Ned Yost just got a better chance to finish the job this time around.</p><p>The Royals announced Tuesday morning they were picking up Yost&#x92;s contract option for the 2013 season. The move comes one week before the club&#x92;s first official spring workout for pitchers and catchers in Surprise, Ariz.</p><p>Yost, 57, now has at least two more seasons to oversee a rebuilding effort that he assumed May 13, 2010, when hired as the replacement for Trey Hillman. Yost agreed to a two-year extension on July 31, 2010, that included the 2013 option.</p><p>&#x93;What it does,&#x94; Yost said, &#x93;is it just makes it easier for me. When you&#x92;ve got two years, you don&#x92;t have to answer the questions of it being your last year and (put up with) the distractions that go along with that.</p><p>&#x93;Picking up the option now eliminates all of that. We can focus 100 percent on our task at hand, and that&#x92;s continuing to improve and continuing to put ourselves in position to contend for the division (title) and for a world championship.&#x94;</p><p>Financial terms were not announced. General manager Dayton Moore said the sides did not discuss an extension beyond 2013.</p><p>&#x93;Two years is a long time,&#x94; Moore said, &#x93;and we just felt it was important to pick that option up at this point in time to alleviate any questions of what the future might hold.&#x94;</p><p>The Royals turned to Yost because of his experience in overseeing a similar rebuilding effort at Milwaukee from 2003-08. The Brewers fired him late in the 2008 season just 12 games before reaching the postseason for the first time in 26 years.</p><p>Yost took a one-year sabbatical following his dismissal in Milwaukee before joining the Royals prior to the 2010 season as a special advisor to the baseball operations department.</p><p>&#x93;We talked many times,&#x94; Moore said, &#x93;that Ned has been through what we&#x92;re experiencing. He went through it with Milwaukee, where he cut his teeth as a major-league manager.</p><p>&#x93;He would tell you he&#x92;s a much better manager today than he was in those early years in Milwaukee. I just admire the way he leads.&#x94;</p><p>The Royals are 126-163 under Yost, including 71-91 in 2011. He has a 583-665 managerial record in eight seasons with the Royals and Brewers.</p><p>&#x93;What I like about this job,&#x94; he said, &#x93;is absolutely everything. I love the city. I love the ballpark. The ownership, with the Glasses, is phenomenal. Our front office is top notch. Our player-development is top tier.</p><p>&#x93;What Dayton and J.J. (Picollo) and Lonnie (Goldberg) and Scott Sharp have done is incredible. I love working with those guys. And these young players are a phenomenal group of talented guys with awesome makeup. So there&#x92;s really no downside to this job whatsoever. None.&#x94;</p><p><span class="subhead">Pitching camp opens</span></p><p>An early, optional pitching camp opened Tuesday at the Royals&#x92; spring complex under the direction of new pitching coach Dave Eiland. The camp emphasizes conditioning and light throwing.</p><p>&#x93;I think, pretty much, everybody is here,&#x94; said Yost, who arrived Monday from his home near Atlanta. &#x93;I haven&#x92;t taken a head count, but there are a lot of faces out there.</p><p>&#x93;There are a ton of position players here, too. Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas &#x97; I&#x92;m extremely proud of both of those guys. They are in the best shape they&#x92;ve been in their career. Billy looks great, and I hardly recognized Moose, he looks so good.&#x94;</p><p>Full-squad workouts start Feb. 25.