WTF are the Royals doing??

[Don Quixote]

This may be beating a dead horse, but...

The Royals have signed Endy Chavez and Miguel Tejada to minor league deals.

Chavez batted just .203/.236/.278 over 64 games this past season for the Orioles (per Rotoworld), and will be 35 when spring training opens. Tejada, 38, did not appear in the majors in 2012 and hit just .239/.270/.326 in 343 plate appearances with the Giants in 2011 (also per Rotoworld).

As I posted in Hardball Talk--

"Just as with the Endy Chavez signing, the Royals are going for the kind of low-risk, low-reward free agents that they expressly need to AVOID. He is not going to put them over the top, he is not going to produce anything like he did in his long-ago prime, and he’s going to take up a roster spot and playing time that could benefit a younger player with real upside.

Somebody explain this to me. What precisely is Kansas City’s plan?"

[Hornsby]

Meh, those are both NO risk signings...if they pan out at all, great. A 5th OF/defensive replacement and a utility guy who's been around the block and maybe has a few tricks to pass along to the young guys. Minor league deals cost a team virtually nothing and block nobody...I see nothing wrong with these signings.

[cavebird]

I agree with Horns here. These seem like nothing to see here moves with a 50/50 or better shot that one or both get cut in spring training.

[Erik]

They DFA'd Francoeur, so I guess they're not totally clueless.