Philadelphia Phillies sign free agent Joel Pineiro – MLB News
Some Major League sources are reporting that the Philadelphia Phillies has signed free agent pitcher Joel Pineiro to a Minor League contract that includes an invitation to the Phillies' Major League team during the 2012 spring training sessions.
Pineiro, a former Seattle Mariners’ player, who has also played in the Boston Red Sox along with St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels roster, certainly possess some huge skills and will be benefitting the Phillies farm system in the near future.
Playing in the Angels last year, Pineiro secured a well deserved 5.13 ERA with 7-7 win-loss record, 62 strike-outs and 1.51 WHIP. He received much appreciation for his tremendous throwing from many baseball experts.
Overall his 4.41 ERA with104-93 win-loss record, 1058 strike-outs and 1.35 WHIP is also impressive for a player who has eleven years of experience.
His Minor League contract with the Phillies' management also carries some huge weight as currently the team are in a transition phase. They are making strategies to overcome last season’s poor defensive performance while Pineiro will also be providing a helping hand for them.
First, the Phillies are trying to get Cuban defector Yeonis Cespedes and secondly they want to upgrade their farm system to build a potential backup for their big team.
Recently, the Phillies’ assistant general manager Scott Proefrock has also commented in the media about this recent phase of transition emphasising more on Cespedes’ arrival and future planning for the franchise.
Proefrock said, “We’ll be happy if we get five months out of him, quite frankly. Anything in front of the first of May would be a bonus. All indications are he’s feeling great and is in great shape. Everything is geared toward sometime in May. From our perspective, anything before that would be great. We don’t want a situation where he re-injures himself or stresses it so we’ll err on the cautious side.”
The Phillies also has some starting pitchers on the cards to protect the projected rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton and Vance Worley for the next Major League season.
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