Juan Pierre

Juan Pierre finds it amusing that he is among the many Phillies who have been mentioned in trade rumors as the July 31 deadline nears. While impending free agents Cole Hamels and Shane Victorino have occupied the bulk of the rumors, Pierre has been mentioned for teams looking for a veteran outfielder. Pierre entered Friday's game at Citizens Bank Park against the San Francisco Giants batting .312. He says he hasn't wasted a single second worrying about trade rumors. "I was a nonroster invitee, so 30 teams didn't think I was good enough to make a big- league team," Pierre said before Friday's game, talking about his spring predicament.

TAMPA, Fla. - They played night ball for the first time in 2012 on Friday, the latest sign meaningful baseball is closer. Back in Clearwater, workers loaded the Phillies players' vehicles on two car carriers bound for Philadelphia. On Sunday, the Phillies will head north and leave a forgettable spring behind in Florida. And there's a good chance manager Charlie Manuel will think about his lineup during the two-hour flight home. "I've got a few," Manuel said. "I think it's going to take a few. We'll see. We could have a different lineup a lot. " There are moving parts in a new reality that does not include Chase Utley and Ryan Howard for the foreseeable future.

THE FIELD was empty save a coach, a groundskeeper and one small man scurrying about gathering baseballs. Juan Pierre had just pushed about two dozen balls from the batter's box to various coordinates of the infield, spraying them uniformly as if diagramming something. Now he needed to collect them and do it again. This was slightly after 3:30 on Tuesday, and Pierre seemed to be in a slight panic, as if a timer was about to go off before he could finish his preparation. "Do you do this every day?"

The Phillies amicably avoided arbitration with one outfielder Friday and signed another who could bring speed to the bench. Hunter Pence agreed to a one-year, $10.4 million contract for 2012, settling at the midpoint between salary figures the two sides submitted for a potential arbitration hearing. And Juan Pierre, a 12-year veteran, signed a minor-league contract with the Phillies for a chance to make the team in spring training. Pence's signing was guaranteed; the question was whether the Phillies would buy out his final two years of arbitration or just go year-to-year.

The Miami Marlins, who last week traded away a large chunk of their team - and contractual obligations - reportedly agreed to terms with Phillies free-agent outfielder Juan Pierre on Saturday. CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman reported the agreement. No terms were available. Pierre, a 13-year veteran, signed a minor-league contract with the Phillies in January and was invited to spring training. He wound up staying with the team through the entire season, playing in 130 games and batting .307 with a .351 on-base percentage.

WE HAVE REACHED a point where the standings play as big of a role as the situation, and so it was that Charlie Manuel decided to give Michael Schwimer a crack at the inning that has bedeviled his bullpen all season. The 26-year-old rookie is the kind of player who will help shape future roster decisions, and with the Phillies well outside of the playoff race, now would seem to be a good time to get a firm handle on what, exactly, they have on their roster. At least, that seemed to be the thinking when Manuel tapped Schwimer to face the Cardinals with the score tied in the top of the eighth on Sunday.

PITTSBURGH - The Phillies will once again enter a season on the verge of the luxury-tax threshold. In fact, they are so close that we probably will not know until the end of the year whether they have eclipsed it. Right now, the Phillies have a projected official payroll of about $170.63 million. But only $166.57 million of that is in the form of guaranteed contracts. Right now, the Phillies are essentially paying two second basemen, since Chase Utley doesn't stop getting paid because he is injured.

THE PLAY: In what should have been yet another routine doubleplay, Chase Utley throws wide of first baseman Ryan Howard for the second straight game. The ball caroms off the visitor's dugout to score pinch-runner Juan Pierre and tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning. THE SETUP: With runners at first and second, Dodgers catcher Russell Martin swings on a 3-2 count and rips a grounder down the third-base line that Pedro Feliz snags and relays to Utley, forcing Ronnie Belliard out at second.

The Florida Marlins got the split they so desperately needed at Pacific Bell Park, and did it by getting away from the small ball that sent them on their improbable playoff journey. Juan Encarnacion homered and Juan Pierre wound up with a bases-loaded double on a misplay by Jose Cruz Jr. in a decisive three-run sixth as the Marlins defeated the sloppy San Francisco Giants, 9-5, in Game 2 of the National League Division Series yesterday. After Barry Bonds helped the Giants take a 4-1 lead, Sidney Ponson couldn't hold it. Pierre had four hits as the Marlins rallied to send the best-of-five series back to Florida at one apiece.

Inside the Phillies CLEARWATER, Fla. - It was late September 2003, and the Phillies were playing Juan Pierre's Florida Marlins at whatever that football stadium in South Florida was called at the time. The Phillies trailed the Marlins by one game in the National League wild-card race when they arrived. After the Marlins won the second game of the series to all but assure themselves of a spot in the playoffs, Pierre glanced into the visitors' dugout and was amused by what he saw. "I forget exactly how we won, but Larry Bowa threw his scorecard, and all these other papers just started flying all over the dugout," Pierre said, a huge smile crossing his face.

