Montepaschi Grosseto
The Italian Baseball League club Montepaschi Grosseto is adding another former Major Leaguer. Just a few days after bringing in Marcos Carvajal to strengthen the pitching staff, Baseball.it reports that they will sign infielder Tomas Perez. The 37-year-old Venezuelan played twelve seasons in the MLB from 1995 to 2008 for the Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Houston Astros. He batted .240/.290/.342 with 24 homeruns in 789 games. This winter he wore the jersey of Cardenales de Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League. Perez is going to join the Orioles instead of fellow ex big leaguer Abraham Nunez, who was supposed to come to Italy but decided not to.
Danesi Nettuno
Baseball.it also reports that Danesi Nettuno has reached an agreement with left-handed pitcher Jose Escalona. He would join the IBL team coming from T&A San Marino. He is on the verge of reaching ASI status in Italian Baseball and would no longer be considered as a foreign player and could be used in games one and two each weekend. The 25-year-old, who was born in Venezuela, had an ERA of 1.62 last year. He struck out 41 batters in 33 1/3 innings. Two seasons ago he dominated the Serie A2 in Italy with 179 strikeouts in 101 2/3 innings, walking 30.