The Jays will attempt to fill Wells' spot in the lineup by sliding Alex Rios to center and using Wilkerson in right field. Jeremy Accardo also went on the DL, and the Jays filled his spot in the bullpen with a familiar name, purchasing the contract of Armando Benitez from Triple-A Syracuse.
Yes, in case you lost track, Benitez signed a minor league deal with the Jays back in March and has down on the farm ever since. He only pitched a total of one inning for Syracuse after straining a hamstring and spending most of his time (seven whole innings) with Single-A Dunedin, but he's back in the big show, where he hopes to avoid picking up where he left off last year, which was pitching horribly for the Marlins down the stretch.
Can Benitez provide the Jays another weapon in their bullpen? My first reaction was that the guy was toast, but upon further reflection, he did strike out better than a batter per inning last year, even while getting shelled with the Marlins. So long as he's not put into a high pressure situation, there's no real reason to think he can't stick around a while with the Jays, perhaps providing inspiration for another failed closer trying to work his way back to the majors.
Armando Benitez has come to that point in his career where he's no longer considered an effective closer, and must accept minor league deals in hopes of a middle relief/set-up job to stay in the league. So even though the Blue Jays have a closer in B.J. Ryan, Benitez was more than willing to take his career north of the border, signing with Toronto.
The Jays obviously think that he might be able to help their middle relief corps, which includes Scott Downs, Jeremy Accardo, and Casey Janssen. But Benitez was positively awful in '07, going 2-8 with 17 saves and a 5.37 ERA with the Giants and Marlins, while maintaining his propensity for melting down in big spots. Being a set-up guy, he would see many of the same situations as a closer would ... and sometimes tougher situations. And with Benitez's weight always having the potential to wreck havoc with his knee, it's another case of buyer beware (be-very-ware).
Note: Even though he's a reliever and not a starter, it's worth noting that Armando Benitez has a contract while Kyle Lohse is still unemployed. While not knowing if Lohse is pricing himself out of the market, something is still very wrong with a world where Benitez lands a contract before Lohse.
The Dugout is a feature at FanHouse that brings the lives of Major League Baseball players directly to you...sort of. The official chatroom of the MLB keeps you up to date with all the recent happenings of your favorite players both on the field and off.
I take almost as much interest in the absolutely horrible MLB players as I do the excellent. Seeing a guy play like a little leaguer is just so much more fun to me than seeing a great play. I mean, how many times has Pujols made you laugh to the point of tears? That's right. A hell of a lot less than Jeff Weaver.
I've seen Byung-Hyun Kim's career from start to finish (about 3 years) and I can't figure out why he keeps showing up on the field. Granted, he shows flashes of mediocrity, but let's notch that under the broken clock column.
His 9 runs in 4+ innings last night was funny enough, but throw in three hit batsmen that sparked head targeting practice and you've got yourself some Grade-A entertainment. The events in their entirety can be viewed after the jump.
I wasn't a fan of the Giants trade of Armando Benitez when it first went down. I thought it was an irrational decision made by GM Brian Sabean who was serving his complaining fan base and critical media more than the team's baseball interest. But to be fair, I'm not a Giants fan, so Armando Benitez hasn't cost me the immeasurable amount of pain he has cost the Bay Area faithful. And once Benitez was traded, it pushed Brad Hennessey to the closer role, leaving Russ Ortiz for the setup position (Ortiz had been bumped to the pen when he returned from the DL).
Now Russ Ortiz is hurt once again, and he's being sent to the 15-day DL with a forearm strain (not enough loving there eh Russ?). The Giants have recalled Jonathan Sanchez in his place, and the bullpen has become significantly weaker. Matter of fact, it has been a glaring flaw for San Francisco this year. The Giants are 6-11 in one-run games. They've endured seven straight two-run losses. They're 3-7 in games decided in the last inning. The San Francisco Chronicle recently noted (as all Giants fans could tell you) that the bullpen has been a low point for the team since 2002. Let this serve as a reminder for all fans out there who demand a trade: make sure you have a decent replacement before you call for someone's head. And right now, someone's calling for Brian Sabean to get the chop -- with good reason.