THE CLUB, by description and definition, is a small one. In a world of bulging biceps and shrunken ballparks, the slap-hitting speedsters who populated the 1970s and '80s era of spacious, artificial-turf stadiums are nearly extinct, the few remaining required to prove their worth on almost a nightly basis, their margin of error as slim as their hips. "There sure ain't that many of us left," Juan Pierre said the other day. "Me. Ben Revere. Michael Bourn maybe, but he's got some pop . . . " So does Denard Span, the Nationals centerfielder who had 38 doubles and four home runs for the Twins last season.

MIAMI - Friday's game was the first of 18 for the Phillies against the Marlins, a team ravaged by their madman owner and likely destined for last place in the National League East. If the Phillies want to compete in said division, it will require a constant punishing of Miami. For nine innings Friday, the Phillies matched the Marlins' ineptitude. Then Chase Utley dropped one inside the right-field line and set Ben Revere in motion. When he stopped, the Phillies led. It took 10 innings, but they defeated moribund Miami, 3-1. Utley, again, was the hero.

The Miami Marlins, who last week traded away a large chunk of their team - and contractual obligations - reportedly agreed to terms with Phillies free-agent outfielder Juan Pierre on Saturday. CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman reported the agreement. No terms were available. Pierre, a 13-year veteran, signed a minor-league contract with the Phillies in January and was invited to spring training. He wound up staying with the team through the entire season, playing in 130 games and batting .307 with a .351 on-base percentage.

THE FIELD was empty save a coach, a groundskeeper and one small man scurrying about gathering baseballs. Juan Pierre had just pushed about two dozen balls from the batter's box to various coordinates of the infield, spraying them uniformly as if diagramming something. Now he needed to collect them and do it again. This was slightly after 3:30 on Tuesday, and Pierre seemed to be in a slight panic, as if a timer was about to go off before he could finish his preparation. "Do you do this every day?"

MIAMI - Juan Pierre and the roof at Marlins Park moved in synchrony Wednesday morning. Even though he wasn't in Charlie Manuel's lineup, Pierre was the first and only Phillies player on the field. The heavy air still permeated this new ballpark as the retractable roof closed while he stretched. Pierre was guaranteed nothing until the late stages of spring training. Now, the way Manuel talks, the manager is smitten with the idea of Pierre's being a bench mainstay in 2013. "I can see a spot for him next year," Manuel said.

WE HAVE REACHED a point where the standings play as big of a role as the situation, and so it was that Charlie Manuel decided to give Michael Schwimer a crack at the inning that has bedeviled his bullpen all season. The 26-year-old rookie is the kind of player who will help shape future roster decisions, and with the Phillies well outside of the playoff race, now would seem to be a good time to get a firm handle on what, exactly, they have on their roster. At least, that seemed to be the thinking when Manuel tapped Schwimer to face the Cardinals with the score tied in the top of the eighth on Sunday.

The daily routine begins around 3:30 p.m. Juan Pierre plays a short game of catch with Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin before stepping into the batting cage for a prolonged session of bunting practice. Mackanin is his pitcher. Target practice begins with bunts pushed to the right side of the field. A white bucket normally used to store baseballs serves as the desired landing spot. The 34-year outfielder lays down bunt after bunt after bunt while his teammates are still inside the air-conditioned clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park.

It has been quite a week for Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee. He was not dealt at Tuesday's non-waiver trade deadline but was placed on waivers, claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and finally pulled back by the Phillies. So, Lee, who has an estimated $95 million left on his contract, is with the Phillies. He says he is happy to stay but is also miffed that this situation received so much attention. "I think it was way overblown because they put a lot of players on waivers through the year," Lee said after receiving a no-decision while working eight innings in Sundays' 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park.

ATLANTA - It's July 29, and if history repeats itself for a fourth straight season Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. will make a significant trade at some point Sunday. Three years ago, he added Cliff Lee on this date. Two years ago, it was Roy Oswalt. Last summer, Hunter Pence came aboard, and the Phillies lapped the field on the way to their fifth straight National League East title. "I might trade four guys," Amaro said jokingly before Saturday night's 2-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves dimmed the Phillies' slim playoff hopes a little bit more.

Juan Pierre finds it amusing that he is among the many Phillies who have been mentioned in trade rumors as the July 31 deadline nears. While impending free agents Cole Hamels and Shane Victorino have occupied the bulk of the rumors, Pierre has been mentioned for teams looking for a veteran outfielder. Pierre entered Friday's game at Citizens Bank Park against the San Francisco Giants batting .312. He says he hasn't wasted a single second worrying about trade rumors. "I was a nonroster invitee, so 30 teams didn't think I was good enough to make a big- league team," Pierre said before Friday's game, talking about his spring predicament.