Phillies signed OF Juan Pierre to a minor league contract.

The deal was reported Friday and has now become official. Pierre batted .279/.329/.327 with two homers, 50 RBI and a .657 OPS over 711 plate appearances in 2011 and also went a career-worst 27-for-44 in stolen base attempts. He's a solid get on a minor league deal, though, and should make the team as an extra outfielder.

Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly reports that the Phillies have signed Juan Pierre to a minor league contract.

Salisbury reported earlier Friday that the two sides were in serious discussions, and evidently they've closed the deal. Financial terms are not yet known. Pierre batted .279/.329/.327 with two homers, 50 RBI and a .657 OPS over 711 plate appearances in 2011 and also went a career-worst 27-for-44 in stolen base attempts. It's not the best spot for him in terms of how much playing time he's likely to receive, but it will give him a better chance to earn a World Series ring. Pierre figures to back up in left and center field and serve as a pinch runner.

Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly reports that the Phillies are in "serious discussions" with free agent outfielder Juan Pierre regarding a minor league contract.

Pierre has evidently given up on finding a regular job somewhere, as he wouldn't appear to be in line for much playing time in Philly, especially after Ryan Howard returns. The 34-year-old batted .279/.329/.327 with two homers, 50 RBI and a .657 OPS over 711 plate appearances in 2011 and also went a career-worst 27-for-44 in stolen base attempts.

To replace Victor Martinez, the Tigers have discussed adding a speedster to the top of the lineup, such as Johnny Damon or Juan Pierre.

Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com confirmed Detroit's interest in Damon on Sunday. Damon batted .271/.355/.401 with eight homers and 11 steals in 2010 for Detroit. He would play some DH and also can play some left field should the Tigers choose to use Delmon Young as a DH. Pierre, of course, is a superior defender to both. He was not offered arbitration by the White Sox in November after batting .279/.329/.327 with two homers, 50 RBI and a .657 OPS over 711 plate appearances. The 34-year-old just finished a ridiculous five-year, $44 million contract and won't get anything close to that. A meager one-year offer should get him, however.

Juan Pierre was not offered arbitration by the White Sox.

As expected. Pierre, a Type B free agent, finally reached the end of his five-year, $44 million contract in 2011, batting .279/.329/.327 with two homers, 50 RBI and a .657 OPS over 711 plate appearances. He also went a career-worst 27-for-44 in stolen base attempts. The 34-year-old shouldn't have trouble finding a new home, but he may have to settle for a reserve role.

Juan Pierre went 0-for-5 on Wednesday to drop his batting average to .279.

Pierre hit at least .280 in nine of his first 10 big-league seasons, but he's been under that in both of his seasons in Chicago. After a strong July and August, he dropped to .257 with just four steals in eight attempts in September. Without Ozzie Guillen in his corner any longer, it doesn't seem likely that Pierre will be re-signed by the White Sox this winter.

Juan Pierre kept hitting on Sunday, going 2-for-3 with a double and run scored in Chicago's 4-2 win over the Indians.

Batting .338 in the month of July, Pierre's season average is now all the way up to .276. That's all good and well, but Pierre has still stolen just four bases this month. He needs to be running more if he's to be a legitimate mixed-league option.

Juan Pierre is batting .356 since June 26.

Pierre's hot streak has quieted the talk of Dayan Viciedo being called up to replace him, something White Sox GM Kenny Williams and others were pushing for. He's still hitting just .273/.332/.322 for the season and, more disappointingly, has only 15 stolen bases while being caught 11 times. Pierre is a free agent after the season and seems resigned to the fact that he won't be back in Chicago. ``I know how it works,'' he said, ``with young guys being ready and stuff. I would love to be back here because they gave me the chance to play here. But it's out of my control. Whether they think it was a bad trade for getting me or wasted their time, I will always be grateful to the White Sox organization.''

Juan Pierre drove in the lone run of the game in Saturday's win over the Cubs.

His sixth-inning RBI single actually broke up a no-hit bid by Matt Garza. An unlikely hero given his first-half struggles, Pierre has now driven in the go-ahead run(s) in three consecutive games.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has reiterated that Juan Pierre won't be benched anytime soon.

