The Phillies agreed to and completed a one-year deal with veteran reliever Joaquin Benoit. However, the roster was full at 40. As the Phillies formally announced the signing of Benoit, they had to make a move. The roster casualty was right-handed reliever Michael Mariot, who was designated for assignment, the Phillies announced.
Mariot was claimed on waivers last offseason from the Kansas City Royals. After battling an ankle injury for the early part of the 2016 season, Mariot eventually was activated and joined Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Mariot joined the Phillies bullpen in August and would go on to appear in 25 games.
Mariot went 1-0 with a 5.82 earned run average in 21 1/3 innings pitched. While Mariot's earned run average looks rather high, it was inflated mostly by one appearance on August 27 in which Mariot recorded just two outs and allowed six earned runs. Down the stretch, Mariot was one of manager Pete Mackanin's more trusted relievers, and Mariot appeared later in games as Hector Neris needed to scale back his workload and Jeanmar Gomez struggled.
The Phillies may hope to slip Mariot through waivers and retain him.
