RRosternomics
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Royals KCR

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GM: Dayton Moore

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.0× league · TAB +1.3
+1.3TAB — talent above budget12th/30
+13.0WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/30
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars7th/30
-4.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag12th/30
40%dead money %17th/30
0.586win %4th/30
35.6roster fWAR12th/30
-10surplus $M (value vs cost)13th/30
$122Mpayroll $M14th/30

2015: World Series champions · 95–67. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFLorenzo Cain 136GJarrod Dyson 37GPaulo Orlando 5G
LFAlex Gordon 101GBen Zobrist 45GPaulo Orlando 37G
RFAlex Rios 105GPaulo Orlando 45GJarrod Dyson 17G
SSAlcides Escobar 148GChristian Colón 21GOrlando Calixte 1G
2BOmar Infante 124GBen Zobrist 69GChristian Colón 14G
3BMike Moustakas 146GCheslor Cuthbert 17GChristian Colón 8G
1BEric Hosmer 154GKendrys Morales 9GDrew Butera 8G
STARTERSYordano Ventura 2.7WAREdinson Volquez 2.6WARDanny Duffy 1.3WARChris Young 1.1WARJohnny Cueto 1.1WAR
CSalvador Perez 139GDrew Butera 49GFrancisco Peña 8G
DHKendrys Morales 141GBen Zobrist 6GJonny Gomes 5G
BULLPEN★ Greg Holland 32svKelvin Herrera 21hRyan Madson 20hWade Davis 18hFranklin Morales 8hJoba Chamberlain 8hLuke Hochevar 6hMiguel Almonte 0h
CSalvador Perez 139 · Drew Butera 49 · Francisco Peña 8
1BEric Hosmer 154 · Kendrys Morales 9 · Drew Butera 8
2BOmar Infante 124 · Ben Zobrist 69 · Christian Colón 14
3BMike Moustakas 146 · Cheslor Cuthbert 17 · Christian Colón 8
SSAlcides Escobar 148 · Christian Colón 21 · Orlando Calixte 1
LFAlex Gordon 101 · Ben Zobrist 45 · Paulo Orlando 37
CFLorenzo Cain 136 · Jarrod Dyson 37 · Paulo Orlando 5
RFAlex Rios 105 · Paulo Orlando 45 · Jarrod Dyson 17
DHKendrys Morales 141 · Ben Zobrist 6 · Jonny Gomes 5
SPYordano Ventura 2.7 · Edinson Volquez 2.6 · Danny Duffy 1.3 · Chris Young 1.1 · Johnny Cueto 1.1
BP★ Greg Holland 32 · Kelvin Herrera 21 · Ryan Madson 20 · Wade Davis 18 · Franklin Morales 8 · Joba Chamberlain 8 · Luke Hochevar 6 · Miguel Almonte 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.

2015 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Lorenzo Cain 29 arb 1406.1 2.7 +16.5
Mike Moustakas 26 arb 1473.8 2.6 +9.5
Eric Hosmer 25 arb 1583.5 5.7 +5.3
Alex Gordon 31 FA-elig 1042.7 12.5 -3.9
Yordano Ventura 24 pre-arb 282.7 0.9 +7.5
Edinson Volquez 31 FA-elig 342.6 7.5 +0.8
Kendrys Morales 32 FA-elig 1582.1 6.5 +0.1
Wade Davis 29 FA-elig 692.0 7.0 -0.6
Alcides Escobar 28 FA-elig 1481.5 3.0 +1.8
Ben Zobrist↔ OAK 34 FA-elig 591.5 3.5 +1.1
Jarrod Dyson 30 arb 901.4 1.2 +3.1
Danny Duffy 26 arb 301.3 2.4 +1.5
Chris Young 36 FA-elig 341.1 0.7 +2.7
Johnny Cueto↔ CIN 29 FA-elig 131.1 4.1 -0.7
Ryan Madson 34 FA-elig 680.9 0.8 +2.1
Greg Holland 29 arb 480.8 8.2 -5.8
Salvador Perez 25 arb 1420.8 1.8 +0.7
Paulo Orlando 29 – 860.7 0.4 +1.9
Kelvin Herrera 25 arb 720.6 1.6 +0.4
Kris Medlen 29 FA-elig 150.5 2.0 -0.4
Joe Blanton↔ PIT 34 – 150.5 0.3 +1.2
Jason Vargas 32 FA-elig 90.4 8.5 -7.1
Franklin Morales 29 FA-elig 670.4 1.9 -0.6
Christian Colón 26 pre-arb 430.2 0.5 +0.2
Cheslor Cuthbert 22 – 190.2 0.1 +0.5
Yohan Pino 31 pre-arb 70.2 0.1 +0.4
Luke Hochevar 31 FA-elig 500.2 4.0 -3.5
Aaron Brooks↔ OAK 25 – 20.1 0.0 +0.2
Louis Coleman 29 arb 40.0 0.7 -0.7
Scott Alexander 25 – 4-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Jason Frasor↔ ATL 37 FA-elig 26-0.0 1.0 -1.0
Joba Chamberlain↔ DET 29 FA-elig 6-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Terrance Gore 24 pre-arb 9-0.0 0.1 -0.3
Orlando Calixte 23 – 2-0.1 0.0 -0.3
Michael Mariot 26 pre-arb 2-0.1 0.0 -0.3
Francisco Peña 25 pre-arb 8-0.1 0.1 -0.4
Erik Kratz↔ PHI 35 arb 4-0.1 0.1 -0.5
Brandon Finnegan↔ CIN 22 – 14-0.1 0.1 -0.5
Alex Rios 34 FA-elig 105-0.2 11.0 -11.6
Dusty Coleman 28 – 4-0.2 0.0 -0.6
Jonny Gomes↔ ATL 34 FA-elig 12-0.3 0.5 -1.4
Drew Butera↔ ANA 31 arb 45-0.4 0.8 -2.0
Miguel Almonte 22 pre-arb 9-0.4 0.1 -1.4
Jeremy Guthrie 36 FA-elig 30-0.8 9.0 -11.5
Omar Infante 33 FA-elig 124-1.3 7.5 -11.7

