The Seattle Mariners have acquired reliever Joaquin Benoit from the San Diego Padres for minor leaguers Enyel de los Santos and Nelson Ward. Benoit, 38, joins his fifth major league team, having previously played for Texas (2001-2008), Tampa Bay (2010), Detroit (2011-13) and San Diego (2014-15). Last year, Benoit posted a 6-5 record with a 2.34 ERA and 2 saves. According to Corey Brock, at least 15 teams called about the 15-year veteran. He will make $7.5 million in the 2016 season.
De Los Rios, 19, went 6-0 with a 3.47 ERA between the Mariners’ Rookie League team in Arizona and the Single-A Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League.
Ward, 23, can play second base, shortstop or third base and has a lifetime batting average of .270 with 12 home runs and 77 runs batted in in two seasons in the Seattle organization.
Benoit is 54-42 lifetime with a 3.80 ERA and 50 saves. The Mariners can use him as a setup man or closer. This marks the first trade under new general manager Jerry DiPoto, who was let go by the Angels and subsequently hired in the Pacific Northwest on September 28th.
The trade of Benoit comes one year after Padres general manager A.J. Preller re-made the entire San Diego roster, acquiring high-profile talent such as pitcher James Shields, outfielders Justin Upton and Wil Myers and closer Craig Kimbrel. The Padres went on to finish a disappointing 74-88, good for fourth in the National League West, firing manager Bud Black 65 games into the 2015 season. Bench coach Dave Roberts filled in for one game before Triple-A manager Pat Murphy was name interim manager, going 42-54 the rest of the way. Preller hired Diamondbacks third base coach Andy Green as the Padres manager on October 29th.
It is unclear whether Preller intends to trade any more of last year’s expensive acquisitions, although Kimbrel and Upton’s names have been mentioned in various media outlets as being available on the trading block.
