Mariners acquire Joaquin Benoit from Padres for two minor leaguers
Is Seattle Mariners new general manager Jerry Dipoto this year’s A.J. Preller? Dipoto has only been on the job a few weeks now, but that hasn’t stopped him from making moves. The Mariners picked up reliever Joaquin Benoit from the San Diego Padres for two minor leaguers Thursday, according to Ken Rosethal of FoxSports.
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Benoit might be the biggest name to be traded thus far this offseason, though that’s not saying a ton. Still, the move provides some interesting insight into how both teams are going to approach the offseason.
Picking up the 38-year-old Benoit will definitely benefit a Mariners bullpen that ranked 25th last season with a 4.15 ERA. The pen’s FIP and WAR produced a similar ranking.
Benoit has been an excellent reliever over the past six seasons. Last year, he posted a 2.34 ERA, with 63 strikeouts, in 65 1/3 innings. Since 2010, he has a 2.35 ERA. So, yeah, he’s pretty good and he’s pretty consistent.
Perhaps more importantly, the move suggests that the Mariners are going to try and contend in 2016. Picking up a 38-year-old reliever who makes $7.5 million is the type of move a team that is hoping to win makes, so it appears the Mariners will continue to build on last offseason’s splurge.
On the surface, it makes sense. The Mariners were awful last season, finishing 76-86, but they still have a decent core in Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz. Both Cano and Cruz are quickly leaving their primes, so Seattle is trying to capitalize before both players experience steep declines. While Hernandez is only 29, he has a lot of miles on his arm and you never know when pitchers will blow out.
It’s a risky decision to try and contend considering how bad the team was last year, but there’s some logic to the approach. If anything, the Benoit trade signals that the Mariners are likely to be very active on the market this winter. That also makes sense. Dipoto is new there, and has no loyalty to the current batch of players. The Mariners could field a much different club on opening day than they did in 2015.
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On the other side, the Padres will receive pitcher Enyel De Los Santos and infielder Nelson Ward, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com.
Even those who follow prospects closely don’t have a ton of information about either player just yet. As Brock notes, Santos is thought to have a big arm. He’s also six-foot-three, which is good for his future projection. That said, he’s barely pitched in A-ball. Santos posted a 3.47 ERA, with 71 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings, over two minor-league levels last season. He likely remains years away from contributing in the majors.
The 23-year-old Ward also seems to be a few years away from making an impact in the majors. He reached Single-A ball last season, so he’s slightly ahead of Santos. Ward hit .278/.365/.436 over two levels last season, but he also struck out 124 times. He, like Santos, probably won’t reach the big leagues for quite some time.
For San Diego, the trade indicates a few things. It appears that the Padres will either tear things down and try to rebuild, or that Preller is just going to make a ton of deals again. Benoit would have helped the club this season, but he’s only going to add a few wins and he’s 38. He wasn’t a future asset, so he was dealt.
That could mean the same thing happens with closer Craig Kimbrel later this winter. It would be more difficult to deal both Matt Kemp or James Shields considering how much money the two are owed, but that also seems possible if the Padres are going to tear it down.
At the same time, maybe Preller is just freeing up some cash so he can go out and make a big signing. He shocked the baseball world last season with all his offseason moves, so it’s possible he has another big surprise up his sleeve.
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That doesn’t seem as likely. For now, it looks as though both clubs are set to undergo some major changes this winter. Given how poorly things went for the Mariners and Padres in 2015, that’s not the worst idea.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
