RRosternomics
𝕏

Royals KCR

‹ ›

GM: Dayton Moore

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.63× league · TAB +1.2
+1.2TAB — talent above budget
-5.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)
1.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars11th/30
-3.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag16th/30
48%dead money %13th/30
0.433win %20th/30
11.0roster fWAR18th/30
+8surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/30
$74Mpayroll $M24th/30

Roster

CFBubba Starling 29GWhit Merrifield 23GEdward Olivares 11G
LFAlex Gordon 49GEdward Olivares 14GWhit Merrifield 6G
RFWhit Merrifield 34GHunter Dozier 18GEdward Olivares 11G
SSAdalberto Mondesi 59GNicky Lopez 4G
2BNicky Lopez 53GWhit Merrifield 15GErick Mejia 1G
3BMaikel Franco 51GErick Mejia 4GMatt Reynolds 3G
1BHunter Dozier 28GRyan O'Hearn 27GRyan McBroom 10G
STARTERSBrad Keller 1.3WARBrady Singer 1.0WARDanny Duffy 0.6WARKris Bubic 0.5WARJakob Junis -0.2WAR
CSalvador Perez 34GCam Gallagher 25GMeibrys Viloria 15G
DHJorge Soler 35GRyan McBroom 9GRyan O'Hearn 8G
BULLPEN★ Greg Holland 6svJosh Staumont 8hScott Barlow 7hJesse Hahn 5hIan Kennedy 2hJake Newberry 1hTyler Zuber 0hKyle Zimmer 0h
CSalvador Perez 34 · Cam Gallagher 25 · Meibrys Viloria 15
1BHunter Dozier 28 · Ryan O'Hearn 27 · Ryan McBroom 10
2BNicky Lopez 53 · Whit Merrifield 15 · Erick Mejia 1
3BMaikel Franco 51 · Erick Mejia 4 · Matt Reynolds 3
SSAdalberto Mondesi 59 · Nicky Lopez 4
LFAlex Gordon 49 · Edward Olivares 14 · Whit Merrifield 6
CFBubba Starling 29 · Whit Merrifield 23 · Edward Olivares 11
RFWhit Merrifield 34 · Hunter Dozier 18 · Edward Olivares 11
DHJorge Soler 35 · Ryan McBroom 9 · Ryan O'Hearn 8
SPBrad Keller 1.3 · Brady Singer 1.0 · Danny Duffy 0.6 · Kris Bubic 0.5 · Jakob Junis -0.2
BP★ Greg Holland 6 · Josh Staumont 8 · Scott Barlow 7 · Jesse Hahn 5 · Ian Kennedy 2 · Jake Newberry 1 · Tyler Zuber 0 · Kyle Zimmer 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.

