RRosternomics
𝕏

Royals KCR

‹ ›

GM: Herk Robinson

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.46× league · TAB -0.8
-0.8TAB — talent above budget15th/30
+5.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)10th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars20th/30
-8.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag28th/30
32%dead money %20th/30
0.475win %19th/30
23.8roster fWAR24th/30
+13surplus $M (value vs cost)4th/30
$25Mpayroll $M28th/30

Roster

CFCarlos Beltrán 83GJohnny Damon 69GTodd Dunwoody 19G
LFMark Quinn 78GJohnny Damon 67GTodd Dunwoody 14G
RFJermaine Dye 146GTodd Dunwoody 9GScott Pose 7G
SSRey Sanchez 143GLuis Ordaz 38GWilson Delgado 23G
2BCarlos Febles 99GJeff Reboulet 50GWilson Delgado 33G
3BJoe Randa 156GJeff Reboulet 11GWilson Delgado 8G
1BMike Sweeney 114GDave McCarty 63GGregg Zaun 1G
STARTERSMac Suzuki 2.3WARJeff Suppan 1.9WARDan Reichert 1.4WARBrian Meadows 1.3WARBlake Stein 0.7WAR
CGregg Zaun 76GJorge Fabregas 39GBrian Johnson 37G
DHMark Quinn 48GMike Sweeney 45GJohnny Damon 25G
BULLPEN★ Ricky Bottalico 16svJose Santiago 5hTim Byrdak 3hScott Mullen 2hJason Rakers 1hAndy Larkin 1hKris Wilson 0hPaul Spoljaric 0h
CGregg Zaun 76 · Jorge Fabregas 39 · Brian Johnson 37
1BMike Sweeney 114 · Dave McCarty 63 · Gregg Zaun 1
2BCarlos Febles 99 · Jeff Reboulet 50 · Wilson Delgado 33
3BJoe Randa 156 · Jeff Reboulet 11 · Wilson Delgado 8
SSRey Sanchez 143 · Luis Ordaz 38 · Wilson Delgado 23
LFMark Quinn 78 · Johnny Damon 67 · Todd Dunwoody 14
CFCarlos Beltrán 83 · Johnny Damon 69 · Todd Dunwoody 19
RFJermaine Dye 146 · Todd Dunwoody 9 · Scott Pose 7
DHMark Quinn 48 · Mike Sweeney 45 · Johnny Damon 25
SPMac Suzuki 2.3 · Jeff Suppan 1.9 · Dan Reichert 1.4 · Brian Meadows 1.3 · Blake Stein 0.7
BP★ Ricky Bottalico 16 · Jose Santiago 5 · Tim Byrdak 3 · Scott Mullen 2 · Jason Rakers 1 · Andy Larkin 1 · Kris Wilson 0 · Paul Spoljaric 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.

