According to Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Marlins have signed Kevin Kouzmanoff to a minor league contract. He’ll get an invite to big league camp in spring training.
If you haven’t heard Kouzmanoff’s name much recently, there’s a reason for that. The 31-year-old played exclusively in the minor leagues this season after failing to make the Royals out of spring training. Limited to just 90 games due to injury, he batted .276/.309/.382 with two home runs, 46 RBI and a .691 OPS over 355 plate appearances between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha.
Kouzmanoff’s career has tumbled since he was traded from the Padres to the Athletics in January of 2010, but assuming the Marlins don’t make any major additions, he could get a chance to compete for the third base job during spring training.