The Royals have signed 35-year old righty swinging catcher Jason Kendall to a 2-year, $6 million dollar deal. Kendall played in 134 games for the Brewers last season and he was 109 for 452 (.241 avg, .636 OPS) with 48 runs scored, 2 homers, 43 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Kendall has now played in 1,967 games in his major league career and he is 2,084 for 7,193 (.290 avg, .752 OPS) with 991 runs scored, 75 homers, 707 RBIs and 177 stolen bases. The Royals really hope that Kendall can get his bat going for them again in 2010 and 2011 as he was once one of the better hitting catchers around.

The Royals have signed 26-year old lefty reliever/starter Adam Bostick to a minor league deal. Bostick pitched in 39 games (1 start) in AA+AAA ball last season and he was 3-3 with 3 saves, a 3.05 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. Bostick has now pitched in 176 games (123 starts) in his minor league career and he is 35-45 with 3 saves, a 4.35 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. You can never have enough lefty pitching so this signing was a smart one by the Royals.

The Royals have re-signed 32-year old lefty starter/reliever Bruce Chen to a minor league deal. Chen pitched in 17 games (9 starts) for the Royals last season and he was 1-6 with a 5.78 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. Chen has now pitched in 259 games (121 starts) in his major league career and he is 36-43 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. I don’t really like this signing for the Royals as they would be better off using the youngsters in the minor league system than Chen.

The Royals have selected 22-year old lefty reliever Edgar Osuna from the Braves in the Rule 5 Draft. Osuna was the Braves’ #17 prospect heading into last season according to Baseball America. Osuna pitched in 27 games (26 starts) in A+AA ball last season and he was 7-10 with a 4.02 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. He has now pitched in 76 games (48 starts) in four years in the minors and he is 22-19 with 9 saves, a 3.37 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. The Royals will give Osuna a shot this spring to earn a spot in the bullpen.

The Royals have released 35-year old lefty reliever John Bale. Bale pitched in 43 games (0 starts) last season for the Royals and he was 0-1 with 1 save, a 5.72 ERA and a 1.84 WHIP. He pitched 3 years for the Royals in which he worked in 82 games (3 starts) and he was 1-5 with 1 save, a 4.64 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. The Royals won’t miss Bale too much as he will likely be really easy to replace.