2000 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Johnny Damon 26 arb 1594.5 4.0 +2.3
Jermaine Dye 26 arb 1574.2 2.3 +3.6
Mike Sweeney 26 arb 1593.3 2.2 +2.5
Mac Suzuki 25 arb 322.3 0.2 +3.0
Joe Randa 30 arb 1582.1 1.0 +1.9
Jeff Suppan 25 arb 351.9 1.4 +1.2
Rey Sanchez 32 FA-elig 1431.7 2.3 +0.0
Mark Quinn 26 pre-arb 1351.5 0.2 +1.9
Dave McCarty 30 FA-elig 1031.5 0.3 +1.8
Dan Reichert 23 pre-arb 441.4 0.2 +1.7
Brian Meadows↔ SDP 24 pre-arb 111.3 0.1 +1.7
Héctor Ortiz 30 pre-arb 260.9 0.2 +1.0
Jay Witasick↔ SDP 27 arb 220.7 0.2 +0.9
Jose Santiago 25 arb 450.7 0.2 +0.8
Jerry Spradlin↔ CHC 33 FA-elig 500.7 0.8 +0.1
Gregg Zaun 29 arb 830.7 0.5 +0.4
Blake Stein 26 pre-arb 170.7 0.2 +0.7
Carlos Febles 24 pre-arb 1000.6 0.2 +0.6
Wilson Delgado↔ NYY 27 arb 330.5 0.1 +0.6
Carlos Beltrán 23 pre-arb 980.4 0.3 +0.3
Kris Wilson 23 pre-arb 200.3 0.2 +0.3
Jorge Fabregas 30 FA-elig 430.3 0.5 -0.1
Brett Laxton 26 – 60.3 – –
José Rosado 25 arb 50.3 2.2 -1.9
Scott Mullen 25 pre-arb 110.0 0.2 -0.2
Jeff Reboulet 36 FA-elig 66-0.0 0.6 -0.6
Dee Brown 22 – 15-0.0 – –
Chad Durbin 22 pre-arb 16-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Jason Rakers 27 – 11-0.1 – –
Ray Holbert 29 FA-elig 3-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Jeff D'Amico 25 – 7-0.2 – –
Ricky Bottalico 30 FA-elig 62-0.2 1.5 -1.8
Andy Larkin↔ CIN 26 – 18-0.2 – –
Paul Spoljaric 29 FA-elig 13-0.3 0.3 -0.8
Tim Byrdak 26 – 12-0.3 – –
Doug Bochtler 29 – 6-0.3 – –
Dan Murray 26 – 10-0.4 – –
Brad Rigby↔ WSN 27 arb 4-0.5 0.1 -0.7
Chris Fussell 24 pre-arb 20-0.7 0.2 -1.2
Scott Pose 33 FA-elig 47-0.8 0.2 -1.3
Miguel Batista↔ WSN 29 FA-elig 14-0.8 0.3 -1.4
Brian Johnson 32 FA-elig 37-0.9 0.6 -1.8
Luis Ordaz 24 – 65-1.4 – –
Todd Dunwoody 25 arb 61-1.6 0.2 -2.5

Key additions (new vs 1999)

PlayerfWAR
Dave McCarty1.5
Brian Meadows1.3
Héctor Ortiz0.9
Jerry Spradlin0.7
Gregg Zaun0.7
Wilson Delgado0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1999)

Player1999 fWAR
Kevin Appier1.8
Sal Fasano0.4
Tim Spehr0.4
Jeff King0.2
Alvin Morman0.1
Terry Mathews0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2000 payroll
$24.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 2000, 2000–2006. 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 (11)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Rey Sanchez329.000$2.3M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Ricky Bottalico306.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Jerry Spradlin337.000$830kFREE AGENT
Jeff Reboulet368.000$575kFREE AGENT
Brian Johnson326.000$550kFREE AGENT
Jorge Fabregas306.000$500kFREE AGENT
Paul Spoljaric296.000$350kFREE AGENT
Dave McCarty307.000$325k$750k$442kFREE AGENT
Miguel Batista298.000$253kFREE AGENT
Scott Pose337.000$232kFREE AGENT
Ray Holbert296.000$225kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (16)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Johnny Damon265.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Jermaine Dye264.000$2.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
José Rosado254.000$2.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Sweeney265.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Jeff Suppan255.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Joe Randa305.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Gregg Zaun295.000$525kFREE AGENT
Todd Dunwoody253.000$232kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mac Suzuki254.000$220kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Santiago253.000$215kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Witasick274.000$167kARB 3FREE AGENT
Wilson Delgado274.000$110kARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Rigby273.000$88kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Bochtler295.000—FREE AGENT
Andy Larkin264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Ordaz243.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Carlos Beltrán232.000$350kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Febles242.000$250kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Blake Stein262.000$225kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Héctor Ortiz302.000$220kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Fussell242.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Reichert231.000$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Quinn261.000$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Durbin221.000$203kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Mullen250.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kris Wilson230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Meadows242.000$120kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Rakers272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Byrdak262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dee Brown222.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Murray26–—
Jeff D'Amico25–—
Brett Laxton26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 2000; 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.