RRosternomics
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Royals KCR

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GM: Herk Robinson

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.31× league · TAB -4.3
-4.3TAB — talent above budget18th/28
-1.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)16th/28
11.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars3rd/28
-5.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag18th/28
30%dead money %13th/28
0.519win %13th/28
33.3roster fWAR16th/28
-14surplus $M (value vs cost)24th/28
$42Mpayroll $M6th/28

Roster

CFBrian McRae 153GFelix Jose 10GKevin Koslofski 4G
LFKevin McReynolds 104GChris Gwynn 66GHarvey Pulliam 12G
RFFelix Jose 136GHubie Brooks 34GChris Gwynn 19G
SSGreg Gagne 159GRico Rossy 11GCurtis Wilkerson 4G
2BJosé Lind 136GRico Rossy 24GCurtis Wilkerson 10G
3BGary Gaetti 79GPhil Hiatt 70GKeith Miller 21G
1BWally Joyner 140GGary Gaetti 24GBob Hamelin 15G
STARTERSKevin Appier 6.8WARDavid Cone 3.9WARTom Gordon 2.5WARHipolito Pichardo 2.3WARMark Gubicza 2.3WAR
CMike Macfarlane 114GBrent Mayne 68GNelson Santovenia 4G
DHGeorge Brett 139GHubie Brooks 6GChris Gwynn 5G
BULLPEN★ Jeff Montgomery 45svStan Belinda 0hJohn Habyan 0hGreg Cadaret 0hBilly Brewer 0hBill Sampen 0hRusty Meacham 0hFrank DiPino 0h
CMike Macfarlane 114 · Brent Mayne 68 · Nelson Santovenia 4
1BWally Joyner 140 · Gary Gaetti 24 · Bob Hamelin 15
2BJosé Lind 136 · Rico Rossy 24 · Curtis Wilkerson 10
3BGary Gaetti 79 · Phil Hiatt 70 · Keith Miller 21
SSGreg Gagne 159 · Rico Rossy 11 · Curtis Wilkerson 4
LFKevin McReynolds 104 · Chris Gwynn 66 · Harvey Pulliam 12
CFBrian McRae 153 · Felix Jose 10 · Kevin Koslofski 4
RFFelix Jose 136 · Hubie Brooks 34 · Chris Gwynn 19
DHGeorge Brett 139 · Hubie Brooks 6 · Chris Gwynn 5
SPKevin Appier 6.8 · David Cone 3.9 · Tom Gordon 2.5 · Hipolito Pichardo 2.3 · Mark Gubicza 2.3
BP★ Jeff Montgomery 45 · Stan Belinda 0 · John Habyan 0 · Greg Cadaret 0 · Billy Brewer 0 · Bill Sampen 0 · Rusty Meacham 0 · Frank DiPino 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.

