Royals sign veteran reliever Guillermo Mota to Minor League deal

KANSAS CITY, MO - The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has signed pitcher Guillermo Mota to a minor league contract for the 2014 season, which includes an invitation to Major League Spring Training, which opens on Friday, February 14 in Surprise, AZ, when pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report.

Mota, 40, last pitched in the Major Leagues in 2012 with the San Francisco Giants. He made 26 relief appearances for San Francisco that season, going 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA, recording 24 strikeouts in 20.2 innings. The right-handed reliever began his career in 1999 with the Montreal Expos and has pitched for six other organizations: Los Angeles Dodgers (2002-04, 2009), Florida (2004-05), Cleveland (2006) New York Mets (2006-07), Milwaukee (2008) and San Francisco (2010-12). He is 39-45 in 743 appearances (all in relief) with a 3.94 ERA. Since 1999, only five other pitchers have made more relief appearances than Mota.

Pitchers and catchers workout for the first time on Saturday, February 15. The remainder of the squad reports on Wednesday, February 19 and begin workouts Thursday, February 20.