Phillies begin shaking up 40-man roster

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said one of the front office's first orders of business this offseason is cleaning up the 40-man roster.

"We have some guys who will not be on our roster shortly after the season," he said. "We have some guys who were placeholders in some regards. We have to clean up our roster and make some decisions about who may be helping us in 2014 and beyond."

The Phillies announced on Thursday they had outrighted four players from the 40-man: infielders Michael Martinez and Pete Orr ; right-hander Zach Miner and left-hander Mauricio Robles.

Martinez has a .495 OPS in 396 career plate appearances, which is the 29th lowest OPS out of 4,549 non-pitchers with 350 or more plate appearances since 1900. Orr had four hits in 20 at-bats this season. Miner went 0-2 with a 4.40 ERA in 16 appearances. He started three games the final month of the season when Kyle Kendrick suffered a shoulder injury. Robles allowed one earned run in 4 2/3 innings in three appearances.

The Indians claimed right-hander Tyler Cloyd off waivers on Wednesday. The Astros claimed left-hander Raul Valdes.