It's become headline news across all sports outlets, primarily because Hoffman is the first to do it. You know what? Justin Miller became the first known pitcher to get the words "Billy Koch" tattooed on his bum, but that doesn't mean it should be splashing headlines across the nets. Randy Johnson passing Roger Clemens for second on the all-time strikeouts list is much more significant, but that only warranted a few sentences, eight paragraphs down in the game recap on Tuesday night. Why should the news of Hoffman reaching 500 saves be as important as it's been made out to be? Was someone else going to beat him to the punch? I thought the big deal was last year when Hoffman passed up Lee Smith. Did I miss something?
The simple truth is that saves are an overrated statistic -- one of the most overrated stats in baseball. Here's all you need to know about saves: Armando Benitez has 289 of them, Danny Graves 182, some guy named Jose Jimenez grabbed 41 in a year, and it made an All-Star out of Danny Kolb and Mike MacDougal. I can name five pitchers in the Padres bullpen who have all been more effective than Hoffman this year -- Kevin Cameron, Heath Bell, Justin Hampson, Doug Brocail, and Scott Linebrink. But none of them get any recognition because you don't stamp an "S" next to their name in the boxscore. Moreover, any pitcher who can't get three outs before they allow three runs (which is all it takes to earn a save) doesn't belong in the big leagues. You follow me?
The fact that Trevor Hoffman has 500 of them tells me two things -- he's been closing for a long time, and done a very good job of it. And the fact that nobody else has done it reminds me that closers only became a serious part of the game around 25 years ago. That's it. I can still name you another reliever I would've preferred in my bullpen for every year he was in the majors. When you break it all down, Trevor Hoffman is a very good player whose only measuring stick is a vastly overrated, and highly insignificant statistic. I am impressed that Hoffman has been able to perform at such a high level for such a long period of time, especially when other relievers are blowing out arms or losing mental stability left and right. But it still doesn't change the fact that saves are an overrated statistic.
Armando Benitez may have taken the brunt of the blame for the Giants 5-4 extra-innings loss to the Mets last week, which eventually led to his banishment to Miami. But manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that there was more than just Armando Benitez to blame for that loss. In fact, there are several players to blame for the Giants losses according to Bochy -- not for what they did on the field, but because of their failure to make it onto the field.
"You can't afford to go into a series against a team like the Mets and be two or three guys short," Bochy said. "Sometimes you can't do anything about it. Maybe on the preventative side or the maintenance side of treatment, we've got to eventually turn up the volume on how we do that." ... "We've got a great medical staff here. (The players) have got to take responsibility for their health. You're paid on performance, and the best way to perform at your best is obviously by being healthy."
GM Brian Sabean echoed Bochy's thoughts:
Asked about a potential trade for a bat, an agitated Sabean said, "Ask the guys who can't answer the bell every day. Once we find out who is ready to play every day, then we'll have a better answer about what we have internally. ... We need guys on the field, and as usual, we're not getting it."
Dave Roberts has been on the DL since May 10th, while the likes of Ray Durham, Rich Aurilia, and Ryan Klesko have all nursed injuries recently. But honestly Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy, did you really think you would get through an entire season without many injuries when your lineup is full of players who were born before the Truman Administration? Previously at FanHouse: Armando Benitez Officially Traded, Giants Fans Celebrate
With Armando Benitez being in the news lately, The Fanhouse thought it would be fun to revisit this quick clip involving one of the first Benitez meltdowns. Here he is as an Oriole, circa 1998, hitting Tino Martinez and causing Graeme Lloyd, Darryl Strawberry and the Yankees to go completely ballistic.
This is actually the second incident involving Benitez plunking Martinez, the first one coming while Tino was with Seattle, so there was already a history there. It also wouldn't be the last time Benitez would melt down, giving Orioles fans, Mets fans, and Giants fans everywhere a reason to want to go all "Graeme Lloyd" on Armando themselves.
Kevin Gregg, along with Kevin Gregg fantasy owners, can rest easy ... for now. Even with last night's acquisition of Armando Benitez from San Francisco, Gregg will remain the Marlins' closer until further notice. Benitez will pitch the eighth inning for Fredi Gonzalez, along with the occasional save chance.
"Look at the teams who are winning. It shortens the game," Gonzalez said of having two quality relievers. "I'm all for having those guys at the end of the game."
