MLB

Marlon Byrd lands back in NL East with Phillies

ORLANDO, Fla. — Even after two playoff-less seasons and with an aging infrastructure, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro continued to promise a win-now strategy. That was accentuated Tuesday when Philadelphia became the first team to sign a significant outside free agent: Marlon Byrd.

The deal is for two years, pending a physical.

Byrd, 36, addresses an area of weakness for the Phillies. Philadelphia was 27th in the majors in scoring and was particularly weak against lefty pitching (.679 OPS).

Of the 118 players who had at least 150 plate appearances against southpaws last year, Byrd ranked eighth in OPS at .959. It was part of a renaissance year for the right fielder, who was traded from the Mets to the Pirates in late August and finished with 24 homers and 88 RBIs.

In 2012, he was arguably the worst player in the majors. Not only did he manage just a .488 OPS for the Red Sox and Cubs, but he was suspended 50 games for use of a performance-enhancing drug.

The Mets liked what they saw of Byrd in the Mexican Winter League and signed him to a minor league contract that paid him $700,000 for making the team. He joined David Wright as the most effective hitters on the team before being traded to the contending Pirates on Aug. 27 for Vic Black and Dilson Herrera.

Byrd was originally drafted by the Phillies in the 10th round in 1999 and played in the big leagues with them from 2002-05 before being traded to the Nationals in 2005 for Endy Chavez.