CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Od¨²bel Herrera is back with the Phillies.

Herrera agreed to a one-year contract with the team on Wednesday. To make room on the 40-man roster, right-hander Yoan L¨®pez was designated for assignment.

Herrera¡¯s return very likely means the Phils will move forward in center field with Herrera and Matt Vierling, which president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested on Monday at BayCare Ballpark.

¡°We need center field and left field,¡± Dombrowski said. ¡°But we have also always contemplated that we could have a platoon at one of those. We do like Matt Vierling as being part of our group of players for us. So with [Bryce] Harper in right, and then you¡¯ve got Vierling, you may not look for say two full-time guys.¡±

So why bring back Herrera? The Phillies did not like the external or internal options in center, including Tampa Bay¡¯s Kevin Kiermaier. He is available, but the price was too high. So, the Phils are hoping the Herrera-Vierling can produce at a relatively affordable price.

Herrera batted .260 with with 13 home runs, 51 RBIs and a .726 OPS in 492 plate appearances last season. It was his first big league action since May 2019, when Major League Baseball suspended him 85 games for violating the league¡¯s domestic abuse policy. The organization later removed Herrera from the 40-man roster. He did not play in 2020 during the pandemic, but he eventually earned a job on the big league roster last season.

Last year, Herrera had a .310 on-base percentage, which was problematic only because the Phillies used him as their leadoff hitter 63 times, more than any other player. The club had a combined .305 on-base percentage in their top two spots last season, which ranked 29th in baseball. It was the Phils¡¯ lowest on-base percentage in those two spots since 1972, when they had a .297 mark.

The Phillies may have found their solution by agreeing to a deal with outfielder Kyle Schwarber, a source told MLB.com. Schwarber had a .385 on-base percentage and a 1.216 OPS in 27 games hitting leadoff last season. He hit 17 homers there, too.

Asked just the other day about Philadelphia's lineup spot, manager Joe Girardi hesitated to say who could fit into the role internally.

¡°It¡¯s something we're going to have to evaluate once we see all the pieces,¡± Girardi said. ¡°I won't necessarily put too much time into thinking about that now because I don't know what our team's going to be like in two weeks. So, to me, that's wasted energy. There's a lot of things that could change in the next two weeks. But it is an important spot to fill.¡±