By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
If you thought that Jeanmar Gomez's disastrous month of September made Hector Neris the favorite to be the team's closer in 2017, manager Pete Mackanin doesn't agree with you.
Speaking during the Phillies caravan, Mackanin told the collective media, which included Jim Salisbury of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, that he views Gomez as the favorite for the job entering Spring Training:
“I wouldn’t say it’s wide open,” Mackanin said. “I’m going to give Gomez every opportunity to show that he’s the guy that pitched the first five months and not the guy that pitched in September.”
Gomez seized the closer's job in April last year, saving 32 of his first 35 attempts. Of course, Gomez was thrust into the closer's role due to a lack of bullpen depth, which forced him to pitch in a career-high 70 games. By the end of the year, the 28-year-old seemed to wear down, as he blew two of his final five save attempts and posted a 19.13 ERA in September. Gomez went from pitching at a level that nearly allowed him to sneak into the All-Star game to losing the closer's job in the final weeks of the season.
Many expected his set-up man Hector Neris, who faced a heavy workload himself in 2016, to be given a chance to be the team's closer, because his splitter gives him a dominant out pitch, something that Gomez lacks. In other words, Neris, despite the fact that he scattered four blown saves around 2016, seemed more geared to be a closer than Gomez, who had been a middle reliever prior to 2016.
What it appears the Phillies will instead do is enter Spring Training with the understanding that while nothing is guaranteed, Gomez is the favorite to win the position. Neris, along with offseason signee Joaquin Benoit, will likely also be in the mix, but that's just me speculating.
However the bullpen is laid out, it has a chance to be strong in 2016. If the aforementioned heavy workloads from 2016 don't have a carryover effect on Gomez and Neris in 2016, they will be joined by Benoit, fellow veteran Pat Neshek and 24-year-old Edubray Ramos, in what may be the Phillies deepest bullpen in a few years.
