紅鳥簽下左手牛Romero - 美國職棒

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak has wasted little time in trying to add
to his roster since losing Albert Pujols in free agency a week ago.

The Cardinals filled a need by signing free agent left-handed pitcher J.C.
Romero to a one-year deal on Thursday, marking the team's third signing of
the week. Earlier this week, St. Louis re-signed shortstop Rafael Furcal to
a two-year deal and signed infielder/outfielder Skip Schumaker to a two-year
contract to avoid arbitration.

"I think a lot was up in the air as we were in the Pujols negotiations, but
when that was resolved it freed up a lot of time so that we were able to start
accomplishing some of the things we did this past week," Mozeliak said.

Romero, 35, has spent parts of 13 seasons in the Major Leagues with five teams,
going a combined 1-0 with a 4.01 ERA last season with the Phillies and the
Rockies. He'll join Marc Rzepczynski to give new St. Louis manager Mike Matheny
two lefties in the bullpen.

"We've always tried to have a bullpen with two lefties in there, and when you
look at how well Rzepczysnki performed last year, we were looking at someone
[in Romero] who had good lefty-on-lefty splits and felt could come in and do
that," Mozeliak said. "We certainly think he's capable of doing a more robust
role, but he does check that box. That's important to us."

Romero has compiled a 34-28 record with seven saves in 664 games and a 4.07 ERA
in his career. He leads Major League left-handers in games pitched from
2002-11 with 633, while his 517 innings during that span ranks second among
lefty relievers.

Romero has held lefties to a .208 batting average since 2002, which is the
lowest among Major League lefties who have faced a minimum of 800 batters.

With Boston and Philadelphia in 2007, Romero pitched a combined 74 games, allow
ing just 12 earned runs in 56 1/3 innings (1.92 ERA). In 2008, he pitched in a
career-high 81 games for the World Series champion Phillies and surrendered
just 18 runs in 59 innings for a 2.75 ERA.

Romero has made six career postseason appearances, three with the Twins and
three with Philadelphia, and he pitched for Puerto Rico in both the 2006 and
2009 World Baseball Classics.

Mozeliak said the Cardinals will now turn their attention to adding some more
offense.

"We really haven't nailed down if we think it's going to be an outfielder or
a corner player, but we're definitely exploring a lot of different positions
out there and will continue to do so," he said.


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