Lost Soul Cesar Jimenez Boards Phillies Ghost Ship

Oh, right. With Bastardo leaving to go think about what he did for 50 days, there’s a roster spot available.

Sorry, one of the IronPigs forced to get on that bus from Lehigh and come be a part of a really dumb Phillies season.  Who will it be this time?  Phillippe Aumont, again?  Who the hell else is down there right now?

B.J. Rosenberg?  Tyler Cloyd?  Jeremy Horst?

But no, it’s none of the regulars taking the spot Tony No-Dad left in the pen.  Partially because they need a guy who throws with his left hand.  Horst does that, but the Phillies are really going into overdrive with the “everybody gets a tryout” thing, so they went with a “fresh” face.

Which is to say, a 28-year-old Venezuelan who, over 66 innings, has allowed 61 hits, 26 walks, and 64 K’s.  Also, yeah, he throws left handed.  So thank goodness we aren’t throwing any of Charlie Manuel’s bullpen strategies into disarray.

Jimenez has been dwelling in the Mariners’ farm system for a while, after being elected the “Dominican Team’s Most Valuable Pitcher” in the organization for 2002, whatever that means.  In 2012, he chose to become a free agent and signed with the Phillies, with a patchy series of Major League performances in his wake:

• 7.1 IP in 2006, -0.3 WAR
• 34.1 IP in 2008, 0.6 WAR
• 6.2 IP in 2011, o.1 WAR

That’s a hefty 0.4 WAR he’s lugging behind him as he makes his first appearance as a Phillie, possibly.

This past spring in Clearwater, the Phillies had him throw 3.2 innings, during which of his 11 recorded outs, eight were strikeouts.  He also gave up five hits and zero earned runs.  This was an improvement over two years before with the Mariners in 2011, when he threw 11 innings at Spring Training and gave up 12 runs on 20 hits and five walks.

But mostly, yeah. He’s left handed.