SB Nation - Joaquin Benoit

A Brief Primer on the Rays Off-Season to Date and a Look Forward to the Winter Meetings

R.J. Anderson — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:54:22 -0000

The Winter Meetings start tomorrow. Any murmur or misunderstood comment will be amplified and some press members will be used as pawns. Disinformation is going to spread like wildfire. This makes the event more alluring as a spectator sport, but keep in mind 90% of what is talked about will never come to fruition. Now, completely ignoring that, this is the day one open thread. Ideally most of the rumors and discussion will stick to this thread until a recap thread is posted (expect that in the evening) barring something actually occurring or a rumor passing the smell test with flying colors.

This thread is going up about 20 hours early because tomorrow we'll have a very special interview with James Click -- the Rays chief of quantitative analysis and former Baseball Prospectus deity - which should provide entertainment for those willing to accept anything less than rumors in the early AM.

Moving on, let's review the Rays off-season to date in a brief and concise manner which means links.

Transactions

Rays re-sign Gabe Kapler

Akinori Iwamura for Jesse Chavez

Player to be named later for Kelly Shoppach

R.J. Swindle signs minor league deal

Joe Bateman signs minor league deal

Gregg Zaun signs with Milwaukee

Ramon Ramirez is claimed on waivers...

And then released

Milton Bradley

The Burrell-Bradley swap

The clubhouse cancer theory

Rumors and general interest posts

Rays interested in Ivan Rodriguez?

Pirates make Reid Brignac main target?

Why Billy Wagner made no sense for the Rays

Three rules about acquiring relievers

The Rays and the win curve

Kiko Calero

Brendan Donnelly

Kelvim Escobar

Joaquin Benoit

Carl Crawford extension talk

Interviews with Rays personnel

Andrew Friedman

Matt Arnold

Chaim Bloom

Remember that you can also follow the latest Rays rumors, news, and tidbits on Twitter by adding @draysbay, @trancel, @ehahmann, or @freezorilla.

One more note: please, please, post the source of the rumor. And generally speaking, the MLBTR comments section or a random message board post won't pass the smell test.

Why The Rays Should Target Kelvim Escobar

Tommy Rancel — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:01:03 -0000

by Duane Burleson - AP

View full size photo »

It's been beaten into our heads a million times already, but with limited payroll space, the Rays options for potential bullpen replacements is also limited. Over the past few weeks we've covered Joaquin Benoit and Kiko Calero as attractive free agents that fit the Rays profile. We've also identified that profile as some one who is effective, gets strikeouts, has a good contact rate, can get both left handers and right handers out, and most importantly is cheap. Of course asking for all that you are going to get candidates with flaws, but the hope is those flaws won't manifest at least in 2010. Until we get more candidates after the December non-tender deadline, here are two final candidates that I've identified as being targets as soon as free agency starts next month.

Before we look at the difference in each individual's case, here are some similarities: Brendan Donnelly and Kelvim Escobar are former teammates playing on the same Los Angeles Angels team from 2004-2006.This also means that both are former players of Rays manager Joe Maddon from his time with the Angels. The final similarity comes in the form of injury. Both players have battled injuries in the past which is no different from most MLB pitchers as well as the other relievers we've looked at.

We'll finish up with Donnelly in another post, but now more on Escobar...

Kelvim Escobar was a well above average starting pitcher for the Angels from 2004-2007. He finished with an average FIP of 3.4 in those seasons. However, he would miss the entire 2008 Major League season with an injured shoulder, undergoing laburm surgery in July 2008. He started out 2009 on the DL and made three rehab starts in the minors before making his season debut on 6/6/09 pitching five innings of two run ball for the Halos. Unfortunately, a "pinch" in his shoulder landed him back on the DL. The Angels thought it was a temporary setback, but Escobar did not throw a major league pitch for the rest of the season.

It's hard to project the numbers on Escobar because he's split his MLB career as a reliever and a starter. He has made 411 appearances with 209 of them in relief and 202 coming as a starter. He worked as a closer for the Blue Jays in 2002 and then posted 200 innings as a starter for Los Angeles in 2004. Regardless of his role, Escobar has been effective. Here are some of his career numbers...

