Phillies sign Ronny Cedeno

UPDATE [2:30 p.m.]: The Phillies officially announced the signing of infielder Ronny Cedeno to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.

From earlier: According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Phillies will sign free-agent infielder Ronny Cedeno to a minor-league contract with an invitation to major-league spring training.

Cedeno, who turns 31 next month, is a career .246 hitter during his nine years in the majors.

The last couple of years has involved a lot of packing for Cedeno.

In January 2012, he was brought onto the Mets as a reserve and wound up playing in Ruben Tejada's spot for 78 games when the shortstop went to the DL in May. His .259 batting average was enough to keep people interested, and the Cardinals signed him the following January to fill a similar role, until Pete Kozma edged him off the roster.

From there, prior to the season starting, Cedeno found his way to Houston, where he took turns with Marwin Gonzalez at short, only to be DFA'd and then released in favor of prospect Jonathan Villar.

Finally, this past August, he had the Biogenesis scandal to thank for the suspension of Padres infielder Everth Cabrera and his subsequent promotion to San Diego's starting shortstop position, before getting clocked in the head by a Heath Bell fastball.

Through it all, Cedeno has cultivated an unpleasant OPS of .644, .621 in his time since New York. His career WAR over nine seasons is -1.4.

He is a below average shortstop, promoted during his minor league career despite questionable offensive numbers, and seems to have strong half seasons balanced out by historically by missed time or lapses in productivity.

Cedeno will compete alongside Reid Brignac and the like to backup Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins.