MARINERS AND PADRES DEAL

Mariners Receive: Joaquin Benoit

Padres Receive: RHP Enyel De Los Santos and INF Nelson Ward

Joaquin Benoit is 38 years old, so he was never going to bring much in a deal, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t help a big league club right now. "Joaquin is a proven late-game presence who brings both stability and impact to the back end of our bullpen," general manager Jerry Dipoto said. "We value his experience, track record of durability and consistently high-end performance." Benoit has one year on his contract worth $8 million, so he’s not cheap. Will that salary guarantee him a spot in the 9th inning? It doesn’t appear so. “…there’s still an awful lot of off-season left. I don’t anticipate this will be the last addition we make in our bullpen," said Dipoto. In addition to other moves that could be made, the team already has three options for late-inning work: Tom Wilhelmsen, Carson Smith and Charlie Furbush.

Benoit is a really good reliever. Really impressive actually. How many times can I use the word “really?” Check out the numbers the last three years. Off the charts, really (there it is again).

1.98 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 9.64 K/9, 3.39 K/BB, .168 BAA over 186.2 innings

Benoit also has a 14-8 record, 37 saves and 53 holds.

Those are the best numbers you are gonna find from a pitcher you have had little interest having on your roster the last three seasons. Look at those numbers again. Right? A few concerns from 2015, though: (1) His 8.68 K/9 rate is a six-year low. The mark had been at least 9.30 the previous five years. (2) His 3.17 BB/9 rate is a six-year high. The mark has been under 2.80 each of the previous five years. I obviously don’t like seeing that at all. Benoit did balance out those concerns somewhat with a 46.3 ground ball rate, a career-best mark leading to another career best, a 1.27 GB/FB.

Age, a lowering strikeout rate and a rising walk rate are concerns, but Benoit is as talented as any reliever in the Mariners' pen. We’ll see how the roles play out.

What about the Padres' haul? Underwhelming and not likely to mean anything in 2016 from the fantasy angle.

Final note – Benoit has the longest save in major league history: seven innings.

De Los Santos is 19 years old. He made 13 starts last season in Single-A ball, going 6-0 with a 3.47 ERA. The Dominican-born righty was undrafted before signing in 2014.

Ward, a 23-year-old who was a 12th round selection in 2014, hit .278 with nine homers and 55 runs batted in over 122 games at Low and High-A. 

The Six Million Dollar Man versus Bigfoot!

RELIEVERS IN DEMAND

Sounds like every reliever in baseball is up for the highest bidder. Names that I’ve already seen mentioned as fellas that could possibly be changing addresses include Aroldis Chapman, Jake McGee, Ken Giles, Joakim Soria, Andrew Miller, Mark Melancon, etc. Seems like the Reds are serious about dealing Chapman, by the way. Who is Chapman?

Chapman has saved 33 or more games four straight years. Craig Kimbrel is the only man that can match that streak.

Chapman blew five saves in 2012 and five more the following year. He’s blown five saves the last two seasons.

Chapman has a 2.17 ERA and 1.02 WHIP for his career. Amongst pitchers who have thrown at least 300 career innings, those totals rank 16th and 12th all-time.

Chapman has a 15.40 K/9 rate for his career. Amongst pitchers who have thrown at least 300 career innings that total ranks first. Craig Kimbrel is second at 14.55 and Kenley Jansen is third at 13.98. No other pitcher is over 12.20.

All of that is top shelf, stupendous stuff.

Now the concern. His walk rate. Check out what the mark has grown to the last four years: 2.89, 4.10, 4.00 and 4.48 per nine. He strikes out so many batters that he can pretty much erase most of his mistakes, but that’s a pretty awful number nonetheless. My question: How do you throw your fastball 80.5 percent of the time and walk that many batters?

Wherever Chapman ends up, rumors suggest maybe Boston, he should continue to dominate.

NOTE: For info on his off the field issues and near trade earlier this offseason see my Winter Meetings report. 

Some bad ass superhero flying, just because.

 

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Thursday at 8 PM EDT and Friday at 10 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).