Joaquin Benoit: Shipped to Seattle
By Brad Kelly
While the Andrelton Simmons deal will dominate baseball discussions over the next couple of the days, there was another deal quietly made that will prove to pay big dividends in 2016. The Seattle Mariners swung a deal with the San Diego Padres to acquire premier relief pitcher, Joaquin Benoit.
Benoit has actually been around since 2001 when he debuted with Texas as a starter. As he realized through the beginning of his career he wasn’t going to cut it as a starter in the big leagues, he managed to make a great career choice by transitioning to the bullpen.
Benoit really emerged as a premier bullpen piece with the Rays in 2010 where he posted a 1.34 ERA over his 63 appearances. He then would go on to the Tigers and would become their most consistent back end bullpen piece over the next three seasons and was one the anchors of their success.
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Benoit has spent the last two seasons with Padres and has pretty much stayed true to form posting a sub 2.35 ERA across both seasons. While he didn’t get many save chances with Craig Kimbrel brought in during this season, he did take over closing duties in 2014 and did well saving 11 games over the second half of the season.
While the offseason is still in its early stages, and top closers are still on the market, Benoit looks poised to slide into the Mariners closing role and bring stability to a disastrous Mariners bullpen. With Fernando Rodney imploding in 2015, and Tom Wilhelmsen being his usual roller coaster self, the Mariners seemed to now have a closing option in town that fantasy owners can target.
The move from Petco to Safeco should prove Benoit with another pitchers haven as both ballparks still remain a hitters nightmare. Benoit still has plus velocity, but showcases more of a cutter and slider mix which plays well in limiting homeruns and hits allowed.
I expect the Mariners to remain at least remain competitive with their current roster and that doesn’t factor in the more moves they are bound to make before next season. If Benoit still has the closer job by the start of next season, he could be an excellent late round source of saves for owners.
For those owners that “don’t pay for saves”, Benoit looks poised to be one of the most highly targets. His K rates have remained solidly in the 8-10 range over the last handful of years, and his WHIP has not been over 1.00 over the last two seasons.
Benoit does not have the high upside K potential that nearly ever closer in baseball has today, but his consistency proves to be invaluable as he can be an insert and forget type of player. My early projections would be, 35 SV/2.50 ERA/60-70 K/1.00 WHIP, clearly all numbers that we would take in the last handful of rounds in 2016. Do not sleep on Benoit’s quiet value heading into 2016.