The Phillies have officially agreed to a minor league deal with free agent OF Juan Pierre. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro says that the 34 year old Pierre, who leads all active major leaguers in steals, can provide some speed off the Phils bench next season.
“He’s not the same blazer he was with Florida and Los Angeles, but we think he can provide something we were grossly lacking on our bench last year, speed,” Amaro said. "We did not sign him to be our everyday left fielder. The bulk of the time will go to John Maybery and Laynce Nix, and, of course, Dom Bown is still in the picture.
“But we’ll put (Pierre) in the mix and see what happens. We view him as a guy who can give us another element. He can be a very useful guy.”
Pierre started 152 games for the White Sox last season hitting .279 and stealing 27 bases. He’s been a a bit of a Phillies killer in his career with a .310 average, .361 on-base percentage, 21 extra-base hits, 62 runs and 40 steals in 98 games against the Phils.