Report: Philadelphia Phillies To Sign Danys Baez

According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, via MLBTR, the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to sign right handed reliever Danys Baez. Baez, who pitched for the Baltimore Orioles last season, allowed 22 walks to 40 strikeouts and 59 hits for a 4.02 ERA in 71.2 innings pitched.

MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki has reported that Baez has agreed to a two-year deal pending a physical which Baez has yet to take. The common assumption is that Baez was the reliever that the Phillies apparently agreed to terms with last week.

Baez, 32, was superb against righties last season, holding them to just a .197 batting average, and he held opposing hitters to a .222/.273/.634 line last season in the tough American League East.

The Phitin’s figure to slot Baez into the back of their bullpen in a late inning role where he will possibly receive the occasional save or two. Baez also figures to be an insurance policy for closer Brad Lidge in the event Lidge is not fully recovered from offseason surgery or he suffers from bouts of ineffectiveness like this past season.

Baez’ best seasons were in 2004 and 2005 with the Tampa Bay Rays when he combined for 71 saves and pitched 140.1 innings while striking out 103. He put up ERA’s of 3.57 and 2.68 for those respective seasons.

This figures to be the last major move that the Phillies will make, considering they were pushing the $140M payroll mark already in an offseason that saw the return of Placido Polanco, the arrival of Roy Halladay, and the departures of Cliff Lee, Pedro Feliz, Chan Ho Park, Scott Eyre, and Clay Condrey.

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