	Games	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	FIP
Starter	202	7.4	2.11	0.77	3.83
Reliever	209	9.98	2.27	1.05	3.98

	BA	OBP	SLG	BABIP
Starter	0.256	0.329	0.389	0.304
Reliever	0.243	0.329	0.385	0.307

	BA	OBP	SLG
vs. RHB	0.255	0.321	0.378
vs. LHB	0.253	0.336	0.399

As you can see, he's just a good pitcher. As a starter he allows less home runs and slightly less walks, but as a reliever he strikes out over two and a half more batters per nine. Looking at the second set of statistics, it's amazing to me how similar they are given the two completely different roles. Batters get on-base exactly the same whether he's a starter or a reliever and the slugging is almost identical. The BABIP is almost also similar meaning there isn't much "luck" involved. Of course there's over 1,000 innings difference between the two, but still pretty amazing. Equally impressive is his ability get out hitters regardless of their handedness.

Stuff wise, he throws up to six pitches as a starter: fastball, slider, cutter, curveball, change-up, split finger. However, as a reliever for the Jays in 2002 and 2003, he threw mostly fastballs, curveballs and split fingers with a few change-ups mixed in. It's hard to say what he will throw these days and how hard since he hasn't really thrown in over two seasons. The injury concerns are huge. And Escobar's injury history also includes past elbow problems, but given his past success in either the starter or relievers role and his history with Joe Maddon, he's definitely worth a flier.

Why The Rays Should Target Joaquin Benoit

Tommy Rancel — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:01:04 -0000

Stopping short of just inviting every free agent reliever who possesses a fastball and a slider to spring training, I decided to look into a few individual cases that I think might fit the Rays' plans in 2010. The first name is Joaquin Benoit. The name has been mentioned in passing on the site for the past few weeks, but now it's time to actually take a look at him.

Benoit, 32, is one of those fastball/slider combo relievers that we see having success all over the league. While he isn't the extreme slider pitcher that Michael Wuertz is (over 60% last two seasons), he throws his fair share. He also isn't as fastball conscious as Grant Balfour or David Aardsma thanks to a nice little change up in his arsenal. Despite the lack of a plus plus heater, a person with knowledge of the Rangers system and Benoit described his slider as a "true slider" that has enhanced his K rate as a reliever. They also mentioned he has "good stuff to keep you interested, but can frustrate you." Sounds a lot like the aforementioned Balfour, who has been one of the best relievers in baseball the past two seasons.

Drawing even more comparisons to Balfour in a different way, Benoit fits the mold of an injured reliever who could be a steal for the next team that takes a chance on him being healthy. He missed the entire 2009 season after having shoulder surgery in 2008. Sources that I've reached out to say he started throwing in August and is a likely candidate to pitch in a winter league to showcase his arm for Major League suitors. Until he proves he's fully recovered the injury will remain a concern, but Benoit was a pretty effective reliever before the shoulder gave way.

	IP	ERA	FIP	tRA	K/9	BB/9	HR/9
2005*	87	3.72	3.95	4.54	8.07	3.93	0.93
2006	79.2	4.86	3.37	3.76	9.6	4.29	0.56
2007	82	2.85	3.17	4.05	9.55	3.07	0.66
2008	45	5	5.29	5.62	8.6	7	1.2

*45 innings came as a starting pitcher.

Benoit put up a lot of innings in 2006 and 2007, but also put up very good numbers. It seems that the workload took its toll on his arm, and as you can see his abbreviated 2008 wasn't particularly good. Of course, the hope is he can get back to those three years of sub 4 FIPs and continue to decrease his walks.

I hit on his stuff briefly at the top, but here's a little bit more.

	FB%	SL%	CH%
2005	61.5	20	13.4
2006	62.9	20.3	13.1
2007	58.6	19.7	20.7
2008	64.6	13.2	21.8

Interesting to see the decrease in sliders coinciding with the injury. Thoughts of Scott Kazmir pop up even though Kazmir's problems were elbow related. As a former starter, Benoit has multiple pitches including a curveball and a cutter, but sticks to these three as his main pitches.

