Phillies add Yuniesky Betancourt for depth
Up to the minute Philadelphia sports news, Phillies, 76ers, Eagles, Flyers, college sports and more from Philly.com
Phillies add Yuniesky Betancourt for depth
Matt Gelb
The Phillies signed Yuniesky Betancourt, a light-hitting veteran middle infielder, to a minor-league deal Monday. He is invited to big-league spring training, where a chance at a bench job could await.
More than likely, Betancourt will simply provide depth if he agrees to a triple-A assignment. The 30-year-old has spent parts of eight seasons with Seattle, Kansas City and Milwaukee. He has not played in the minors since 2005, save for rehab assignments.
Of course, if the Phillies must rely on Betancourt for anything more than depth, they could be in deep trouble. Betancourt is an out-making machine who has not posted an OPS above .692 in five seasons.
Betancourt's career on-base percentage of .290 is 11th worst in the Expansion Era (since 1961) among players with at least 3,800 plate appearances.
He has played 949 career games at shortstop, and that's what sets him apart from much of the infield depth the Phillies will have in spring training. Kevin Frandsen, who signed for $850,000 guaranteed, cannot play shortstop. Freddy Galvis is the best defender there, but the Phillies could decide he's best suited playing every day at triple A.
Pete Orr, a camp invitee, has limited work at short. Michael Martinez can play there but has his own offensive liabilities. He'll be in camp, too. Andres Blanco was triple-A Lehigh Valley's shortstop in 2012 and he will also be in camp.
Betancourt made $2 million in 2012 but did not finish the season with Kansas City. He was released Aug. 14 and cleared waivers.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Comments (38)
"He has played 949 career games at shortstop, and that's what sets him apart from much of the infield depth the Phillies will have in spring training. Kevin Frandsen, who signed for $850,000 guaranteed, cannot play shortstop"
He has played 949 career games at shortstop, and that's what sets him apart from much of the infield depth the Phillies will have in spring training. Yuniesky Betancourt cannot play shortstop.
Fixed that for you Gelb....— TeamAwesome- Oh no...mini-mart's name in mentioned again!— BobbyD
- Ah ... remember that great, stretch drive, 3 week run last year when his BA was BELOW .100? Those were some dramatic at bats. Could have been a once in a lifetime double digit hitter. Oh,what might have been.
§
- Watching the competition for backup shortstop in spring training will be like attending a time warp fantasy camp where Marty Marion, Luke Appling, Arky Vaughan, and Lou Boudreau are all battling it out.
Yuniesky Betancourt. Mikey Martinez. Can we set the bar any lower?— dasher - Dasher forgot Eddie Joost and Buddy Kerr.— NewMick314
- Well - I guess the roster is complete ... We just got a guy with one of the worst on-base-percentage in the history of baseball. An "out making machine" ... on OFFENSE!!! Next thing you know, Ruin Tomorrow Jr. will be bringing Chad Durbin back ...— Copper34
- Amaro's bold mission to collect every sub-.300 OBP guy known to man continues. When his $20 million pitchers break down from overuse and constant high leverage use please don't chalk it up to dumb luck. It's tough to make 33 starts knowing you can't give up 2 runs and hope for a W.— jtj10
- Stop the whining. Its a minor league deal, thats it. RAJ is filling out the AAA roster. Why do ya'll make a huge deal over something completely insignificant? Must be 2 weeks for Spring training...the negative comments are coming in droves.— drhoffman
- This comment has been deleted.— FishtownFitz
"Light hitting shortstop" is redundant.
His career stats and averages put him smack dab in the middle for what can generally be expected from the shortstop position.
Besides, Freddy Galvis, he of the career .254 OBP will be the shortstop if Rollins gets injured. So relax .... :)— zubzub- With all due respect, I'm more interested in the garbage he brings in than the garbage he puts out.— dasher
- I do not understand why Pete Orr is even in the conversation. He has NO upside.— SteveS11
- Pete Orr is still in the conversation b/c RAJ is a moron. They are now going to have to carry two utility infielders b/c Frandsen cannot back-up Rollins at SS. I guess they could try Michael Young there ... he won a gold glove there as recently as the 2008, you know ... Maybe Delmon Young can play CF too - when the Phillies realize that Revere (with no extra-base hits and a noodle-arm) is a waste. Every time I think about an Amaro move, it gets more and more frustrating. At least he finally replaced Werth in the lineup ... Oh darn ...— Copper34
- If this guy runs Mini mart out of town then I'm all for it. Actually, Betancourt looks like Babe Ruth next to Martinez.— ronin32
- trade or sell howard put ruff at first.
