The announcement was made already a week ago. However we were busy during the Olympics Qualifier and could not report it. Danesi Nettuno has signed the former Major Leaguer Frank MENECHINO and Nelson CRUZ in addition to former Minor Leaguer Carlos DURAN.
MENECHINO was born in 1971 in Staten Island, New York. He went to the University of Alabama and was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 45th round of the 1993 amateur draft. The Oakland Athletics drafted him 1997 in the minor league draft. The infielder made his big league debut two years later for the A’s against the Detroit Tigers. He stayed there for seven seasons. He appeared in 449 Major League games, batting .240 (OBP .358/SLG .383). His best year was 2001, when he hit .242 with twelve homeruns, 82 runs scored and 60 RBI in 139 games. He also played in 955 minor league games (.284/.393/.437) on all levels. The past few years he switch teams on a regular basis. In 2007 he hit .387 (.435/.613) for the AAA team of the San Diego Padres. He also made four appearances for the Rockies affiliate in the Pacific Coast league.
CRUZ was born in 1972 in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. He signed with the Montreal Expos in 1989 as an amateur free agent. He later joined the Chicago White Sox. The pitcher made his Major League debut against the Anaheim Angels in 1997. He made 204 big league appearances (18 starts) for the White Sox, Tigers, Astros and Rockies. He had a combined ERA of 5.04 with 277 strikeouts in 348.2 innings pitched. He also had an ERA of 4.09 in 192 Minor League games (91 starts) for the mentioned organizations. He struck out 575 in 688.1 innings.
The last of the trio is coming after a recommendation of Nettuno’s starting pitcher Giovanni CARRARA. DURAN was born in 1982 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. The outfielder signed with the Atlanta Braves as an undrafted free agent in 1999 and also played in the Baltimore Orioles organization. Between 2001 and 2007 he appeared in 553 minor league games, batting .258 (.292/.370) as high as AAA. He also was invited to two major league spring training camps in 2003 and 2005. Last year he hit .175 (.205/.325) in 28 games for Frederick in the Carolina League (A+).
Besides these new acquisitions, Danesi also confirmed that CARRARA, Juan CAMILO, Fraylin FLORIAN, Victor ARIAS and Carlos PEZZULLO return for the upcoming season. They are trying to make a major push for the Italian title this year, after losing the Italian Series to Montepaschi Grosseto last summer. They will face D’Angelis Godo on Opening Day on April 18th.
Statistics:
Frank Menechino
Nelson Cruz
Carlos Duran