Vance Wilson!

Vance Wilson--who is at least in the conversation for being the second-best Vance in Major League Baseball History (after Dazzy Vance, of course) but would have to duke it out with Vance Law, who would certainly go down swinging--is now a Royal. Well, he signed to a minor league contract.

I don't really know what this means. I'd imagine that he was signed for next to nothing to add organizational depth at the position, giving them a veteran with ML experience who could step up should both Miguel Olivo and John Buck die in a freak golf cart accident and Brayan Pena and J.R. House and Matt Tupman all get injured/perform-so-miserably-that-Vance-Wilson-needs-to-see-Major-League-significant-at-bats.

OK, so I'm kind of joking there.

Wilson has been rehabbing his right elbow for the past two seasons--limiting him to a total of three games since his surgery. He is expected to spend Spring Training with the Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (what a weird-ass name, by the way), and he actually lives in Springdale so playing in his hometown probably will not kill him if he doesn't get back to the Majors. A veteran catcher might actually be a good thing for their young arms. Wilson in Double-A handling guys like Daniel Cortes (if he does start the season in Double-A, not Omaha or the K.C.), Danny Duffy, and Dan Gutierrez or perhaps more importantly, some of their pitchers who are of the borderline variety like Blake Wood, Julio Cesar Pimentel, and Blake Johnson. A stabilizing presence like Vance Wilson in the Crash Davis vein, especially if it he stays down there for a second season, could actually help a lot of those guys who have struggled to put it together in the lower levels of the organization.

Vance Wilson getting any playing time at the Major League level (and really, even Triple-A--although I doubt he'd want to play away from his hometown if he's not with the team in Kansas City) would not be mean good things for the Royals, though.

And I just spent that much time writing about Vance Wilson. Pitchers and catchers couldn't come any sooner.