Benoit gamble indicative of different deadline approach for Blue Jays

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Joaquin Benoit pitches against the San Diego Padres. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/AP)

TORONTO – Joaquin Benoit, still picking sleep from his eyes after a 7 a.m. flight from Pittsburgh – “first plane out,” he noted sheepishly – settled into his new Rogers Centre home Wednesday, the latest piece in the Toronto Blue Jays’ ongoing bullpen reno.

The 39-year-old right-hander, acquired from the Seattle Mariners the previous night for fellow struggling reliever Drew Storen, arrives as no messiah. Like the late May acquisition of Jason Grilli, the Blue Jays are hoping a change of scenery helps rejuvenate him to past form. There are no guarantees Benoit helps resolve their inconsistencies in the sixth and seventh innings, the role manager John Gibbons envisions using him in.

Rather, the deal is a gamble to try and wring some value from the sunk cost Storen’s $8.375 million contract had turned into. If Benoit can resolve his command trouble and leverage a fastball that averages 94.1 mph plus a nasty split opponents whiff at nearly 19 per cent of the time, perhaps the Blue Jays will find some.

“It would say it’s the command,” Benoit said of the primary reason he arrived with a 5.18 ERA this season compared to a 2.34 ERA last year. “Early in the season I was having some issues with my shoulder and that probably caused all the walks early. Right now, I am just going to have to go in there and try to prove that everything is fine, and try to do my job.”

In that way, Tuesday’s additions of Benoit and Melvin Upton Jr., represent a very different approach to the non-waiver trade deadline for the Blue Jays this year under president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins than last year under former GM Alex Anthopoulos.

Important to note is that circumstances are vastly different.

The 2015 team was a flawed one being held back by its foundational issues, and by spending a good bit of the organization’s deep pool of prospect capital, Anthopoulos was able to make transformational trades that changed the shape of the club. Everyone he picked up – Troy Tulowitzki, David Price, Ben Revere, Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins – addressed a need, was performing well and hit the ground running. Given the gap they faced in the standings, there really was no other choice.

This year’s club is in much better shape both from a roster perspective and in the standings, already in possession of a post-season berth with the American League East lead within range. That, in combination with a thinner farm system reducing the capacity to deal for top talent, has given the Blue Jays both the leeway and incentive to seek out some value plays. Upton is in the midst of a strong year but is coming off three sub-par seasons, Grilli could have backfired while Benoit, who threw a scoreless, two-walk ninth, remains an uncertain commodity.

Time remains before the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline for more to happen, and the Blue Jays haven’t eaten into their remaining stash of prospects so far, so they’re positioned to do more. Given the questions they still face with Aaron Sanchez’s workload capacity, Marco Estrada’s back over the long term and their ability to withstand an injury or some underperformance, they may need to ante up for a steadying starter to really capitalize on their window of opportunity.

A rut like the one R.A. Dickey is in at the moment – three starts with at least five earned runs against, including six in 5.2 innings of work in Wednesday’s 8-4 loss to the San Diego Padres – demonstrates how little margin for error this in the rotation.

“I’m pleased with the way that I feel, I’m not pleased with the inconsistency I feel in my mechanic,” Dickey said of his struggles. “That’s something I want to try to work on between now and the next start, the more consistent my mechanic is the more consistently I can attack that strike zone with a very good knuckleball. I’m able to do that in and out right now, I haven’t done it for a complete game in at least the last three starts, and so I need to get back to foundationally, how can I have a consistent mechanic where I can produce a good knuckleball throughout the course of a game. If I’m doing that, I’m going to run off five or six in a row that are pretty good. I still have to get to that point.”

The price for starting pitching remains absurdly high although that may start to drop as Monday’s deadline nears. The Blue Jays’ ability to take on money may also create the opportunity for an August waiver deal.

In the interim, Upton will help in a number of different ways while Benoit seeks to fortify a bullpen that’s now used 17 different relievers. And that total doesn’t included the inning of work delivered by infielders Darwin Barney and Ryan Goins.

“I love the fact that he has a split-fingered fastball coming out of that bullpen, it’s a look we don’t have, so I think that’s big for us, especially against left-handed hitters, and his velocity has been good,” said pitching coach Pete Walker. “Maybe a change of scenery gets him locked in and gets him attacking that strike zone and throwing more strikes with that heater.”

The sixth and seventh innings have been trouble spots for the Blue Jays all season. Their relievers have a 4.98 ERA in the sixth inning (12 earned runs in 21.2 innings) and a 4.75 mark in the seventh (35 runs, 28 earned in 53 innings), underling the challenge Gibbons has had getting the ball to Grilli and closer Roberto Osuna.

“We’ll use him to get to Grilli and Osuna,” Gibbons said of Benoit.

The Blue Jays do have a level of depth at triple-A Buffalo they’ve long lacked with Bo Schultz, Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup and Pat Venditte. There’s some protection there. But of that group, Schultz is probably the only arm with difference-making potential.

“Obviously we’ve got some guys we can call up in a pinch,” said Walker. “But having some veteran guys in this bullpen, we’ve seen what Grilli’s done so far and he was coming off a tough situation in Atlanta, and now with Benoit, we hope that’s the same for him, kind of like a reset, an opportunity to turn things around and contribute to a team that’s contending. …

“You get guys with experience and that’s a huge factor for us, guys that have pitched in big games, have a lot of major-league experience, have been around,” added Walker. “They know how to compete and what it takes to build a bullpen with chemistry where guys pull for each other. That’s been evident with Grill and I’m sure Benoit will only add to that.”

Maybe that holds true, and Benoit is the answer, and the rotation holds up. But the Blue Jays will be taking a risk, perhaps a dangerous one, waiting to find out.

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