General manager Dayton Moore said Wednesday that the Royals are always open to adding players, but at the moment, Jeff Francoeur will remain the team’s right fielder in 2013.

Last season was the worst of Francoeur’s eight-year career when he hit .235 with 16 homers and 49 RBIs with an on-base percentage of just .287. Although he has 116 career outfield assists, Francoeur’s defensive metrics were among the worst in baseball this year.

“Jeff is not a dummy,” manager Ned Yost said. “He knew it was a rough year for him last year, and he knew he needed to bounce back. He worked diligently this winter for that to happen. I’ve got a real good feeling he’s going to come into spring training and put together a very productive year for us.”

Moore pointed to Francoeur’s 2011 season with the Royals as reason for optimism. That year, Francoeur had 20 homers and 87 RBIs.

“I know Jeff Francoeur is a winner,” Moore said. “He couldn’t be more excited for what we’re doing. ...

“It’s a team. It’s not the most talented group of players that’s going to win the World Series next year, it’s going to be the players who play the best as a team and respect each other and care for one other and are sold out for one other for 162 games.”

Fifth starter

The top four spots in the Royals’ rotation appear set, but Yost said he hasn’t picked a fifth starter.

“We’ll open it up,” Yost said. “Our goal is to put five guys out there that give us a chance to win every day. We’ve got four of them right now with Wade, James, (Ervin) Santana, who we think is going to be tremendous, and Jeremy Guthrie.

“And then in spring training, we’ve still got Hoch (Luke Hochevar), Bruce Chen, Will Smith. We’re going to let them duke it out. We’ll put the guy we think gives us the opportunity to win every day.”

Etc.

• Moore couldn’t put a timetable on when relief pitcher George Sherrill would be able to pitch. Sherrill, who signed a minor-league contract with the Royals on Tuesday, had Tommy John surgery in May after making just two appearances for Seattle.

• The Royals are hiring. According to an advertisement at teamworkonline.com, they are “seeking a highly motivated and creative statistician/analyst to develop analytics for use in decision-making by the Baseball Operations department.” Moore said it’s a new position as the team continues to build its analytics department.