The Rays signed reliever Joaquin Benoit to a minor league deal that will pay the righty $750K if he makes the team, plus up to $500K in performance bonuses. Benoit, 32, had rotator cuff surgery in January of '09. The Rays will have a bargain if he can return to his '07 level of performance: a 2.85 ERA and 9.5 K/9 in 82 innings. That season prompted the Rangers to sign Benoit to a two-year, $6MM deal.
The Rays' other minor league deals for pitchers this winter included Winston Abreu, Heath Phillips, R.J. Swindle, and Matt Bush.
Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times reported the deal and its terms via Twitter.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.
Awesome Rays’ signing.
Low risk signing. Potentially good move by the Rays.
Benoit has good mechanics–that is, a smooth, and nonviolent, pitching motion–and if he works well with the pitching coach at tampa bay, expect him to serve as a late inning arm throughout the season.
CL Soriano
SU Howell
SU Balfour
RP Wheeler
RP Benoit
RP Choate
RP Cormier
looks good to me…still would like Calero though
Agreed, This is actually a great signing. He missed the whole ’09 season but when healthy, the guy can pitch some good late innings. This is going to go down as one of the better minor league deals given out this off-season