Key additions (new vs 2014)

PlayerfWAR
Edinson Volquez2.6
Kendrys Morales2.1
Ben Zobrist1.5
Chris Young1.1
Johnny Cueto1.1
Ryan Madson0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 2014)

Player2014 fWAR
James Shields3.5
Norichika Aoki1.8
Liam Hendriks0.6
Danny Valencia0.5
Josh Willingham0.1
Johnny Giavotella0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2015 payroll
$122.0M
2016 guaranteed
$0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2015, 2015–2021. Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2015; arbitration & free-agent years are projected from service time. Hover a figure for its luxury-tax (CBT) & actual-cash values.

current $ guaranteed $ arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent club option player option mutual option vesting option

Guaranteed / signed (17)

PlayerAgeSvc2015201620172018201920202021
Alex Gordon317.092$12.5MFREE AGENT
Alex Rios3410.130$11.0MFREE AGENT
Jeremy Guthrie368.130$9.0MFREE AGENT
Jason Vargas327.114$8.5MFREE AGENT
Edinson Volquez317.059$7.5MFREE AGENT
Omar Infante3317.020$7.5MFREE AGENT
Kendrys Morales326.170$6.5MFREE AGENT
Johnny Cueto297.000$4.1MFREE AGENT
Luke Hochevar316.151$4.0MFREE AGENT
Ben Zobrist347.134$3.5MFREE AGENT
Franklin Morales296.007$1.9MFREE AGENT
Jason Frasor3711.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Ryan Madson3410.155$850kFREE AGENT
Chris Young3611.000$675kFREE AGENT
Jonny Gomes349.097$505kFREE AGENT
Joe Blanton349.016$262kFREE AGENT
Joba Chamberlain297.055$167kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2015201620172018201920202021
Greg Holland294.028$8.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Wade Davis295.032$7.0MFREE AGENT
Eric Hosmer253.146$5.7MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alcides Escobar285.082$3.0MFREE AGENT
Lorenzo Cain293.074$2.7MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Moustakas263.111$2.6MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Duffy263.085$2.4MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kris Medlen295.137$2.0MFREE AGENT
Salvador Perez253.050$1.8MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jarrod Dyson303.088$1.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Drew Butera314.018$808kARB 3FREE AGENT
Cheslor Cuthbert225.019$147kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc2015201620172018201920202021
Kelvin Herrera252.157$1.6MARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Yordano Ventura241.013$950kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Louis Coleman292.162$725kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Christian Colón260.071$510kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paulo Orlando290.000$372kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Erik Kratz352.129$133kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brandon Finnegan220.028$128kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Peña250.034$97kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terrance Gore240.029$97kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Almonte220.129$92kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Alexander250.000$92kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Yohan Pino310.048$67kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orlando Calixte230.000$47kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Mariot260.104$44kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Brooks250.009$29kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dusty Coleman280.000$3kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 2015; 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.