The KC Royals reached an agreement with right-handed pitcher Luke Hochevar on a one year deal to avoid an arbitration hearing this spring.

The contract is worth $4.5 million. It also includes $100,000 in performance bonuses.

That contract is an increase of $1.05 million from last season. A season in which he went 8-16 with a 5.73 ERA. The 16 losses were second-most in the Majors. The positive was that he had a career-high 144 strikeouts in 185.1 innings (seven per nine innings).

Hochevar had 11 terrible starts in 2012 (at least five earned runs and a 13.88 ERA). In his other 22 starts, he carried a very respectable 2.88 ERA.

Hochevar will be battling for the final spot in the Royals rotation with the likes of Bruce Chen, Luis Mendoza, Will Smith, and Everett Teaford. Both Chen and Mendoza will be away during spring training, participating in the World Baseball Classic.

The Royals have been actively shopping both Hochevar and Chen, but have yet to have any takers. In his six years so far with the Royals, he has a career 38-59 record with a 5.39 ERA in 132 games. He was their number one pick back in 2006.

The Hochevar signing locks up all Royals players to contracts for the 2013 season (he was the only player to file).