RRosternomics
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Royals KCR

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GM: Dayton Moore

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 10 in this regime · payroll 0.87× league · TAB -15.0
-15.0TAB — talent above budget29th/30
-15.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)28th/30
3.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars28th/30
-11.0dead WAR — sub-replacement drag30th/30
53%dead money %26th/30
0.401win %26th/30
17.5roster fWAR30th/30
-37surplus $M (value vs cost)25th/30
$79Mpayroll $M18th/30

Roster

CFMitch Maier 85GCoco Crisp 49GJosh Anderson 32G
LFDavid DeJesus 139GJosh Anderson 49GMitch Maier 17G
RFJose Guillen 65GWillie Bloomquist 61GMitch Maier 36G
SSYuniesky Betancourt 133GTony Pena Jr. 40GWillie Bloomquist 38G
2BAlberto Callaspo 146GWillie Bloomquist 14GLuis Hernandez 8G
3BMark Teahen 107GAlex Gordon 49GAlberto Callaspo 14G
1BBilly Butler 145GMike Jacobs 15GMark Teahen 11G
STARTERSZack Greinke 8.7WARBrian Bannister 2.3WARRobinson Tejeda 1.2WARGil Meche 1.0WARLuke Hochevar 0.9WAR
CMiguel Olivo 103GJohn Buck 46GBrayan Peña 30G
DHMike Jacobs 105GBrayan Peña 20GJose Guillen 11G
BULLPEN★ Joakim Soria 30svJamey Wright 12hJohn Bale 10hJuan Cruz 7hRoman Colon 6hKyle Farnsworth 5hHoracio Ramirez 2hYasuhiko Yabuta 0h
CMiguel Olivo 103 · John Buck 46 · Brayan Peña 30
1BBilly Butler 145 · Mike Jacobs 15 · Mark Teahen 11
2BAlberto Callaspo 146 · Willie Bloomquist 14 · Luis Hernandez 8
3BMark Teahen 107 · Alex Gordon 49 · Alberto Callaspo 14
SSYuniesky Betancourt 133 · Tony Pena Jr. 40 · Willie Bloomquist 38
LFDavid DeJesus 139 · Josh Anderson 49 · Mitch Maier 17
CFMitch Maier 85 · Coco Crisp 49 · Josh Anderson 32
RFJose Guillen 65 · Willie Bloomquist 61 · Mitch Maier 36
DHMike Jacobs 105 · Brayan Peña 20 · Jose Guillen 11
SPZack Greinke 8.7 · Brian Bannister 2.3 · Robinson Tejeda 1.2 · Gil Meche 1.0 · Luke Hochevar 0.9
BP★ Joakim Soria 30 · Jamey Wright 12 · John Bale 10 · Juan Cruz 7 · Roman Colon 6 · Kyle Farnsworth 5 · Horacio Ramirez 2 · Yasuhiko Yabuta 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.

