Kansas City, Mo. ? The manager and new closer of the Kansas City Royals both say they’re fully healed from surgery and ready to go to work.

Right-hander Octavio Dotel, who agreed to a one-year contract last week, said at a news conference Tuesday that he was completely well after a procedure on his right elbow 18 months ago.

Royals manager Buddy Bell, sitting on his new closer’s immediate left, said he was feeling better than he had felt in several years. In September, doctors removed a cancerous tumor from Bell’s left tonsil.

“I’m ready to go,” said Bell, 55. “If spring training was today, I’d be fine. My energy still isn’t great, but it’s getting close to where I want it to be.”

A flurry of offseason acquisitions during the winter meetings have certainly helped re-energize Bell, as well as the Royals’ long-suffering fan base.

Dotel, who missed most of the last 11â2 seasons because of an elbow injury, signed a one-year, $5 million contract and will be asked to shore up one of the weakest bullpens in the majors. While losing 100 games last season for the fourth time in five seasons, the Royals blew a major-league high 31 saves.

“I’m really happy to be here. Happy to get my role back, happy to be a closer,” said Dotel, 33. “It will be nice to be the closer guy for the Kansas City Royals. I’m really proud to be here, and I’m really proud to be a Kansas City Royals player.”

Dotel has a 37-31 record with 71 saves and a 3.75 earned-run average with the New York Mets, Houston Astros, Oakland A’s and Yankees. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2005.

“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling in good shape,” he said. “I want to be a closer again because the way I’m feeling now. The elbow is fine. Everything looks great.”

Dotel said several other teams expressed interest.

“But I think the Royals … showed more interest in me,” he said. “Those teams were trying to. But the thing that sold me, the team that showed me more love was the Royals. I appreciate that, and that’s why I’m here now.

“Now I’ve got to show them why they were trying to get me here, because they feel I can show them and all the fans here in Kansas City that I’m the right guy to be here.”

Bell said it took almost a month to regain his voice, but now he’s finally ready to start an argument with an umpire.

“That would be nice, as a matter of fact,” he said.

The tumor was cancerous and larger than doctors had anticipated, he said. He is no longer undergoing treatment.