Rays sign Joaquin Benoit to minor league deal

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 15, 2010 12:45 PM CST

Tampa Bay has signed former Ranger Joaquin Benoit to a minor league deal.

I'm interested to see how Benoit does with Tampa, coming back from shoulder surgery. He'd been in the Ranger organization longer than anyone else, prior to his becoming a free agent after the 2009 season, and he's spent his entire 13+ year pro career with the Ranger organization.

I was surprised that the Rangers had no interest in bringing him back, but I guess they figure there are enough other legitimate arms who could be looked at to fill in in the bullpen if need be -- guys like Guillermo Moscoso and Pedro Strop and Warner Madrigal -- such that bringing Benoit back on a minor league deal wouldn't do much.

Tweet Comment 14 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Happy Trails and best of luck, Joaquin Benoit

"Drinks are on me if Lewis posts >168IP and an era lower than 3.86." by RangerMad on Jan 20, 2010 12:36 PM PST

by jam0152 on Feb 15, 2010 12:49 PM CST reply actions

by Mike E on Feb 15, 2010 12:50 PM CST up reply actions

whOOps

by Mike E on Feb 15, 2010 12:50 PM CST up reply actions

I’m also interested.

by Mike E on Feb 15, 2010 12:50 PM CST reply actions

This is the kind of move..

.. the Patriots would make. You save the money, and rely on your ability to bring in talent to fill the role. The younger guys may not match Benoit’s ’08, but the drop off is probably not going to be that drastic compared to the price tag, and you may even have a guy that breaks through given the opportunity. Save the money for a top tier talent to fill a role based on the team need at the time.

For the Rangers to be an elite team year after year, these are the kind of moves they are going to have to live with, because they aren’t going to be able to pay every guy $5-$15M/yr just because he came up through our farm and performed at a high level. As this wave of talent get older, I bet we see guys walk that have made All-Star appearances.

The key for Jon Daniels and Nolan is to always ensure that the drop off to the next guy isn’t that drastic and they continue to bring up top flight guys in other positions.

Teixeira → Ben Brousard not good.
Teixeira → Davis/Smoak, manageable drop off for the $$

by mattrpav on Feb 15, 2010 1:11 PM CST reply actions

"the drop off is probably not going to be that drastic compared to the price tag"

Not sure about the price tag part. The Rays didn’t spend anything to bring Benoit to spring training. I don’t know whether the Rangers could have brought him in on an NRI basis or not, but they apparently felt his chances of making the team weren’t great and probably did him a favor by not wasting 6 weeks of his life and cutting him loose after everybody else had pretty much filled their rosters.

by twinkilling on Feb 15, 2010 1:35 PM CST up reply actions

I really can't wait to see

how Madrigal does this year. Hopefully, he gets off to a good start because maybe then we can start to see him fulfill more of the potential he has

After Fuentes blows a save and an Angels loss to the Indians:
"Angels still in first place" - UCI Halo
"Hey you know who would have gotten those 3 outs in the 9th?
Darren O’Day." - FirebatM3
LOL

by MayurP on Feb 15, 2010 2:09 PM CST reply actions

Madrigal's starting to look more like another Mendoza

than a good RP option. I’m with you on hoping he can finally translate that minor league success to ML success.

By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.

"I am one of the biggest Texas Ranger fans out there but I'm also one of the smartest. Deal with it."
-The Outlaw

by Gdawg on Feb 15, 2010 4:17 PM CST up reply actions

gagreed.

Don't ever let your sister move in with you. - thedirkatron

by jackanape on Feb 15, 2010 4:43 PM CST up reply actions

Me too

And just who were you before you got a new account?

"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"When you have a weapon on your shoulder like he has, you can be cool." RW on Perez
And the little bastard threw it for a swinging strike three in a 3-2 count. He’s blessed. And ballsy.

by Rodney on Feb 15, 2010 6:17 PM CST up reply actions

Look at his line in the minors the past two years

He’s not been pitching that long, and his performance since coming to Texas has been pretty impressive, except for his stint in the majors in 2009.

by Adam J. Morris on Feb 15, 2010 6:55 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah

His 2008 wasn’t as bad as the numbers because of the Yankee outting his first ML appearance. 3.28 ERA allowing 43% of inherited runners to score and getting over 2 groundballs to every flyball out.

Last year was bad and it sucks that this is his last option year

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Feb 15, 2010 7:07 PM CST up reply actions