2009 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Zack Greinke 25 arb 338.7 3.8 +17.1
David DeJesus 29 FA-elig 1443.6 3.6 +5.0
Brian Bannister 28 arb 262.3 1.7 +3.7
Alberto Callaspo 26 arb 1551.9 0.4 +4.1
Billy Butler 23 pre-arb 1591.7 0.4 +3.7
Miguel Olivo 30 FA-elig 1141.7 2.7 +1.2
Joakim Soria 25 pre-arb 471.6 1.0 +2.8
Coco Crisp 29 FA-elig 491.3 6.1 -3.0
Robinson Tejeda 27 arb 351.2 0.4 +2.4
Gil Meche 30 FA-elig 231.0 11.4 -9.0
Luke Hochevar 25 pre-arb 250.9 1.3 +0.8
Kyle Farnsworth 33 FA-elig 410.6 4.2 -2.9
Brayan Peña 27 arb 640.5 0.4 +0.7
Kyle Davies 25 arb 220.4 1.3 -0.3
Alex Gordon 25 pre-arb 490.4 0.5 +0.5
Sidney Ponson 32 – 140.4 – –
Bruce Chen 32 – 170.1 0.6 -0.3
Mitch Maier 27 arb 1270.1 0.4 -0.2
John Buck 28 arb 590.1 2.9 -2.7
Carlos Rosa 24 pre-arb 70.0 0.4 -0.4
Dusty Hughes 27 pre-arb 8-0.0 0.4 -0.5
Lenny DiNardo 29 – 5-0.1 – –
Juan Cruz 30 FA-elig 46-0.1 2.2 -2.4
Horacio Ramirez 29 FA-elig 19-0.1 1.8 -2.0
Willie Bloomquist 31 FA-elig 125-0.1 1.4 -1.6
Ryan Freel↔ BAL 33 FA-elig 18-0.1 1.8 -2.0
Doug Waechter 28 FA-elig 5-0.1 0.6 -0.9
John Bale 35 FA-elig 43-0.2 1.2 -1.6
Yasuhiko Yabuta 36 – 12-0.2 – –
Victor Marte 28 pre-arb 8-0.2 0.4 -0.9
Anthony Lerew 26 arb 3-0.2 0.4 -1.0
Roman Colon 29 arb 43-0.3 0.4 -1.2
Josh Anderson↔ DET 26 pre-arb 44-0.3 0.1 -1.0
Jamey Wright 34 – 65-0.3 0.8 -1.6
Tug Hulett 26 – 15-0.4 – –
Ron Mahay↔ MIN 38 FA-elig 41-0.4 2.9 -3.8
Mark Teahen 27 arb 144-0.5 3.6 -4.7
Luis Hernandez 25 pre-arb 37-0.5 0.4 -1.6
Mike Jacobs 28 arb 128-0.9 3.3 -5.4
Mike Aviles 28 pre-arb 36-0.9 0.4 -2.6
Tony Pena Jr. 28 arb 40-1.1 0.4 -3.0
Yuniesky Betancourt↔ SEA 27 arb 71-1.6 1.2 -5.1
Jose Guillen 33 FA-elig 81-2.2 12.0 -17.3

Key additions (new vs 2008)

PlayerfWAR
Coco Crisp1.3
Kyle Farnsworth0.6
Brayan Peña0.5
Sidney Ponson0.4
Bruce Chen0.1
Dusty Hughes-0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 2008)

Player2008 fWAR
Ramon E Ramirez1.8
Mark Grudzielanek1.4
Juan Carlos Oviedo0.7
Brett Tomko0.4
Ryan Shealy0.4
Brandon Duckworth0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

2009 payroll
$79.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 2009, 2009–2015. 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 (16)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Jose Guillen3312.000$12.0M$8.6MFREE AGENT
Gil Meche3010.000$11.4M$12.4MFREE AGENT
Coco Crisp297.000$6.1MFREE AGENT
Kyle Farnsworth3310.000$4.2M$2.8MFREE AGENT
David DeJesus296.000$3.6M$4.7MFREE AGENT
Ron Mahay3814.000$2.9MFREE AGENT
Miguel Olivo307.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
Juan Cruz308.000$2.2M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Horacio Ramirez296.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Ryan Freel338.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Willie Bloomquist317.000$1.4M$1.5MFREE AGENT
John Bale3510.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Jamey Wright3413.000$800kFREE AGENT
Doug Waechter286.000$640kFREE AGENT
Bruce Chen3211.000$600k$600k$2.0M$4.5M$4.5M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Sidney Ponson3211.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (15)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Zack Greinke255.000$3.8MFREE AGENT
Mark Teahen274.000$3.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Jacobs284.000$3.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
John Buck285.000$2.9MFREE AGENT
Brian Bannister283.000$1.7MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Davies254.000$1.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
Yuniesky Betancourt274.000$1.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Robinson Tejeda274.000$437kARB 3FREE AGENT
Roman Colon295.000$435kFREE AGENT
Tony Pena Jr.283.000$425kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alberto Callaspo263.000$416kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brayan Peña274.000$405kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mitch Maier273.000$400kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Anthony Lerew264.000$400kARB 3FREE AGENT
Lenny DiNardo295.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Luke Hochevar252.000$1.3MARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joakim Soria252.000$1.0MARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Gordon252.000$457kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Aviles281.000$424kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Butler232.000$421kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Hernandez252.000$400kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dusty Hughes270.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Rosa241.000$400kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Victor Marte280.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Anderson262.000$149kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tug Hulett26–—
Yasuhiko Yabuta361.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 2009; 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.