	LD%	FB%	GB%	HR/FB%
2005	19	48.4	32.7	7.5
2006	18.6	44.1	37.3	5.2
2007	23.5	39.2	37.3	7.1
2008	17.3	55.9	26.8	8.5

Benoit went from a predominately flyball pitcher to a near neutral pitcher over the course of three seasons. In 2008, however, the flyballs increased over 15%. I'm guessing this was once again because of the injury.

	Swstr%	K%	uBB%	O-Swing%
2005	12.1	26.09	10.56	23
2006	12.4	24.5	9.8	26.4
2007	15.1	25.89	7.74	29.9
2008	13	20.57	15.79	30.7

If you look at the first category and aren't impressed then you should probably just stop reading. Benoit has been fantastic at getting swinging strikes which is a great sign for any pitcher. When Balfour was busy telling people to STFD in 2008, his swstr 11.2%. That would be low for Benoit.

Despite the nice numbers and the good stuff there is a fair amount of risk in signing Benoit , without this risk he would be at the top of every teams shopping list. The situation is far from ideal, and after the past few seasons we as Rays fans should be weary of any relief pitchers with injury histories: Troy Percival, Jason Isringhausen, Joe Nelson, just to name a few. However, without the payroll flexibility to sign an elite relief pitcher, gambling on the Benoits of the worlds is going to be a risk we must take. One scout recently told us "bullpen guys are fluky to begin with, but especially slider guys. You can get lucky and catch them in that special year where the slider is unhittable; always wise to try those guys."

And that's all I'm saying here. Benoit is not the answer if you're looking for an opening day closer, but over the course of the season he could be an above average piece with experience in the back-end of games that would mesh well with the nucleus of J.P. Howell, Grant Balfour, Lance Cormier and even Dan Wheeler, if he's around. After talking to some other people around the Rangers, some feel there is a chance he can even be brought in as a non-roster invitee. If the Rays could swing that, I would be ecstatic. Speaking with a person with front office experience, he said "Bullpens are crazy. It's a crap shoot; see what sticks." Tell me about it.

Minnesota Twins Winter Meetings Open Thread, Wednesday

Jesse — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:47:01 -0000

Day 3 of the Winter Meetings, here we go...

5:02 pm - It's late in the UK. But keep checking back for updates from your other admins, should something go down. In the meantime, be sure to log your own speculation in the comments and keep your own newsflashes coming in!

4:36 pm - The Astros are definitely shopping Ty Wigginton, which is something that we already knew...more or less for sure. Tim Dierkes at MLB Trade Rumors mentions the Twins have been attached to his name over the last couple of days, as have been the Toronto Blue Jays. He'd be another decent Twins-type acquisition that shouldn't break the bank on prospects.

3:27 pm - Corey Brock at MLB.com has more on the Cubs-Padres-Twins-Phillies go-round. He says this could actually be a three or four team deal, and tosses out a few names of use.

2:53 pm - Carrie Muskat at MLBlogs has written what can only be described as a forceful entry, whose tone seems annoyed or angered more than anything else, about the Twins activity on Mark DeRosa. It sounds like she feels the Twins are trying to wedge themselves into a situation they don't belong:

The Twins are reportedly trying to become the third team in the Padres-Cubs talks regarding Jake Peavy, and have come up with a package of young players in hopes of luring Mark DeRosa from Chicago. But a Cubs source said Wednesday the versatile DeRosa is staying put and not going to be dealt.

The Cubs, Philies and Padres are still talking about a potential deal, but there is no timetable. There also is no pressure on the Cubs to get something done.

Whether it's true or not, it smacks of posturing and contradicts what we've been hearing for most of today. Also, she spelled "Phillies" incorrectly. Stay tuned to find out how this one turns out.

2:02 pm - LEN III is back with an early afternoon update. Not much to report, just a couple of quick points.