Gregg is six for six in save opportunities. Benitez was 0-3 with a 4.67 ERA. But here's the most important number: $4,733,333. That's the portion of the $5,066,666 left in his contract that San Francisco is picking up. That means that the Fish are paying Benitez a mere $333,333 for the rest of the season. It makes it easy to justify putting Benitez wherever they want to put him. And Armando is okay with not closing.
"They believe in what I can do," said Benitez, who set a Marlins record with a career-high 47 saves in 2004, his only year in Florida. "Whatever they want to do is fine with me."
I would say it would be in his best interest to be happy, since at this point Benitez is lucky to have a job at all ... and with a team that actually loves him, no less. The Marlins are probably the one team that he has spent a significant amount of time with that he hasn't completely worn out his welcome in. For him to be back there, in front of crowds that aren't going to be so large and vocal, should make him very happy. Besides, chances are he'll get a shot to close before it's all said and done. The National League will resume salivating at that point.
On Deck is The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
New York Mets (34-18) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (32-23)-7:10PM Est.
The Diamondbacks have replaced the Colorado Rockies as the hottest team in baseball, as they've emerged victorious from their last seven games. With Brandon Webb going to the mound tonight it's highly possible they'll win their eighth tonight, but it won't be easy. Whether or not they have anybody in the outfield, the Mets are still the class of the National League, and with John Maine on the mound they may be ready to stop the Snakes.
Boston Red Sox (36-16) vs. New York Yankees (22-29)-7:05PM Est.
In case you've been too distracted by A-Rod's new lady, his taste for she-males, or his penchant for shouting things at inopportune times, the Yankees still suck. Seriously though, is there anybody on the Yankees not named Alex Rodriguez? If Derek Jeter was a true captain he'd start banging another hot young Hollywood starlet to take some heat off his teammate. Chien-Ming Wang starts for the Yankees this evening and looks to improve to .500 on the season. Things aren't going well in the Bronx, but aside from all the bad news, there is still some good news. Obviously the bad news is that they do in fact suck, and are now in danger of falling even further behind the Red Sox, but the good news is they might have just saved money on their health insurance.
Philadelphia Phillies (26-27) vs. San Francisco Giants (25-27)-7:05PM Est.
Ahhh, the post-Armando era begins for Giants fans tonight. It's as if a 250 pounds of dead weight have been removed from their shoulders. Brian Sabean wants to know who the new whipping boy will be, and maybe he'll find out tonight. I'm going to say it Randy Winn takes Armando's place. Nothing against Randy, it's just I get the feeling it's easy to yell at him. He just has that kind of face. Let's all practice together. "You suck, Randy!!" Works for me!
From Rick Hurd's Contra Costa Times blog: "Armando is gone -- Free at last ... pop the champagne!"
From Giantsboard.com: "Celebrate good times come on!! Karma for everyone!!!"
From FanHouse's own Mullet of Metstradamus: "I can't imagine another fan base hating Blow-nitez as much as Mets fans do. But I'll give him this...he's consistent. Everywhere he goes he gets people to hate him."
And prior to the trade, McCovey Chronicles put their hatred of Benitez on display with some excellent photoshop work: an altered player profile page, a webcomic, and my favorite -- a bill to Benitez for wasting fans' time.
"We're at a crossroads in my mind. Apparently, the fans, the press and maybe some people in the clubhouse felt he needed to go. We're going to find out what they're made of now that they don't have a whipping boy. We'll see who's strong enough to be a whipping boy."
Well, Sabean listened to all the complaints by giving up Benitez for lower than market value. And Giants fans finally got their wish.
The Blue Jays presciently added a bit of depth to their outfield on Friday, acquiring Kevin Mench from the Rangers for cash considerations and signing Brad Wilkerson. Just hours later, Vernon Wells celebrated by breaking his wrist while attempting a diving catch. He'll miss the next 6-8 weeks. 
The Dugout is a feature at FanHouse that brings the lives of Major League Baseball players directly to you...sort of. The official chatroom of the MLB keeps you up to date with all the recent happenings of your favorite players both on the field and off.
I wasn't a fan of the 
It's become 
Armando Benitez may have taken the brunt of the blame for the 
Kevin Gregg, along with Kevin Gregg fantasy owners, can rest easy ... for now. Even with last night's 
Mullet just told you that the Giants were looking into their bullpen, and that there was a 
