The Royals have signed 35-year old righty swinging outfielder Damon Hollins to a minor league deal. Hollins last played in the majors during the 2006 season. He has played in 256 games in his major league career and he is 172 for 712 (.242 avg, .701 OPS) with 85 runs scored, 28 homers, 86 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. This was a nice depth signing for the Royals.

The Royals have signed 27-year old righty swinging outfielder Brian Anderson to a 1-year deal. Anderson played in 86 games for the Red Sox and White Sox last season and he was 49 for 202 (.243 avg, .674 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 4 homers, 18 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 355 games in his major league career and he is 181 for 799 (.227 avg, .660 OPS) with 108 runs scored, 22 homers, 80 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. Anderson is a good defensive outfielder with some pop in his bat but he doesn’t project out to anything more than a 4th outfielder even on the Royals.

The Royals have brought back 28-year old lefty swinging outfielder Shane Costa on a minor league deal. Costa played in only 1 game in AAA-ball all of last season and he was 1 for 2 with a run scored. He has played in parts of three seasons for the Royals appearing in 154 games in which he is 107 for 421 (.254 avg, .655 OPS) with 49 runs scored, 5 homers and 42 RBIs. Costa will compete next spring for a job on the Royals’ bench in 2010.

The Royals have signed 27-year old righty reliever/starter Philip Humber to a minor league deal. Humber pitched in 8 games (0 starts) for the Twins last season and he was 0-0 with a 8.00 ERA and a 2.89 WHIP. He has now pitched in parts of 4 years in the majors appearing in 18 games (1 start) in which he is 0-0 with a 6.07 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP. Humber also pitched in 23 games (22 starts) in AAA-ball last season and he was 7-9 with a 5.34 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. The Royals will likely just stash Humber in AAA to start the season and give him a chance to get his act together as he was once a very highly thought of prospect.

The Royals decided not to offer 2010 contracts to either 29-year old righty swinging catcher John Buck or 27-year old lefty swinging outfielder Josh Anderson making them both free agents. Buck quickly signed with the Blue Jays for 1 year and $2 million bucks. Buck played in 59 games for the Royals last season and he was 46 for 186 (.247 avg, .782 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 8 homers and 36 RBIs. Buck played six years with the Royals in which he appeared in 584 games and he was 450 for 1,913 (.235 avg, .705 OPS) with 218 runs scored, 70 homers and 259 RBIs. Josh Anderson played in 44 games for the Royals last season and he was 28 for 118 (.237 avg, .556 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 1 homer, 8 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. The Royals won’t miss either of these guys in 2010 and beyond.