Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Ruben Amaro and the Phillies made two significant roster moves today.

First, the team officially released utility infielder Yuniesky Betancourt. Betancourt played last season with the Royals, but put up abysmal numbers, .228/.256/.400, in 228 plate appearances. This spring, he competed for a infield bench spot with Freddy Galvis and Kevin Frandsen, and despite hitting extremely well, fell short of achieving that goal. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Ruben Amaro saying,

“It was a very difficult decision, he played great for us. We had some other guys feel great, and we’re comfortable with where we are as far as those players are concerned.“

According to Gelb, the Phillies tried trading Yuniesky, but teams were not interested. Betancourt compiled 21 hits this spring, but it wasn’t enough for Amaro to include him on the Phillies. Had Betancourt made the team, the Phillies would have owed him $1.4 million, something that most likely influenced Amaro’s final decision.

In other news, the Phillies also made a trade. The team swapped minor leaguers with the Baltimore Orioles. The Phillies traded 21-year-old pitcher Julio Rodriguez, once considered a member of the “baby aces”, to the Orioles in exchange for 25-year-old minor league outfielder Ronnie Welty. Rodriguez made it as far as AA Reading last seasons, but posted a 4.23 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 134.0 innings pitched. He moved between the starting rotation and the bullpen, starting 22 games, and coming out of the pen in 7 others.

Welty has been an outfielder in the Orioles’ Minor League system since 2008 after being drafted by the O’s in the 20th round of the 2008 draft out of a community college in Arizona. The 6 foot 4 inch 200 pound outfielder reached AA Bowie in 2011 before succumbing to an injury and found his way back to Bowie in 2012. He hit 28 home runs knocking in 106 runs in 2010 in low A and high A. In 2011 Baseball Prospectus said this about the outfielder:

“Ron Welty, a 2008 20th-rounder, has a good handle on hitting for average and can catch and throw in right field, but his good-not-great power might not be enough to carry his position.”

Neither one of these moves makes a significant impact on the club, but with a significant number of future #5 and #4 starters sitting in AAA for the Phillies, Amaro and his staff decided that adding position-player depth to the farm was more important than keeping extra pitchers around.

Defense?! Yuni know it! Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Yuniesky Betancourt may be here to provide some depth and nothing more. Or he could be here to be your starting 2B/ss/3B for the 2013 Philadelphia Phillies.

It’s literally impossible to tell!

He could fail to make the club out of spring training, or he could split time at third with Freddy Galvis. Who knows!  With the volume of potential injuries in the Phillies’ infield, the options are limitless.

This could be the greatest [minor league] deal of Betancourt’s career, as a weak-hitting utility infielder who was cut by the Royals–the Royals–in mid-August.  In 2009, he had the lowest on base percentage (.274) of starting Major League Baseball players. Granted, he’s made huge strides since then, having the audacity to hit over .250 on occasion.

Betancourt would never, ever, even by Ruben Amaro’s fevered consciousness, counted on for his offense.  If he is out there, on the team and everything, playing just several hundred steps from Delmon Young in right field remember, then he is there to field the ball if it comes to him.

Also he is out there because someone is hurt, and/or someone was hurt so badly that they couldn’t even make it out of Clearwater.  If the competition amongst potential Phillies infielders is so weak that Betancourt appears as a viable option–and it is–then solidifying their inherited role as “third place team” would truly be a goal to strive for.

Yuniesky Betancourt.

No word yet on when that presser’s being held.