SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. ? Tony Graffanino sat in the Chicago White Sox dugout last season and envied the Kansas City Royals’ team spirit.

So he signed a two-year contract with the Royals in the offseason after rejecting higher offers from other clubs.

“Watching them play last year, they were a team,” Graffanino said. “It was a unified group. Everybody was playing hard and playing to win. They were real passionate. … It looked like a team having a lot of fun with a lot of excitement. It sounded like it was going to be a good year over here and it’s something I wanted to be a part of.”

Graffanino spent most of the past four years with the White Sox, where he said the atmosphere was different.

“Obviously, there were some distractions,” Graffanino said. “It’s hard to put a finger on what went wrong. We had good teams there. I said earlier and I don’t know if I ruffled any feathers or not, but in my mind we should have won over there. We had good enough players to win.

“It wasn’t like in-house turmoil, but you didn’t get the impression everybody was on the same page. Here, I sense it’s different. From the other side it was obvious. Now that you are a part of it, it’s obvious that everybody cares about winning.”

Graffanino, who hit .260 in 90 games while starting at second, short and third, said it did not take long for him to feel accepted by his new teammates.

“When you are not on a ballclub like this, you get frustrated a lot,” Graffanino said. “It felt easy to come over into this clubhouse and be a part of what I feel like I am: a guy who cares about winning, playing the game the right way, playing hard regardless of the score. This team has a lot more heart and a lot more passion than any club I’ve ever been on.”

Graffanino said he talked often about the Royals’ atmosphere with reliever Scott Sullivan, who was a White Sox teammate at the end of last season.

Graffanino made his major-league debut in 1996 with Atlanta and had playoff experience in 1997-98 with the Braves and 2000 with the White Sox.

“It was different with Atlanta than here,” Graffanino said. “Over there it was like an established winning team. You just come in and filled your little role of helping the team be as good as they were. They had so much talent.”

Graffanino hit .333 with two of his seven home runs last season against the Royals. He owns a .370 career average at Kauffman Stadium.

“I hope I can continue that as a home player,” he said. “I enjoy playing at that ballpark. It’s a great ballpark. I feel like I see the ball pretty well there.”