Richard Hidalgo

by Laaaaazzz on Feb 28, 2006 12:31 AM EST

Richard Hidalgo signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend. I'm pretty disappointed, as I thought he'd be a good fit for the Phillies who could use a right-handed outfielder for the bench and pinch hitting duties, plus I thought he'd be intreesting with us playing the Venezuela team in exhibition and having Abreu and Tomas on the team from his native country. The fact that he signed for only a minor league deal is even more frustrating.

At this point, the Phillies seem likely to break camp with 3 backup infielders, none of whom can hit, and one or two of whom will also be backing up the outfield. It's absolutely idiotic. And it's frustrating that all have been given guaranteed deals.

I'd actually like the see the Phillies sign Sammy Sosa who may be old and declining (for whatever reason) but can still outhit out middle infielder bench.

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.671

Where's that coming from? Per baseball-reference.com, Hidalgo's 2005 OPS was .705 -- not good, to be sure, but better than .671. And, that may not be what can be expected from him in the future -- he's had good platoon splits over his career, so if used as a bench player, primarily against lefties, he could easily post a .800 OPS or better.

by phatj on Feb 28, 2006 10:18 PM EST reply actions

Hidalgo released

Hidalgo was released by the Orioles. Supposively, he's holding out for a starting job and may go to Japan to play. I'm still hoping there might be a chance to grab him on the cheap.

by Laaaaazzz on Mar 9, 2006 12:26 AM EST reply actions