The Phillies signed right-handed reliever Eddie Bonine and catcher Erik Kratz to minor league deals, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (all Twitter links).
Bonine posted a 4.63 ERA in 68 innings for the Tigers last year with 3.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9. The Tigers made a push to bring The 29-year-old back on a minor league deal before the Phillies made a better offer, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck (on Twitter). Both teams expressed interest in Bonine after he became a free agent last week.
Kratz, 30, made his big league debut with the 2010 Pirates after spending nine seasons in the minor leagues. He has a .252/.325/.434 minor league line, but he hit just .118/.167/.118 in 36 big league plate appearances.
Damn, quite the splash by the fightins
First of many sorry to say it but “cheap” moves by the Phillies this offseason. Actually second, we couldn’t even spend the money to keep Davy Lopes who did a hell of a job coaching first.
you know I was going to hold off sending in my season ticket payment but heck now I’m sending it in right NOW!!! Payment in full on its way Dave Montgomery!!!
Bonine is fun to watch. He needs to stay in the bullpen. Inflated ERA is from his spot starts. Knuckleball is a useful pitch when he is locating his other pitches. Im gunnah miss him.
I know someone who is upset, Bonine’s clone…David Herndon!
Love to read comments by “Phillies fans” who have no idea what they’re talking about. An offseason is spent around much more than trying to sign one big name free agent, and the bullpen was a glaring hole last season. Any little bit helps, and the Phils’ won’t be using Bonine to make spot starts. A good depth move, just like the same “fans” criticized Amaro for signing Wilson Valdez last year. I can still hear them… “DIZ AINT WUT WE NEED.”
This.
Good depth move for the Phils. You could do a lot worse than Bonine to eat up multiple innings out of the pen if your starter isn’t feeling it on a particular day. Not to mention he can make a spot start or two if need be. Not a flashy signing by any means, but I wish him the best.
Yes, I am pleased. Goodbye, Eddie Bonine.
The Phils pen was fine last year. Besides Danys Baez, what was so bad about it? Contreras has excellent in relief and the 8th/9th inning combo of Madson and Lidge were LIGHTS OUT after the all-star break.
There are questions surrounding just about everyone though (Madson aside). Lidge isn’t getting any younger and seems to have lost some velocity (though he did seem to learn to pitch around it). Contreras, Romero and Durbin are FA’s and it’s possible none of them are back. Herndon could probably use another year in the minors. You already mentioned Baez.
I have no problem signing a bunch of relievers to cheap/minor league deals and have them compete for middle/back of the bullpen slots. One or two are bound to work out and the money you save can go toward more important places.
I am concerned, where does this leave Nate Bump?
There was a feature last year on MLB.com about Erik Kratz. He’s another Chris Coste. Good for him. He’ll play most of the year behind Hoover in Lehigh Valley and get some playing time in the bigs at the end of the year.
Both of these guys will be at LV most if not all of next year, with Bonine having much more chance of seeing time on the big club. These are the type of depth moves every team makes. It’s idiotic to make comments about them like these are going to be the primary moves the Phillies make this off season. Some bullpen depth if needed and a fourth catcher…..that’s all these signings are……stop whining.
Both of these guys will be at LV most if not all of next year, with Bonine having much more chance of seeing time on the big club. These are the type of depth moves every team makes. It’s idiotic to make comments about them like these are going to be the primary moves the Phillies make this off season. Some bullpen depth if needed and a fourth catcher…..that’s all these signings are……stop whining.
This will probably work out like Chad Durbin…
Troll.
i am pretty sure the phils arent tight with cash. they said in the stark article yesterday its not the annual salary of Werth its the years that are holding them back. the are probably prepared to have a payroll of 160-170 mil this year which would mean they are going to go after the best relief pitchers. god they need it
A “real contender” is going to pay for a closer to be a minor-league middle reliever? Let me guess, you’re not a GM.
You’re not a troll because your points are invalid. You’re a troll because they have nothing to do with the topic. I hardly see how signing Ryan Howard effected the Phillies ability to sign depth, which Eddie Bonine is, on a minor league deal. Depth. Even then, if you follow Jon Paul Morosi on Twitter, he tweeted that the Tigers were working hard to sign Bonine, but the Phillies utimately made a better offer.
Even if they can’t “spend like the Yankees,” the Phillies still have the ability to spend money on the players they’d like to have. And you base this argument off the fact that they don’t want Brian Fuentes? Yeah. Whatever you say man.
What about the Yankees crisis when they are putting out Arod and Jeter in their 40’s? The two highest payed players in the game. Lets not talk about Posada, cant even catch next year because hes a injury risk. The only one who defies standards is Mo. So if you want to target other teams think about yours first.
So which “contracts” is it you’re referring to? The Phils have one long-term, $100m+ deal.
By the way, the Yankees’ “financial responsibility” is going to be quite amusing to see over the next couple seasons…I particularly am going to be interested in 2013, when they’ll be paying $93m for a 33yo Mark Teixeira, a 36yo AJ Burnett, a 33yo Sabathia, and a 38yo A-Rod. You can talk all you like about the Yanks’ budget, but I doubt even the Yanks are going to have $50m+ sitting on the bench. Gonna be stuck with those guys.