In 2016, 2017, and 2018, the Royals ranked 13th, 15th, and 14th, respectively, in 40-man payroll at the end of the year. For a definitively small market team like the Royals, it was nice to see the payroll balloon after playoff success, and it was nice to see ownership and general manager Dayton Moore go for it in trying to extend their competitive window.
But when 2018 ended in 104 losses and the farm system still in relative shambles, it was time to scale back—and scale back the Royals did. Kansas City shed about $25 million before 2019, and another $10 million or so to the pre-COVID 2020 payroll.