The Royals have agreed to sign Jeff Francis to a one-year deal, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). The agreement with the Frontline client is pending a physical. Francis drew interest from at least seven teams this offseason before agreeing to sign in Kansas City. The lefty logged 104 1/3 innings and posted a 5.00 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a healthy 46.8% ground ball rate last year. He missed the entire 2009 season as he recovered from shoulder surgery. Once the Royals dealt Zack Greinke, their need for starting pitching became even more apparent. Their internal rotation candidates include Kyle Davies, Luke Hochevar, Sean O'Sullivan, Vin Mazzaro and Zach Miner, but GM Dayton Moore needed more starting pitching depth. Kansas City expressed interest in Kevin Millwood earlier in the winter and the Scott Boras client remains unsigned. With Francis off the board and Carl Pavano nearing an agreement to return to Minnesota, there are virtually no free agent groundballers remaining. As MLBTR's Transaction Tracker shows, the Royals have signed Jeff Francoeur and Melky Cabrera, traded David DeJesus and Greinke away and made a number of minor deals since the offseason began. 乐透又少一张了 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 补一个 Lance Berkman has lost 20 pounds this offseason. He also says he's getting in the best shape of his life and has reduced his body fat from 19.5 percent to 12 percent. Normally, this is the type of story to ignore, but Berkman is a special case because St. Louis has him penciled in as an everyday right fielder next season. The veteran hasn't played the outfield since 2007 and hasn't been a regular outfielder since 2004. "If I have a repeat of last year I'm probably out of the game," Berkman says. "While that doesn't really bother me, I feel like God has given me a gift to play the game, and I want to take full advantage of that. I don't want to see it end because I'm not in the best possible shape. If my skills have eroded, fine. That happens to everybody. But I don't want it to be because I didn't put in the best possible effort forth to be in great shape." Lance Berkman 已经掉了20 pounds 当年的杀人蜂之一........... --

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