Phillies to sign reliever Danys Baez

And the Phillies busy offseason continues. After the trade for Roy Halladay and the signings of Placido Polanco, Juan Castro, Ross Gload and Brian Schneider, the Phillies still had one more area of the team to take care of: the bullpen. According to Jon Heyman on Twitter, the Phillies have made their first move in shoring up the bullpen: they will sign right-handed reliever Danys Baez.

Baez, who has played for the Indians, Rays, Dodgers, Braves and Orioles in his 8 year career, is a former closer turned set-up man. He played for the Orioles in 2009 and had a solid year, posting an ERA of 4.02 and a WHIP of 1.13 in 71 innings of work. Baez was a closer from '02-'05, saving over 100 games and even made the 2005 All Star team.

The years and value of the contract are not known at this point but as long as the Phillies didn't break the bank, Baez is an excellent signing. He will likely be a 7th inning guy for the Phillies, replacing Chan Ho Park, who won't be coming back. With this signing, the Phillies bullpen is nearly complete. With Brad Lidge closing, Ryan Madson coming in for the 8th inning, Baez and J.C. Romero for the 7th, Chad Durbin for the 6th and Clay Condrey likely coming back, the Phillies are just a second lefty out of the pen short of a complete bullpen. While I had assumed the Phillies would still pursue a lefty option via free agency, Phrontiersman, via Twitter, pointed out that the Phillies would be smarter to give Sergio Escalona and Antonio Bastardo first crack at the job.

Danys Baez will make a solid addition to the Phillies bullpen. He will provide them with less versatility than Chan Ho Park in that he won't often go multiple innings but he will still be solid in the set-up role. Baez was signed with the money the Phillies got from the Blue Jays in the Roy Halladay trade, so I would call this a good use of money. Your 2010 Phillies are shaping up very nicely for a return trip to the World Series.