The Royals designated left-handed pitcher Dusty Hughes for assignment, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star.
The move was made to make space on the 40-man roster for the recently acquired Jeff Francis. In a related transaction, Bruce Chen was officially added to the 40-man roster after his signing in the wake of Gil Meche's retirement, writes Dick Kaegel of MLB.com.
Hughes, 28, appeared in 65 games with the Royals over the past two seasons, 57 of them in 2010 (all in relief). For his career, he has a 6.3 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 4.09 ERA.
