Philadelphia Phillies Sign Dontrelle Willis

According to Jerry Cransick of ESPN, the Philadelphia Phillies have signed Dontrelle Willis. The agreement is worth at least $1mm and could be more because it is incentive laden.

Last season Willis pitched about 75 innings with the Cincinnati Reds. This season, he will be a relief pitcher with Philadelphia, and several other teams had interest in him pitching via relief. Those teams were the Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.

Willis is now 29 and will be 30 next month. Before joining the Reds he had been pitching for the Reno Aces, the Triple A team of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Since he left the Florida Marlins, things have not gone his way and he blew up with the Detroit Tigers before being designated for assignment. As a relief pitcher, Willis may see some success. It is yet to be determined if he would be a long reliever, or a one inning seventh or eighth inning guy.