Archie Corbin230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Warren Cromartie37–—
Joel Johnston240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Magnante260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Maldonado241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Mayne231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Moore25–—
Jorge Pedre24–—
Harvey Pulliam230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Spehr240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Wagner22–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 1991; 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.