keep tyler cloud. only needs to know how to waste a pitch— Lew Klein - Hey! They are making a singles hitting team so Manger Manel can play more small ball. hehe— MooseBreathMints
- Booben will have this team in last place in no time— stayoutofphilly
- I believe this signing is insurance that Freddie Galvis has taken a few steps backward as his winter ball stats suggest.— RunningTheBases
- Keyboard freeze there ... What stats are you looking at? Galvis hit .300/.351/.432 in winter ball. And he'd be on the bench for his defense anyway. — s
- S ... I believe that you have just been trolled. Shame on you. :) — zubzub
- Year â–¾Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP
2012 30 KCR AL 57 228 215 21 49 14 1 7 36 0 1 9 25 .228 .256
2011 29 MIL NL 152 584 556 51 140 27 3 13 68 4 4 16 63 .252 .271
2010 28 KCR AL 151 588 556 60 144 29 2 16 78 2 3 23 64 .259 .288— MooseBreathMints - I believe the Phillies could start Darin Ruf at Lehigh Valley even though they could use his power from the right-hand side. The signing of Young almost tells you Ruf will play every day at Lehigh Valley as the Phillies struggle to mix-and-match Nix/Mayberry/Brown/Young. Ruf will be promoted to Philly when they think he is ready to play everyday. I think they don't want him to lose confidence. But, that is only my best guess. I think the Phillies management believe a Cuddyer or Willingham might become available during the season, and we can only hope.— RunningTheBases
- Calling Steve Jeltz! Calling Steve Jeltz!— gakski
- Guys, Michael Martinez and Pete Orr have minor league contracts. They have no effect on the major league roster unless there are so many injuries or they play so well in spring training the Phillies offer them major league contracts. Same thing with Betancourt.
Personally, I'd carry both Galvis and Frandsen on the bench but that's just me and it pushes one of the outfielders out of the picture. We may see Delmon Young start the season on the DL coming off his ankle surgery so it's not an issue up front.— s - It seems that the only criteria that the Philloies use in deciding to sign a player is salary. With the highest attendance in the majors, they sign over-the -hill players who can't field, surely bigots who can't field, and utility players who either can't hit or can't field. If Halliday, Lee, and Hamels have good years and their bullpen is decent, they may play .500 ball. When will they begin to sign good players who other teams want and when will their farm system start turning out good players? Do they have a master plan other than to fill positions with the cheapest players?— Drumgoole
- Bat this clunker after JPop and before Howard, and you'll have a guaranteed three outs every time.— orange rhino
- What time is the parade?— Ssteve115
- Cholly will see a veteran and decide to keep him around for his wisdom of the game. cholly hates to let the young guys get a legit shot.— FunCakes
- yawn— chollie
- What do we want with this guy? Are we that desperate? I'm getting a bad feeling with the signing of marginal players. I think the ship is sinking.— lefty27
- God, make it stop! Why don't you just sign every wannabe to the roster, Amaro? This has to be a record for signing "whatever" to fill the roster.— ghost of callison
- "How dare Ruben signs anyone that is not a former all-star to an irrelevant, minor league deal!!!"
- Generic philly.com commenter— jodya2 - Where is Kevin Elster, Kevin Stocker, and Dale Berra when you need them? I was going to try to give Ruben one more year and give him the benefit of the doubt, but his moves this offseason have been awful. Let's hope Cole, Roy, and Cliff, are back to their stud form, and Howard and Utley can play 120-130 games. Has there ever been more question marks for a Phils team? There is no sure thing ANYWHERE on this roster. The only sure thing we may be able to say is that Ben Revere will play a good defensive center field, steal 30, and hit no homers.— carlosbeltran
- yuniesky betancourt?? i love it! since we're bringing in/back old guys, how about putsy caballero? backup for - would you believe - granny hamner. and he's still alive at 85, putsy is. uh, rube...— bubba church & granny hamner
- at some point in this season, Martinez will be back up with the Phils, you can count on that. He's one of Amaro's Rule 5 sweethearts and he'll give him every chance to redeem himself; additionally, Martinez is clearly one of Manuel favorites. For those who hoped you had seen the last of him when he was dropped from the 40-man in October, think again.
Let's hope instead that they've learned from their mistakes and try to keep Frandsen and hopefully Galvis up all season long but that is highly doubtful with this bunch. Their personnel moves defy logic almost every single time.
Only Amaro would pick up even more garbage under the guise of adding to his Triple A depth, and then have his lackeys on this site explain it away as their hero needs them to.— advantasux - @advantax -- I am really starting to believe that there are shills on this site -- doing the Phillies' bidding. There is no other way to explain the idiocy that you read here. Real fans are starting to get it. I've seen others question all the "positive" spin that appears here.— Copper34
1
Popular Posts
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners:
Powered By:
