Juan Pierre makes sense for Phillies
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Juan Pierre makes sense for Phillies
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
UPDATED (11:55 a.m.): The Phillies have agreed to a minor league deal with Juan Pierre with an invitation to spring training.
EARLIER: According to Comcast Sports Net, the Phillies have had "serious" discussions with Juan Pierre about bringing the speedy 34-year-old left fielder to Philadelphia.
The move would make sense because the Phillies do not currently have an experienced fall-back plan in case the combination of Laynce Nix and John Mayberry Jr. does not work out. Pierre has logged at least 400 plate appearances in each of his 11 full seasons as a major leaguer. The two current candidates to start the season at left field -- Laynce Nix and John Mayberry Jr. -- have reached 400 plate appearances once between them (and that was back in 2004, when Nix was a 23-year-old for the Texas Rangers).
But it would be hard to get too excited about such a move.
Pierre won't give you anything in the way of power, and he doesn't leg out nearly as many doubles and triples as he did during his prime with the Rockies and Marlins. Last season, he recorded a career-low 27 stolen bases and was caught a league-leading 17 times. You don't have to do the math to know that ain't a good rate. He'll be 34 years old, and his .277 batting average and .335 on base percentage over the last two seasons are both below his career averages.
Additionally, it would leave Charlie Manuel attempting to cobble together two everyday players with a variety of detached body parts. It would give him two left-handed hitters (Nix and Pierre) along with two right-handed hitters (John Mayberry and Ty Wigginton) for left field, and two left-handed hitters (Nix and Jim Thome) and two right-handed hitters (Mayberry and Wigginton) for first base (until Ryan Howard returns), with Nix having played sparingly at the position and Thome having not played there at all in five years.
Frankly, if it gets to the point where Juan Pierre is your best veteran option as an everyday left fielder, then you probably don't have much to lose by bringing Domonic Brown up and letting him play on a regular basis.
That said, if Pierre is willing to sign for minimal dollars to reunite with former Marlins teammate Dontrelle Willis as a speed/base-reaching threat off the bench (he has excellent career numbers against lefties), the Phillies wouldn't be any worse for the wear.
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One other note -- ESPN is reporting that the Yankees and Raul Ibanez have some mutual interest in a deal.
The Phillies have no O.B.S. at all or a cather to through the guy out at cather either— wes- People are making this out to be a guaranteed contract worth 8 million. NO risk, high reward type deal here, much like D-Willis (non guaranteed contract). If he is good enough to make the team, then hey, he might have something left in the tank which will benefit the team. Now lets go after Luis Castillo!— ESFjellin
- You guys pining for Dom Brown are a riot. Yeah, why wouldn't you want to put a developing player who's growth has noticeably been hampered because of significant lack of ABs the last two years right back into that same platoon situation while giving him another year of service time. Nice armchair-GM'ing, dolts.
- Best use for Brown: Keep him in AAA, hope he hits well and regains trade value. Send his .200 MLB hitting and kangaroo-with-boxing-gloves fielding elsewhere. — Tom Livingston
- Wow, all of these comments are ridiculous. Please... you clamor for more depth, Rube goes out and adds Thome, Nix, Wiggington, Pierre, Scotty Pods and people freak out.
In my last 25 years on this earth, I've been living and dying with the Phils since I was 5 - prior to 2007 they were in the playoffs ONCE - in the past 5 years we're coming off 5 straight NL East Championships (with 2 NL Pennants and WS Ring to boot) and the best record in baseball. You'd think the sky was falling around here - do you people honestly want a WS championship every freaking year? Give me a Division title 3/5 years, the playoffs 4/5 years, and a WS trip 1/5 years and I'm beaming.— PhillyIllini - Do you always spaz out on the fans?...This acquisition is simply added competition for the 5th outfield spot...Many posts have said that....Many fans HERE in Phialdelphia and the Delaware Valley are in love with the Phillies(and have been,just like you). So, take your meds and enjoy the ride...or reread the posts. — bearsfriend
- It's a minor league deal. Cool your jets, people. You don't expect to put guys like that on the major league roster. If he tears it up in Spring Training, then he might take a 5th outfield spot, but that's it. If he's willing to go to AAA, he becomes a guy to stash in the minors and bring up if an OF needs to go on the 15 day deal. Teams offer these sorts of Spring Training tryout deals all the time, this is nothing new. No team is going to have 40 Hall-of-Famers showing up for Spring Training.— JimG
- I concur @PhillyIllini, whiners all. They lose nothing by signing this guy to a minor league deal. This guy is a fantastic pinch run/bunt threat off the bench and mashes left handers.— TexasYankee
- Now I am convinced there is another shoe waiting to drop. In effect, the Phillies cleared out 2 million in salary, by trading Valdez, and not tendering an offer to Lidge for a paltry 1 million, when he would have made a more serviceable set up guy than the physically questionable Contreras. (Obviously the Phillies also think Podsednik's foot problems will rule him out as an OF option. There is something else in the hopper. I'm going out on a limb to say that another deal is in the works, and it involves Victorino, which is why they might need more OF depth, especially at CF. Victorino and a package of young guys, Worley, Colvin?) for a mystery player. Vic is not likely to be resigned nest year as a FA, so maybe Rube has been dangling him. Maybe, maybe....— laser5
- i like the move. He is a veteran that is trying to make a name for himself and he still has it in him.— bbewsirhc
- Dontrelle Willis is a better hitter Pierre.— KINGOFZED
- Geez, this is only a minor league deal. Why, all the negative comments? You need players on the minor league roster to play games. This might allow a move for a better player to make the major league team and make sure Sandberg has enough players on his roster.— sonnybuoy01
- Give Luis Castillo a ring. I heard he's available for the right price, too.— Sam Crow
- I mean the guy swiped 60 bags in 2010 and is a career .296 hitter, why all the fuss about those stats relating to your potential 4th outfielder?— wlightning02
- Too funny....players too old, players too young....play the veterans, play the rooiies....trade for guys, bring guys up.....the hallmark of a well run organization and a Gillick run team is to throw 50 people up against the wall competing for 25 jobs and see which ones stick! That's far and away the best approach. Rube and probably Gillick have done that this winter with the pitching, the bench, and the non-roster guys they've signed. I don't know about you but everytime Pierre came up ina crucial situation where we needed to get him out, he'd get a hit or a walk. He's pesky! How many Phillie hitters can you say that about. Perhaps we should wait and see who sticks...— Mark1npt
