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The Royals have settled all their potential arbitration cases, so we now know pretty much what everyone's salary will be this year. With few positional battles, and the 25-man roster nearly set, we can state with confidence that the Royals Opening Day payroll will be a shade over $112 million, a franchise record, and likely in the middle-tier of payrolls around Major League Baseball. That David Glass sure is cheap.
Here is how the Royals payroll looks the next few years. The "guaranteed money" includes guaranteed contracts and buyouts if options are declined (Wade Davis' buyout is counted in both 2016 and 2017, but obviously would only be paid once, if at all).
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That payroll could go up slightly if a veteran like Ryan Madson ($850,000 salary if he makes the club) or Joe Blanton ($1 million salary) makes the club. The Royals have a lot of payroll flexibility in 2016-2017, but they also have a lot of arbitration cases that will likely be quite expensive. How did the Royals fare this year with their arbitration cases?
| Player | Player Offer | Team Offer | MLB Trade Rumors | Final Salary |
| Greg Holland | $9,000,000 | $6,650,000 | $9,300,000 | $8,250,000 |
| Eric Hosmer | $6,700,000 | $4,600,000 | $5,200,000 | $5,650,000 |
| Mike Moustakas | $3,100,000 | $1,850,000 | $2,700,000 | $2,640,000 |
| Danny Duffy | $3,000,000 | $1,750,000 | $2,600,000 | $2,425,000 |
| Lorenzo Cain | $3,600,000 | $2,000,000 | $2,300,000 | $2,725,000 |
| Kelvin Herrera | $1,900,000 | $1,150,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,600,000 |
| Tim Collins | N/A | N/A | $1,500,000 | $1,475,000 |
| Jarrod Dyson | $1,600,000 | $9,00,000 | $1,300,000 | $1,225,000 |
| Louis Coleman | N/A | N/A | $700,000 | $725,000 |
| TOTAL | $28,900,000 | $18,000,000 | $27,100,000 | $26,715,000 |
Louis Coleman and Tim Collins never got to a point where they needed to exchange figures.
Dayton Moore once again avoids arbitration, which could help preserve good relations with his players as he looks to lock some of them up to long-term deals. There is no doubt the Royals are spending some money this year in an effort to win, the only question will be whether all this spending was worth it.