Both Minnesota and Philadelphia are hawking Mark DeRosa, but it sounds like the Twins have more ammunition for pulling the trigger.
Nick Punto might be the Phillies' next choice, if they can't land DeRosa.
The Twins have a real opportunity to be a pain in another team's rear end, even if it's not on purpose. If the Twins get DeRosa, re-sign Punto, and then if Minnesota decides to be difficult should the Phillies decide to chase Delmon Young? That'd be a good way to strain a relationship.

11:33 am - With the idea of a Twins-Cubs-Padres three-way flowing through our heads, could the Twins find their infield upgrades in one fell swoop? This chart is far from finished, but the main players are in place. A few prospects can be plugged in to make this deal suitabe to all three clubs. Who are the extra pieces?

Teams	Padres Receive	Cubs Receive	Twins Receive
Twins Trade	3B Luke Hughes (?) RHP Anthony Swarzak (?)	RHP Philip Humber (?) RHP Boof Bonser (?)	X
Cubs Trade	Fill in names here	X	2B Mark DeRosa
Padres Trade	X	RHP Jake Peavy	3B Kevin Kouzmanoff

From a Twins angle, another pitching prospect or two would need to be involved. Some of the prospect names I've thrown out on Minnesota's behalf can be mixed and matched, but they do need to be good prospects. Would Delmon Young need to be involved? I'm not sure he would be.

10:40 am - Joe C. runs through the halves of '08 for a number of players, including Delmon Young, and made an astute observation:

"[After May 31 Delmon Young] batted .305/.343/.444 with 10 homers and 54 RBI. For comparison, after May 31, Torii Hunter batted .275/.342/.461 with 14 homers and 52 RBI in a solid first season with the Angels."

10:23 am - A morning update from LEN III, and it sounds like the Twins are trying to hone in on an infield upgrade.

The Twins and the Cubs talked yesterday about Mark DeRosa. He recorded 670 at second base for Chicago, and over 100 innings at third. Although he'll be 34 next year, he's blossomed over the last three years as an everyday player. From '06 - '08, he's hit .291/.368/.453.
Sounds like today the Cubs are submitting a list of pitchers they'd need for DeRosa.
Ron Gardenhire isn't opposed to trying Alexi Casilla at shortstop.
La Velle believes that the Twins, Cubs and Padres might work a three-way deal that would move Jake Peavy to Chicago.
Nick Punto will come back to the Twins for an offer before he signs anywhere else.
Minnesota is interested in Kevin Kouzmanoff of the Padres, and Neal thinks he might be the primary fall back option of nothing happens with DeRosa.
Ty Wigginton is a "gamer" in Twins circles, and is another player they have discussed.
Jorge Cantu is falling on the charts.
Doesn't sound like Michael Young is on the radar, either.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2008 - Mark DeRosa	149	505	103	144	30	3	21	87	69	106	6	0	.285	.376	.481

9:50 am - It's been a quiet morning so far, so let's take a quick cruise around Minnesota's SB Nation sites...

The Wolves lost...again. McHale is now 0-1 as the Pups' head coach.
The VIkings won't be getting another Prime Time slot until the playoffs, if they make it. This means I'll need to go to a friend's place on Sunday afternoons and hope that SKy is covering them.
Golden Gopher basketball is off to an 8-0 start. An inflated record? Possibly. Probably.
Finally, Marian Gaborik is back with the Wild, but not yet ready to play. Could he stay healthy for just one season, and then maybe pull his head out of his ass? That'd be great. The Wild need his contributions.

7:07 am - Already a few more things on the table.

Thanks to Adam Peterson for the heads up in the comments of Tuesday's thread, but The New York Post is reporting that the Yankees will sign C.C. Sabathia today.
Something else from LEN III last night, where he outlines the current options for Nick Punto. Neal says he could start at second for Arizona, shortstop for the Dodgers or the Twins, or be a backup option for the Phillies. He also says it'd probably take about $4 million per year to keep Punto.

6:47 am - Things will start to kick off over the next couple of hours, but in the meantime here's a roundup of what's happened overnight...

