Royals sign 12 players including Eric Hosmer

As the Kansas City Royals continue to build themselves into a successful team, they are constantly evaluating their young talent. Part of that evaluation process is determining how much to pay their less-experienced players. Tonight, the team announced the signings of 12 players, all to one-year deals:

The Kansas City Royals have announced that the club has agreed to terms on 2013 Major League contracts with left-handed pitchers Tim Collins, Danny Duffy, John Lamb and Will Smith; right-handed pitchers Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland; infielders Johnny Giavotella, Eric Hosmer, Elliot Johnson and Mike Moustakas; and outfielders Lorenzo Cain and David Lough. Consistent with club policy, terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

Related: Top Royals prospects.

With the announcement, the team inches closer to getting all non-arbitration eligible players signed. The Royals now have only five players who still need contracts; Aaron Crow, Louis Coleman, Luis Mendoza, Guillermo Moscoso, and Francisley Bueno.

These players are all non-arbitration eligible by virtue of their service time, or lack thereof in these cases. A player's first three years in the league are their pre-arbitration years. There is an exception for players who find themselves in the top-22 percent of all players production-wise. Those players can become arbitration eligible after two season under the Super Two rules.

Kansas City will likely come to terms with their remaining un-signed players soon. They've made up a lot of ground in just the last week. Considering the club has no arbitration cases to worry about (just like the rest of baseball this season), they can focus their efforts on signing their remaining pre-arbitration players.