Benoit deal completes clubhouse cleaning week
PHILADELPHIA » Perhaps it wasn’t his sole intention, but Phillies general manager Matt Klentak closed the non-waiver trade deadline period Monday by completing a fourth deal that not only leaves the Phillies younger but seemingly cheaper.
Klentak found a taker for 40-year-old reliever Joaquin Benoit in the Pittsburgh Pirates, swinging the trade during Monday’s 7-6 seriessweeping win over the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park.
For Benoit and cash considerations (in other words, Klentak picks up another contract), the Phillies received high-Class A reliever Seth McGarry.
An eighth-round draft pick out of Florida Atlantic in 2015, McGarry, 23, appeared in 31 games for Single-A Bradenton this season, posting a 1.34 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. He held opponents to a .146 average and according to Klentak, “he has a 73 percent ground ball rate.”
Let’s call him a potential closer of the future, then. After all, all of Klentak’s deals this week were glossed with layers of optimism.
“Any chance we get to add depth in the pitching department into our system, we’re going to look to do that,” Klentak said. “Which of the players take a step forward and ultimately become impact big leaguers remains to be seen. But this is part of something that successful organizations do. They continue to replenish their system and they look for opportunities to add talent and that’s what we’ve done here over the last week.”
By dealing starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson ($17.2 million this season), relievers Benoit ($7.5M) and Pat Neshek ($6.5M), and Howie Kendrick ($10M), all players on expiring contracts, the Phillies were able to pad their prospect coffers. They also lightened their wallets, as all those deals essentially came with the Phils picking up remaining salary for their departing veterans.
But Klentak assures his collective prospect haul is a rich one.
It began with Neshek going to Colorado for a pair of pitchers, 20-year-old Single-A starter Alejandro Requena (now with Lakewood) and 23-year-old reliever J.D. Hammer, who debuted at Clearwater Monday. They also received a 20-year-old shortstop prospect named Jose Gomez that Klentak was very high on.
In a pair of deals Friday, the Phils got back McKenzie Mills, a 21-year-old lefthanded starter from Washington for Kendrick. And for Hellickson, they received lefty Garrett Cleavenger, a struggling Double-A reliever, along with Hyun-soo Kim, an old guy (29) who made his Phillies debut Monday and promptly walked in his first three atbats. They also received international bonus pool money.
“We’re excited about the return in all four of these trades,” Klentak said. “I think we added some pretty good arms and a good infielder, and you guys got to see Kim’s approach at the plate today; he’s got a pretty good, patient there.”
Enjoy watching Kim take pitches during his every now and then appearances over the last two months of the season, because his $3.5 million annual average deal is expiring and he will soon depart.
Even while he’s here, the Phillies’ top salaried player, remarkably, is Freddy Galvis at $4.35 million per year. That, too, is an expiring contract, but since he can’t be a free agent until 2018, Klentak may not see clear to sign Galvis long-term and instead do another oneyear deal with him this offseason.
That remains to be seen and will be included among a number of interesting offseason issues Klentak will need to tend to. But as for the practice of signing short-term vets (such as Kendrick, Benoit, Neshek, etc.) with the idea of cashing them into prospects at the trade deadline ... well, Klentak seems to consider it business as usual.
“As a general rule, I don’t mind the one-year deals, whether you’re a rebuilding club or a win-now club,” he said. “There’s some value in these kinds of deals, as evidenced by the trades we made this week. So I would approach up not say that we’re out of that, though I don’t think our offseason plan changes by virtue of the fact that we made these four trades.
“I think we’ll enter the offseason with an open mind to see what’s out there in terms of acquisitions and what the trade market leads to,” Klentak added. “I think a lot of our offseason will be dictated by how we play in the final two months and how our young players will continue to progress.”
As for the old player, Benoit posted a 4.07 ERA in 44 appearances (42 innings) with the Phils. He goes to a Pirates team that either didn’t value McGarry all that much or did value the contribution that a steady if slow-moving veteran reliever could bring to a team that apparently still believes it has a shot at a wild card. The Pirates entered action Monday at 51-54, fourth in the NL’s Central Division and with eight more losses than second-wild card team Colorado.
“Well, I am definitely going to be the old man,” Benoit said of the Bucs. “But at the same time, they’ve got a pretty good bullpen and I think they are fighting for something, and hopefully I can be a good help for them.”