Neris is one of three or four pitchers that will enter spring training in a competition to become the Phillies' closer, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philadelphia reports.
Neris will be competing with Joaquin Benoit, Jeanmar Gomez and possibly Edubray Ramos for the closing gig. Neris is likely the favorite for the job. He evolved into an elite reliever last season by throwing a nasty splitter nearly 50 percent of the time which lead to an impressive strikeout rate of over 11 batters per nine innings.