``Maybe he'll be 0-for-100 in the next 20 games,'' Guillen said. ``I don't care. He's playing.'' Guillen also added, ``I wish I had 25 Juan Pierres, with all due respect to [Paul] Konerko, [Alex] Rios, [Adam] Dunn. If you ever manage Juan Pierre, you appreciate the way this kid goes about his business.'' There continues to be a power struggle between Guillen and GM Kenny Williams, as it's clear that Williams wants to call up Dayan Viciedo, who is batting .329 with 13 home runs and 56 RBI at Triple-A, to replace Pierre, but Guillen won't let that happen.

Juan Pierre had a two-run single in the top of the 10th to lead the White Sox to a 6-4 win over the Rockies on Thursday.

Pierre also had a sac fly to tie the game in the top of the eighth. He finished the day 3-for-5. It was his first three-RBI game of 2011 and just his second since he joined the White Sox prior to last season. Given Ozzie Guillen's feelings for him, this should buy him at least another couple of weeks in the leadoff spot.

Juan Pierre went 0-for-6 in the loss to the Nationals on Friday.

On the plus side, he did draw his first walk in 15 days. Pierre is hitting .200 with four walks and just one steal in 75 at-bats this month. The White Sox, and manager Ozzie Guillen in particularly, are being way too stubborn in sticking with him.

Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that "there seems to be mounting support" to promote Dayan Viciedo from Triple-A to take over Juan Pierre's spot in left field.

It sounds like everyone but White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is ready to give Viciedo a shot, but the skipper feels loyalty to Pierre and wants speed at the top of the lineup. When asked about the possibility of making the switch, GM Kenny Williams said, ``Ask Ozzie. He wants Pierre in his lineup, and as I always have, I support his feel for what he needs.'' If Pierre, who has a .318 OBP while being caught on nine of 10 stolen bast attempts, continues to struggles, the cries for Viciedo will only grow louder.

Juan Pierre went 0-for-4 as the White Sox were shut out by the Twins on Thursday.

After a pretty good May, Pierre is hitting .208 this month, which is pretty incredible considering the fact that he's struck out just once in his 48 at-bats. He's also not walking or stealing bases or doing the White Sox any good at all. The team should give his job to Brent Lillibridge or Dayan Viciedo.

Juan Pierre has been gunned down on eight of his 13 stolen base attempts this season.

No other player in the major leagues has been caught more than four times. The numbers are worrisome, but White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has given no indication that he will put a halt to Pierre's aggressiveness. The 33-year-old should remain a quality fantasy option all year.

Juan Pierre has been caught stealing five times already this season -- two more than any other player.

Owners shouldn't be worried, though. Pierre has successfully swiped four bags while batting .317 with eight runs scored coming into Sunday's action. He was successful on nearly 80 percent of his stolen base attempts last season while going on the lead the league by 16 pilfers. He'll continue to run, making his fantasy value stable.

Juan Pierre's success on the basepaths is due in part to his methodical, comprehensive study of opposing pitchers.

Scott Merkin at MLB.com writes that "to fine-tune his basestealing ability, Pierre watches the pitchers' moves both live and on video. He watches how they go to home plate and gets assistance from assistant hitting coach Mike Gellinger before coming up with a baserunning game plan." Last season Pierre led the AL in stolen bases, becoming only the second player to lead each league in this category. The leadoff hitter is primed for another strong season.

Juan Pierre drove in three runs on three hits and also stole his 68th base of the season on Sunday.

All three hits were singles for Pierre, who also scored twice in the outing. The 68 steals is Pierre's career-high by 3 steals, and he did it at age 32. While his .275 average was somewhat disappointing, Pierre turned out to be a huge steal in drafts this past spring. There's no reason to think he can't steal at least 50 bases again in 2011 if allowed a full-time gig.

Juan Pierre went 3-for-4 with three steals and three runs scored Thursday against the Red Sox.

With nothing else to play for over the last week, Pierre decided to go for a new career high in steals. His three tonight gave him 66, topping his previous high of 65 from 2003. In his last nine games, he's swiped 10 bases, without getting caught once.

Juan Pierre went 2-for-3 and stole home Wednesday as the White Sox came back to beat the A's 4-3 and end an eight-game losing streak.

Pierre stole home as Brad Ziegler botched a pickoff/rundown with runners on the corners in the eighth, cutting Oakland's lead to one. The White Sox later went ahead on RBI hits from Mark Kotsay and Mark Teahen in the ninth. Pierre's swipe of home gave him 60 stelas for the third time in his career. His high for steals is 65, which he established back in 2003. The White Sox have nothing to play for, so maybe Pierre will see if he can top that over the final week and a half.