Phillies 2017 Season Preview: Relief Pitcher Joaquin Benoit

The Phillies brought in relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit to stabilize their shaky bullpen but does the 39-year old still have what it takes?

I’m not going to write yet again about how bad the Phillies bullpen was in 2016. We both know that it was among the worst in the league in nearly every category and that it needed a serious revamp if the team was to succeed in 2017.

Part of that revamping included signing 39-year old reliever Joaquin Benoit to a one-year deal at last year’s winter meetings. General manager Matt Klentak said the team valued his ability to pitch at different times throughout the game: [quote via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com]

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"“One of the things that is appealing to us about Joaquin is he has pitched the sixth, he’s pitched the seventh, he’s pitched the eighth, he’s pitched the ninth, and he’s been good in all of those roles at various times throughout his career,” Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said Tuesday at the Winter Meetings. “We feel better today than we did a few days ago that we have several players in our bullpen that can compete for the ninth, the eighth, the seventh, the sixth. We made our bullpen better.”"

Whether or not Benoit will actually better the bullpen depends on which part of the 2016 season he replicates. He started the year with the Mariners in abysmal fashion, posting a 5.18 ERA in 26 games. After a midseason trade to the Blue Jays, he was much better, allowing just one earned run in 23.2 innings. If Benoit can pitch more like how he did in Toronto then how he did in Seattle, then he will certainly help Philadelphia’s bullpen.

Klentak and team do believe that Benoit will be a beneficial addition, telling Zolecki:

"“But as we drilled down into the data, there are some underlying things that he’s always done in his career … we think there’s a pretty good chance that he’ll maintain his level of performance that he’s demonstrated over the last handful of years. This guy has been really consistent for the better part of a decade. And especially in bullpens, which tend to be fairly volatile as a group, this guy has been the model of consistency.”"

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Zolecki said those “underlying things” included “Benoit’s velocity, strikeout rates, walk rates and batted ball tendencies.”

Turning towards this season, Benoit is not exactly off to the best start. He made just one appearance in the first 15 games of spring training. In five spring innings so far, Benoit has allowed five runs, three of which came in one outing. He has struck out nine batters but also walked four as he has a 1.60 WHIP.

Some thought Benoit could compete for the job as the team’s closer in spring training.

However, manager Pete Mackanin named Jeanmar Gomez the closer before spring training ever started. Had Benoit been given the opportunity to fight for the closing job, he very well could have won out the competition and been the closer this year.

Instead, Benoit will likely serve as the set-up man as he has more ability than Pat Neshek and more experience than Edubray Ramos. Hector Neris is expected to be the team’s go-to guy in tough situations, but Benoit could pitch in some of those high-leverage situations as well if Mackanin shows enough confidence in Benoit.

Next: Buchholz Continues to Struggle in Spring Training

Benoit is expected to help stabilize the bullpen, but his performance will determine how well he can reach that goal.

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