1993 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Kevin Appier 25 arb 346.8 2.0 +3.6
David Cone 30 FA-elig 343.9 5.0 -1.8
Mike Macfarlane 29 FA-elig 1173.4 1.2 +1.6
Wally Joyner 31 FA-elig 1412.8 4.4 -2.1
Greg Gagne 31 FA-elig 1592.8 3.4 -1.1
Brian McRae 25 arb 1532.6 0.4 +1.7
Jeff Montgomery 31 FA-elig 692.6 3.8 -1.7
Tom Gordon 25 arb 482.5 0.9 +1.2
Gary Gaetti↔ ANA 34 FA-elig 822.4 2.4 -0.5
Mark Gubicza 30 FA-elig 492.3 1.2 +0.7
Hipolito Pichardo 23 pre-arb 302.3 0.2 +1.7
Chris Haney 24 pre-arb 231.0 0.1 +0.6
Kevin McReynolds 33 FA-elig 1100.7 3.7 -3.1
Stan Belinda↔ PIT 26 arb 230.6 0.4 +0.1
Chris Gwynn 28 FA-elig 1030.5 0.5 -0.1
Craig Wilson 28 arb 210.4 0.2 +0.1
Mike Magnante 28 pre-arb 70.4 0.2 +0.2
David Howard 26 pre-arb 150.4 0.2 +0.1
Rico Rossy 29 – 460.2 – –
Bob Hamelin 25 – 160.1 – –
John Habyan↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 120.1 0.1 -0.0
Rusty Meacham 25 pre-arb 150.1 0.2 -0.2
Rick Reed↔ TEX 27 – 10.0 – –
Terry Shumpert 26 – 80.0 – –
Greg Cadaret↔ CIN 31 FA-elig 130.0 0.3 -0.3
Kevin Koslofski 26 – 15-0.0 – –
Jeff Granger 21 – 1-0.0 – –
Enrique Burgos 27 – 5-0.0 – –
Curtis Wilkerson 32 FA-elig 12-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Bill Sampen 30 – 18-0.1 – –
Mark Gardner 31 arb 17-0.1 1.0 -1.1
Harvey Pulliam 25 pre-arb 27-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Dennis Rasmussen 34 FA-elig 9-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Frank DiPino 36 FA-elig 11-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Nelson Santovenia 31 – 4-0.2 – –
George Brett 40 FA-elig 145-0.2 2.8 -2.9
Brent Mayne 25 arb 71-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Hubie Brooks 36 FA-elig 75-0.2 0.3 -0.6
Billy Brewer 25 pre-arb 46-0.3 0.1 -0.4
Jose Lind 29 FA-elig 136-0.8 2.4 -3.1
Phil Hiatt 24 – 81-0.9 – –
Felix Jose 28 arb 149-0.9 1.5 -2.3
Keith Miller 30 FA-elig 37-1.3 1.1 -2.2

Key additions (new vs 1992)

PlayerfWAR
David Cone3.9
Greg Gagne2.8
Gary Gaetti2.4
Stan Belinda0.6
Craig Wilson0.4
Bob Hamelin0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1992)

Player1992 fWAR
Gregg Jefferies2.1
Juan Samuel0.5
Jim Eisenreich0.4
Bob Melvin0.4
Mike Boddicker0.4
Luis Aquino0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1993 payroll
$41.5M

What the front office was committed to as of 1993, 1993–1999. 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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
David Cone307.000$5.0M$5.0MFREE AGENT
Wally Joyner317.000$4.4M$4.6M$4.8MFREE AGENT
Jeff Montgomery316.000$3.8M$3.2M$4.2M$2.1M$2.3M$2.8M$2.5M
Kevin McReynolds3310.000$3.7MFREE AGENT
Greg Gagne3110.000$3.4M$3.0M$4.4MFREE AGENT
George Brett4020.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Gary Gaetti3412.000$2.4M$109k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Jose Lind296.000$2.4M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Mark Gubicza309.000$1.2M$610k$750k$1.6MFREE AGENT
Mike Macfarlane296.000$1.2M$2.6MFREE AGENT$850k$888k$698k
Keith Miller306.000$1.1M$700kFREE AGENT
Chris Gwynn286.000$505kFREE AGENT
Curtis Wilkerson3210.000$400kFREE AGENT
Frank DiPino3612.000$350kFREE AGENT
Hubie Brooks3613.000$350k$350kFREE AGENT
Greg Cadaret316.000$329kFREE AGENT
Dennis Rasmussen3410.000$325kFREE AGENT$185k
John Habyan298.000$150kFREE AGENT
Nelson Santovenia316.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Kevin Appier254.000$2.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Jose285.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Mark Gardner314.000$1.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Gordon255.000$890kFREE AGENT
Stan Belinda264.000$425kARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian McRae253.000$378kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Wilson284.000$240kARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Mayne253.000$225kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Reed275.000—FREE AGENT
Bill Sampen303.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Shumpert263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Rusty Meacham252.000$220kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Howard262.000$193kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hipolito Pichardo231.000$184kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Magnante282.000$152kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Haney242.000$135kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Harvey Pulliam252.000$115kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Brewer250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Enrique Burgos270.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Granger210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Hamelin250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Phil Hiatt240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Koslofski261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rico Rossy292.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 1993; 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.