"Rick Ankiel is here, with the Royals, and it's in large part because he wants to play center field. That makes him the fourth player to think he's the starting center fielder since the disappointing 2009 season ended.

This one figures to stick.

"I wanted to play center," Ankiel said of his reasons for choosing the Royals. "Some of those other places, it wasn't going to be center."

Ankiel received serious interest from the Nationals, and significant attention from the Marlins and Yankees. He came to Kansas City for a contract that pays him $2.75 million in salary for 2010, plus incentives and a $500,000 buyout on a mutual option for $6 million in 2011. To make room for Ankiel on the 40-man roster, the Royals designated infielder Mario Lisson for assignment.

Ankiel hit .264 with 25 homers with the Cardinals in 2008 before falling to .231 and 11 homers in 372 at-bats last season, a summer broken up by a nasty crash into an outfield wall in May that Ankiel now admits was tough to come back from.

He is, most likely, the Royals' last major acquisition of the offseason. Their payroll now projects at more than $69 million, which is close enough to the upper limit of the 2010 budget that any other moves probably need to come without adding payroll.

With Ankiel coming in, the Royals expect David DeJesus to move to right field and Scott Podsednik to play left. José Guillen will be the designated hitter. General manager Dayton Moore said the primary offseason goal was to improve defensively, and team officials now believe they have the best defensive outfield in the AL Central.

"He makes us better," Moore said of Ankiel. "Tremendous athlete, a winner, been on winning teams his whole life. He's a competitor, somebody who has very special skills. This guy's a special athlete."

Ankiel enters just his third full season as an outfielder after being drafted and reaching the major leagues as a left-handed pitcher. He made it to the big leagues shortly after turning 20 in 1999, and was 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 2000. He melted down in the playoffs that year, in particular with five wild pitches, two hits, four walks and four runs during the third inning of his first start."