The Phillies signed Cory Sullivan to a minor league deal, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. The outfielder will be in the Phillies' minor league camp.
Sullivan appeared in 57 games for the Astros in 2010 after Houston signed him last winter. The 31-year-old played all three outfield positions last year, though most of his big league experience comes as a center fielder. Sullivan has never done much at the plate and he struggled more than usual in 2010, hitting just .188/.257/.234 in 71 plate appearances before the Astros cut him loose in June.
Domonic Brown, Ben Francisco, Ross Gload, Raul Ibanez, John Mayberry, Shane Victorino, Brandon Moss and Delwyn Young will also be competing for playing time in the outfield this spring.
Most of his major league experience may be in CF, but he has played 12 games (and only started 7) in the last 3 years. And he hasn’t been the strongest defensive player to go along with not being able to hit. Still, minor league deal, so what can it hurt I guess.
Edit: shoulda read “played 12 games IN CENTER in the last 3 years”. Carry on.
Start printing the World Series tickets
Even though it’s minor league depth I’m not liking where the phillies are going with there past couple minor league signings. Matt Anderson, Grilli we need some bullpen depth that has some upside. I really wanted the Phillies to take a chance on guys like Mahay, Aceves, Flores, or Martin.
I think this is the season the Phils finally start giving the kids a chance to make it in the bullpen. Guys like Mathieson, Zagurski and Worley have already proven themselves at AAA, eventually they have to be given a shot to make it in the bigs.
Of those three, I think Worley has the best shot to be good, Mathieson should be ok, and Zagurski is a AAAA guy.
You didnt mention the most promising, DeFratus.. Our potential future closer.
Rumor has it Anderson hit 95, 96mph on the gun recently.
Thats really good news hope it comes to use though. The guy hasn’t pitched in the bigs for 6 years.
He’s OF depth in case Victorino gets hurt, since all the other guys are better suited for corner spots
Really he’s not… 12 games in CF in the past 3 years and not very good defensively. I would think there have to be better options before you get to Cory Sullivan.
Just so everyone knows THIS IS A MINOR LEAGUE DEAL! He’ll play in AAA all season and Mayberry will be the CF back-up for Vic.
Like the Phillies will need a bullpen this year.
The key players in the Phillies are around 31, big difference between Posada, Jeter, ARod, Mo, etc. The Yankees are much older yet I don’t hear anything about them aging. Question marks on Phillies bullpen? Bullpens change from season to season. If Lidge is healthy you’re looking at what should be the 2nd best back end of the bullpen in baseball.
He signed his last contract with Boras as his agent. That was a couple offseasons ago.
Yeah, that was when Boras was comparing Madson to Mariano Rivera. Don’t get me wrong, I like Madson, but my head almost exploded when I read that. I can’t imagine how the Phillies front office reacted to that.
They better get used to dealing with Boras…Dominic Brown’s agent? ….you guessed it, Scottie B.!!!
I wouldn’t go that far about Mayberry’s talent, but he certainly doesn’t seem like CF material. Though, right now, who is their CF if Victorino goes down? ….Ben Francisco, I guess? Eeeesh!!!!!