Phillies Sign Juan Pierre

According to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com the Phillies have signed outfielder Juan Pierre to a minor league contract. This contract includes an invitation to spring training where he will compete for a spot on the team. Pierre joins the left field mix of Dominic Brown, John Mayberry, and Laynce Nix. It will be very interesting to see who gets the starting job out of spring training and which guy (or guys) out of the four will make the roster as a bench player.

Last season with the Chicago White Sox, Pierre was the every day left fielder and hit .279 with a .329 OBP. Juan is 34 years old now and played a remarkable 158 games last season for the White Sox. He is a former stolen base champion years ago and to this day is still one of the fastest players in the league. Last season for the White Sox, Pierre had 27 stolen bases which was good for 9th in the American League.

The Phillies outfield is set at both right field and center field with Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino respectively, the real question mark being left field. It looks as if for now the combination of John Mayberry and Laynce Nix will platoon in left field, but things could change if someone like Pierre or Dominic Brown has a good spring training.