By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
After the club seemingly finalized the members of their bullpen by sending RHP Luis Garcia to Triple-A Lehigh Valley this morning, manager Pete Mackanin finalized some of the bullpen's structure, by naming Jeanmar Gomez the team's closer to open the season.
It comes as little surprise that Gomez will be the team's closer to open the season because Mackanin suggested both this offseason and early in Spring Training that Gomez was the favorite to open the season as the closer. Mackanin didn't seem to create the illusion in camp that there was a serious battle to unseat Gomez, either.
A year ago, Gomez seized the closer's job in April and pitched so well that he drew All-Star consideration. However, while he had a strong first half and ended up saving 37 games, he posted a 19.13 ERA in September, including blowing two of his last three saves attempts, and ultimately lost the closer's job in the final weeks of the season.
Related: How will Pete Mackanin manage the Phillies bullpen?
There does seem to be a level of fairness in Gomez getting a chance to open the season as closer, although it's fair to wonder how long he will retain that role. New Phillie Joaquin Benoit has closing experience, and younger arms like Hector Neris and Edubray Ramos seem to have stuff that would make them more geared to be closers than the 29-year-old Gomez.
If Gomez has a strong first half like he did last season, he'll likely keep the job as long as he remains with the team. That may not be long, though, as he can be a free-agent after the 2017 season, so it's likely that the Phillies would look to trade him before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline if he was having another strong season.
