Rosternomics
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Royals KCR

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GM: J.J. Picollo (since 2021)

2023 roster — every player, value & surplus

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-19.3
WAB — wins above budget
-7.2
TAB — roster Talent above budget
56–106 (0.346)
record
-10M
surplus $M (value/$)
20.8
roster fWAR
$91.7M
payroll
PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Bobby Witt Jr. 23 pre-arb 158 5.9 0.7 +22.7
Cole Ragans↔ TEX 25 pre-arb 12 2.4 0.3 +9.3
Maikel Garcia 23 pre-arb 123 2.2 0.6 +7.9
Brady Singer 26 arb 29 1.9 3.0 +4.7
Freddy Fermin 28 pre-arb 70 1.9 0.6 +6.9
Aroldis Chapman↔ TEX 35 FA-elig 31 1.3 1.9 +3.1
Dairon Blanco 30 pre-arb 69 1.2 0.4 +4.5
Kyle Isbel 26 pre-arb 91 1.2 0.7 +3.9
Zack Greinke 39 FA-elig 30 1.1 8.5 -4.2
Drew Waters 24 pre-arb 98 0.9 0.7 +3.0
Nicky Lopez↔ ATL 28 arb 68 0.7 2.7 +0.2
Nelson Velázquez↔ CHC 24 pre-arb 40 0.7 0.3 +2.4
Ryan Yarbrough↔ LAD 31 arb 14 0.7 1.7 +1.0
James McArthur 26 pre-arb 18 0.5 0.2 +1.9
Edward Olivares 27 arb 107 0.5 0.7 +1.3
Kris Bubic 25 arb 3 0.5 2.2 -0.2
Scott Barlow↔ SDP 30 arb 38 0.5 3.2 -1.2
Michael Massey 25 pre-arb 129 0.5 0.7 +1.1
Austin Cox 26 – 24 0.5 0.4 +1.4
MJ Melendez 24 pre-arb 148 0.4 0.7 +0.8
Nick Loftin 24 – 19 0.4 0.1 +1.3
Daniel Lynch IV 26 – 9 0.3 – –
Carlos Hernández 26 arb 67 0.3 0.7 +0.3
Jordan Lyles 32 FA-elig 31 0.2 8.5 -7.7
Josh Staumont 29 arb 21 0.2 1.0 -0.4
Angel Zerpa 23 pre-arb 15 0.1 0.7 -0.1
Vinnie Pasquantino 25 pre-arb 61 0.1 0.7 -0.2
Steven Cruz 24 – 10 0.1 0.1 +0.3
John McMillon 25 – 4 0.1 0.7 -0.4
Logan Porter 27 – 11 0.0 0.1 +0.1
Nick Wittgren 32 – 27 0.0 0.3 -0.2
Jose Cuas↔ CHC 29 pre-arb 45 0.0 0.5 -0.3
Anthony Veneziano 25 – 2 0.0 0.0 -0.0
Josh Taylor 30 arb 17 0.0 1.0 -1.0
Jonathan Bowlan 26 – 2 -0.0 0.1 -0.2
Mike Mayers 31 arb 6 -0.0 0.1 -0.3
Taylor Hearn↔ ATL 28 arb 8 -0.1 0.9 -1.1
Samad Taylor 24 – 31 -0.1 0.3 -0.6
Max Castillo 24 pre-arb 7 -0.1 0.1 -0.5
Tyler Cropley 27 – 2 -0.1 0.0 -0.4
Brooks Kriske 29 – 4 -0.1 0.1 -0.5
Matt Beaty↔ SFG 30 arb 26 -0.1 1.1 -1.7
Brad Keller 27 arb 11 -0.2 5.8 -6.5
Jackson Kowar 26 pre-arb 23 -0.2 0.3 -1.0
Tucker Davidson↔ ANA 27 arb 20 -0.2 0.4 -1.2
Hunter Dozier 31 FA-elig 29 -0.2 7.5 -8.3
Amir Garrett 31 FA-elig 27 -0.2 2.6 -3.5
Taylor Clarke 30 arb 58 -0.2 1.1 -2.1
Salvador Perez 33 FA-elig 140 -0.3 20.0 -21.1
Matt Duffy 32 FA-elig 79 -0.3 1.5 -2.6
Jonathan Heasley 26 – 12 -0.3 – –
Collin Snider 27 pre-arb 20 -0.3 0.2 -1.5
Dylan Coleman 26 pre-arb 23 -0.4 0.7 -2.5
Alec Marsh 25 – 17 -0.5 0.4 -2.3
Franmil Reyes 27 arb 19 -0.5 2.0 -4.1
Jackie Bradley Jr. 33 FA-elig 43 -0.5 0.4 -2.5
Nick Pratto 24 pre-arb 95 -0.6 0.6 -3.2
Nate Eaton 26 pre-arb 28 -0.8 0.7 -4.1

58 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 56 of them (97%). Players without a salary show "–" — no single historical salary source is fully complete (especially 2020–2022).

WAR = FanGraphs (fWAR). Green = produced more value than paid (bargain); red = paid more than produced. Service: pre-arb (<3 yr) / arb (3–6) / FA-eligible (6+). Click headers to sort.

History: front-office performance & develop-vs-buy (1985–2024)

Trade ledger (realized WAR, all-time)

Best acquisitions
PlayerYearWAR for KCR
Charlie Leibrandt198316.8
Danny Tartabull198613.9
Joe Randa199812.8
Jeff Montgomery198812.0
Joakim Soria20069.8
José Offerman19958.1
Brad Keller20177.9
Chris Haney19926.9
Ones that got away
PlayerYear tradedWAR elsewhere
Mark Ellis200122.1
David Cone198721.2
Jorge De La Rosa200813.1
Sean Manaea201511.2
Rance Mulliniks198211.1
Bret Saberhagen199110.8
Charlie Leibrandt19899.9
Jon Lieber19939.8
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.