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Expos sign veteran infielder Mickey Morandini
MONTREAL (CP) -- The Montreal Expos, whose new owners promised to improve the infield defence, signed veteran second-baseman Mickey Morandini on Thursday.Morandini, 33, was signed to a minor-league contract, a paper move that spares the Expos from dropping a player from their 40-man roster.
The nine-year major league veteran, who was a free agent, will report to Montreal's major league camp.
The Expos also invited right-handed reliever Shayne Bennett, infielder Jamey Corroll and outfielder Scott Hunter to camp.
General manager Jim Beattie was not available to comment.
The signing raised questions about the fate of others in the Expos infield. Morandini may bump second baseman Jose Vidro to third base, which could cause young phenom Michael Barrett to become the team's catcher. That would leave incumbent receiver Chris Widger dangling.
But earlier this week, Beattie said Barrett would play third, which might make Vidro the odd man out.
Morandini, a left-handed hitter, batted .241 with 18 doubles, four home runs and 37 runs-batted-in with the Chicago Cubs last season.
Perhaps more importantly, he committed only five errors in 563 chances and has only seven errors in his last 256 games at second base.
Morandini broke into the majors with Philadelphia in 1990 and was traded to the Cubs for outfielder Doug Glanville on Dec. 23, 1997.
Jeffrey Loria, who heads the new ownership group that took control of the team on Dec. 9, listed infield defence as one of the key areas the Expos needed to improve.
Since the ownership change, the Expos signed reliever Graeme Lloyd from Toronto and acquired starter Hideki Irabu in a trade with the New York Yankees.
They also signed starter Dustin Hermanson and reliever Anthony Telford to long-term contracts.
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