The Phillies signed veteran third baseman Hector Luna to a minor league contract today. In 2011 Hector played third base for the Pawtucket Red Sox and hit a very respectable .283 with 14 homeruns and 58 RBIs. In 2010 he played for New Orleans in the PCL and hit .294 with 16 HR. Hector will turn 32 before the start of the 2012 season. He’s listed at 6’1″ 225 and has a lifetime major league batting average of .265 with 13 HR in 732 career big league at bats. He will most likely be the starting third baseman for the Ironpigs but will also provide some nice insurance at third base for the Phillies. Here’s a picture of Luna playing in the AAA allstar game at Coca-Cola Park on July 14, 2010 and a picture of him playing against the Ironpigs in July, 2011 for the PawSox.
The Phillies also signed outfield Luis Montanez to a minor league contract today. The 30 year old right handed hitter is listed at 6’1″ 195. He had 54 at bats with the Chicago Cubs in 2011 and hit .222 with 1 HR and 9 RBI. He hit .321 with 7 HR and 69 RBI with Iowa in the PCL.
In another transaction, to make room for Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies removed Carlos Rivero from the 40 man roster. Rivero was claimed off waivers by the Washington Nationals.
Finally, left handed pitcher, and 2011 Ironpigs member Juan Perez, signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers and former Ironpigs reliever R.J. Swindle signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals.
Categories: From the Desk of Decal
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Hector Luna trivia:
In 2006 the St. Louis Cardinals traded future (hopefully) Ironpigs third baseman Hector Luna to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for former Ironpigs third baseman Ronnie Belliard.
Also, on April 19, 2008 the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs played their first game ever against the Syracuse Chiefs. The game was in Syracuse and Hector Luna homered twice off Ironpigs starting pitcher Ron Chiavacci, to lead the Chiefs to a 6-5 win. The loss by the Ironpigs dropped their record to 2-15.
As long as we’re reviewing 2008… May 3, 2008 was the first hit as an IronPig for Rich Thompson (he went 0-fer in I think three games before that).
I move that we have Rich Thompson bobblehead night on Thursday 5/3/2012 to celebrate the four-year anniversary. Anyone out there with the juice to make that happen?
Brought to you by Westgate Optical? (wink wink) haha!
I’m with you on that Kramer!!! Perfect date to have it!!
It’ll be nice to have Hector Luna playing for us now instead of killing us like he did last season when he was with Pawtucket. Not a bad insurance policy at 3rd base for the Phillies too if need be! Oink Oink!!
Yes! I spent a lot of time cussing every time Luna came up to bat last season. It’ll be a nice change of pace to rejoice every time he comes up this season. 🙂