Surprise, Ariz. ? Aaron Guiel enters spring training with clear vision after two laser eye surgeries last year limited his playing time to 42 games with the Kansas City Royals.

Guiel said his corrected eyesight was 20-15 in both eyes.

“My eyes have been 100 percent for a couple of months,” Guiel said after a workout Tuesday at the Royals’ spring-training complex. “The eye is healed. That issue is behind me. I’ve been down here since late January, so I’ll have in a month before spring training. I came down, getting away from the poor weather in the Northwest.”

Guiel, who was the Royals’ starting left fielder when the 2004 season opened, hit .286 with three home runs and eight RBIs in his first eight games. But he hit just .083 in his next 27 games. Contact lenses did not help.

“I was not seeing well enough to track the baseball,” Guiel said.

He went on the disabled list and had laser surgery on his left eye May 19.

He missed 80 games before rejoining the club Aug. 11. After a .133 average in 18 games, he had a second surgery in September and missed the rest of the season.

Guiel was removed from Kansas City’s 40-man big-league roster at the end of the season. On Oct. 15, he signed a minor-league contract with the Royals, which included an invitation to spring training.

“By no means are they going to pencil me in (the lineup) or write me off or they wouldn’t have wanted me back,” Guiel said.

Guiel, 32, spent 91/2 years in the minors before joining the Royals in 2002. In 2003, he hit .277 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 99 games.

“If I carry over what I did in 2003, which I think I’m capable, I feel I can win the right-field or left-field job,” Guiel said.

He faces stiff competition for a roster spot. Kansas City acquired outfielders Terrence Long from San Diego and Eli Marrero from Atlanta in offseason trades and has outfielders David DeJesus, Abraham Nunez and Matt Stairs returning.

The Royals could wind up platooning in left field and right field.

“I have a (minor-league) option left on my contract, so they could use me as a pawn,” Guiel said. “I’m cheap compared to a lot of those players they brought in.”