2020 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Salvador Perez 30 FA-elig 372.0 14.2 +0.6
Whit Merrifield 31 arb 601.7 5.0 +7.1
Adalberto Mondesi 24 pre-arb 591.3 0.2 +9.5
Brad Keller 24 pre-arb 91.3 0.2 +9.1
Maikel Franco 27 FA-elig 601.1 3.0 +4.8
Brady Singer 23 – 121.0 0.2 +7.3
Greg Holland 34 FA-elig 280.8 0.1 +5.5
Hunter Dozier 28 pre-arb 440.7 0.2 +5.0
Danny Duffy 31 FA-elig 120.6 15.2 -11.1
Kris Bubic 22 – 100.5 0.2 +3.5
Jesse Hahn 30 arb 180.5 0.3 +3.1
Jorge Soler 28 FA-elig 430.4 7.3 -4.0
Kyle Zimmer 28 pre-arb 160.4 0.2 +3.1
Cam Gallagher 27 pre-arb 250.4 0.2 +2.6
Scott Barlow 27 pre-arb 320.4 0.2 +2.6
Josh Staumont 26 pre-arb 260.4 0.2 +2.5
Nicky Lopez 25 pre-arb 560.2 0.2 +1.0
Ryan McBroom 28 pre-arb 360.2 0.2 +1.0
Trevor Rosenthal↔ SDP 30 FA-elig 140.2 0.2 +0.9
Franchy Cordero 25 pre-arb 160.1 0.2 +0.5
Glenn Sparkman 28 pre-arb 40.1 0.2 +0.5
Alex Gordon 36 FA-elig 500.1 4.0 -3.3
Edward Olivares↔ SDP 24 – 180.1 0.0 +0.5
Chance Adams 25 pre-arb 60.1 0.2 +0.3
Foster Griffin 24 – 10.1 0.2 +0.3
Scott Blewett 24 – 20.1 0.0 +0.4
Óscar Hernández 26 pre-arb 40.0 0.0 +0.1
Jake Newberry 25 pre-arb 200.0 0.2 -0.1
Brett Phillips↔ TBR 26 – 180.0 0.1 +0.0
Jorge López↔ BAL 27 – 10.0 0.0 +0.0
Kelvin Gutiérrez 25 pre-arb 40.0 0.2 -0.1
Mike Montgomery 30 arb 3-0.0 3.1 -3.2
Nick Heath 26 – 15-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Gabe Speier 25 pre-arb 8-0.0 0.2 -0.5
Kevin McCarthy 28 pre-arb 5-0.1 0.1 -0.7
Richard Lovelady 24 pre-arb 1-0.1 0.0 -0.6
Randy Rosario 26 pre-arb 4-0.1 0.1 -1.2
Carlos Hernández 23 – 5-0.2 0.1 -1.2
Jakob Junis 27 – 8-0.2 – –
Meibrys Viloria 23 pre-arb 15-0.2 0.1 -1.4
Matt Reynolds 29 pre-arb 3-0.2 0.0 -1.5
Tyler Zuber 25 – 23-0.2 0.2 -1.9
Ronald Bolaños 23 pre-arb 2-0.2 0.0 -1.9
Erick Mejia 25 pre-arb 8-0.3 0.1 -2.0
Bubba Starling 27 pre-arb 35-0.3 0.2 -2.6
Ryan O'Hearn 26 pre-arb 42-0.3 0.2 -2.7
Matt Harvey 31 FA-elig 7-0.4 0.1 -3.4
Ian Kennedy 35 FA-elig 15-0.6 16.5 -20.8

Key additions (new vs 2019)

PlayerfWAR
Salvador Perez2.0
Maikel Franco1.1
Brady Singer1.0
Greg Holland0.8
Kris Bubic0.5
Trevor Rosenthal0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 2019)

Player2019 fWAR
Homer Bailey1.1
Jake Diekman0.8
Tim Hill0.5
Martín Maldonado0.5
Terrance Gore0.5
Jorge Bonifacio0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2020 payroll
$74.3M
2021 guaranteed
$0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2020, 2020–2026. Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2020; 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 (7)

PlayerAgeSvc2020202120222023202420252026
Ian Kennedy3510.124$16.5MFREE AGENT
Danny Duffy318.085$15.2MFREE AGENT
Salvador Perez308.050$14.2MFREE AGENT
Alex Gordon3612.092$4.0MFREE AGENT
Trevor Rosenthal306.001$249kFREE AGENT
Matt Harvey317.016$130kFREE AGENT
Greg Holland347.163$100kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc2020202120222023202420252026
Jorge Soler284.142$7.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
Whit Merrifield313.101$5.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Montgomery304.089$3.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Maikel Franco274.157$3.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jesse Hahn304.067$259kARB 3FREE AGENT
Edward Olivares244.158$49kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jakob Junis273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (34)

PlayerAgeSvc2020202120222023202420252026
Scott Barlow271.030$241kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brad Keller242.000$227kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hunter Dozier282.060$226kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adalberto Mondesi242.088$224kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Glenn Sparkman282.001$224kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cam Gallagher271.106$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan O'Hearn261.034$214kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nicky Lopez250.139$212kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Franchy Cordero252.037$212kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bubba Starling270.147$210kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Staumont260.072$210kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Zimmer280.064$210kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Gabe Speier250.027$209kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Foster Griffin240.000$209kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Zuber250.000$209kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brady Singer230.000$202kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jake Newberry250.151$196kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelvin Gutiérrez250.049$187kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kris Bubic220.000$184kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Heath260.000$162kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan McBroom280.027$159kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chance Adams250.075$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Rosario261.020$134kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Meibrys Viloria230.106$93kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin McCarthy282.097$91kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Hernández230.000$90kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Erick Mejia250.027$69kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brett Phillips261.012$57kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Óscar Hernández261.027$31kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Blewett242.097$31kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ronald Bolaños230.028$31kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Richard Lovelady240.075$28kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jorge López271.102$16kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Reynolds291.071$12kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Royals 2020; 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.