The Rockies have agreed in principle on a deal for southpaw Alan Embree. Does this make Huston Street more expendable? I wouldn't think so, but you never know.
Mark Sheldon at MLB.com says three teams are interested in infielder Jerry Hairston, Jr. Cincinnati has made themselves a suitor at the Winter Meetings, and it sounds like Philadelphia could be in the mix as well. Last year, the utility player hit .326/.384/.487 in 80 games with the Reds, but has a career .700 OPS. I'm chalking some of that up to luck, some of it up to a hitter's park, and some of it to just having a good year. I don't want anything to do with Hairston, but I do find it interesting to keep track of free agent infielders...or super-utility guys, like Hairston. Hairston's father, grandfather, uncle and brother have all appeared in baseball sometime over the last sixty years...so that's interesting.
This was briefly covered in the comments last night in yesterday's thread, but the Twins have inquired on pitcher Joaquin Benoit from Texas. Benoit is a strikeout pitcher (215 strikeouts over 206.2 innings the last three years) with control problems (a disturbing 7.00 BB/9 in '08, due in large part to shoulder issues), and a tendency to lean toward being a fly-ball pitcher. If healthy, this is they kind of guy that could actually help the bullpen...but he has to be healthy. He's right-handed, throws a fastaball with movement (90-92), a slider/curve and a changeup.
In that same report, it's said that the Twins are dangling Boof Bonser. In spite of his performance last season, he does have some things going for him: versatility (bullpen/rotation), age (27 for '09), decent control, the ability to miss bats, and (when he's on) a good fastball/curveball combination.
The competition is nearing a deal for Kerry Wood, on what sounds like a two-year deal with a vesting option.
Last night an LEN III's blog, he poses some questions regarding the Twins, and what they could have done to make their offer more attractive to Casey Blake.
Blake's contract breaks down thusly (courtesy of La Velle). 2009: $5 million. 2010: $6 million. 2011: $5.25 million. 2012: $6 million, with a $1.25 million buyout. All of this tells me that, no matter what we might speculate, if the Twins offer of two years at $14 million wasn't good enough, then it was indeed about the years AND the money. The Dodgers will either pay $17.5 million over three years (very likely), or $22.25 million over four (shock horror!).
Finally, late last night, Jerry Fraley posted that the Pirates are looking to trade their "front-line" shortstop, Jack Wilson. Fraley brings up a few teams looking for a "front-line" shortstop--including Kansas City, Oakland and the Dodgers. Minnesota wasn't listed.

Is the Rangers 2009 pitching staff already set?

Adam J. Morris — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:21:02 -0000

One of the things that I was thinking early in the offseason was that the Rangers were going to have some interesting decisions to make in regards to their 2009 pitching staff.

But with the team cutting loose Kam Loe and Wes Littleton, that isn't necessarily the case...in fact, I'm starting to think that, barring injuries, we can probably pretty well identify the 12 man pitching staff right now.

Start with the rotation...Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla are both locks, unless they are traded, which is possible but not probable. There is a group of pitchers who are considered to be vying for the next three slots, but if everyone is healthy, it seems that Matt Harrison, Brandon McCarthy, and Scott Feldman (who is out of options) will almost certainly end up rounding out the rotation.

In the bullpen, Frankie Francisco, Joaquin Benoit, and C.J. Wilson are locks. Josh Rupe and Willie Eyre would appear to be near-locks. Dustin Nippert is out of options, and seems to have impressed enough folks towards the end of last season to get the nod as the long man.

That leaves one spot, probably for a lefty, and that second lefty will probably be either a veteran Guardado-type picked up on a one year deal, or a Rule 5 pick.

Now, things could end up changing...for example, Padilla or Millwood could get moved. But I suspect one of those two would be dealt only if the Rangers made another deal for a young pitcher they felt could be plugged into the rotation immediately.

And someone will end up getting hurt, which would open up a potential rotation spot for Nippert, Eric Hurley, or maybe a dark horse like Tommy Hunter or Derek Holland. Warner Madrigal could end up sticking in the pen in a setup role, particularly if Eyre, Benoit or Francisco go down.

But overall, the only real mystery, to me, as to the 2009 pitching staff is who the 2nd lefty will be.