Sox Sign Jenks

I am serious, I want to see live video of Cashman at this point I don’t believe he’s still breathing. No worries we signed Mark Prior.

His numbers in 2010 were better than Papelbon what does that make Papelbon? I don’t think either is terrible. He wasn’t my first choice, but for pete’s sake how many FA RP’s are going to come off the board before we make a move? At least with Jenks we don’t lose a pick. Soriano?

I know Sam, I am a little fired up (can you tell?) I don’t want to invest a ton in BP help, but I do believe that the names coming off the board Crain, Guerrier, etc…could have helped. On the flip side they were only signed because teams overpaid. I will give you this one Sam, but can we please sign a RHB preferably an OF’r…

pushes the Sox payroll higher than the Yankees for 2011..
Of course they do…they have the better team:)
In all seriousness, it’s Rediculous. I would take solace in the 16M they’re going to give Pettitte, but I don’t think he’s coming back at all. But, they are going to add relievers, and I’m sure they’ll be back in front before too long.
Plus, I’m fairly certain this means they’re sending Papelbon packing, but they’re still going to have to eat some of that.

There is a good reason the White Sox non-tendered him.
Yep. Money. Right now, outside of Mariano Rivera, Jenks is better than any option in the Yankee Bullpen.

I suspect Jenks’ awfulness in 2010 probably has a lot to do with this number:
.354
That was his BABIP.
I don’t expect Jenks to be 2007-08 world-beater closer Jenks. But a guy who Ks 10 per 9, walks 3 per 9, induces ground balls 60 percent of the time, still throws a fastball that averages 95 mph and holds batters below a .670 OPS isn’t a bad guy to have pitching the seventh or eighth inning.

Jenks peripherals suggest he is due for a major bounceback next year. Had a 2.59 FIP and .368 BABIP or something crazy like that.
Whatever the stats, it’s only 6M, and for right now anyhow, he’s the first real guy out of the bullpen. He’s probably not as good as Papelbon, and he’s definitely not as good as Bard.

Yankees talking to Soriano…a draft pick is scary, but he’s been very good when healthy.
I like Jenks, said it a billion times. Nice signing.

Joba: 9.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 8.9 H/9, 0.8 HR/9, 1.30 WHIP, 24% Inherited Runners Scored,
Robertson: 10.4 K/9, 4.8 BB/9, 8.7 H/9, 0.7 HR/9, 1.50 WHIP, 31% IRS
Logan: 8.6 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 7.7 H/9, 0.7 HR/9, 1.35 WHIP, 24% IRS
Mitre: 4.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 7.2 H/9, 1.2 HR/9, 1.09 WHIP, 44% IRS
Jenks: 10.4 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 9.2 H/9, 0.5 HR/9, 1.37 WHIP, 13% IRS
Jenks ties for best K rate, is close on walk rate, has the best home run rate, was far and away the best at keeping inherited runners from scoring, and even with the BABIP problems (see above, and below) still managed a WHIP that is not any worse than everyone but Mitre (who, incidentally, had a .228 BABIP last year, 90 points below his career average).
The only category in which Jenks is appreciably worse is his hit rate (and even then, it’s not much higher than Joba’s), which of course goes directly to the aforementioned .354 average on balls in play, 55 points higher than his career average.

You’re right, John: The biggest problem with Soriano isn’t the money, up front anyhow, but the first round draft pick you give up for a reliever. I think that’s a big reason Downs didn’t end up with Boston or NY.
Giving up picks for relievers is scary business.
I’m not sold on Soriano not closing when there are so many teams out there who still need one, but it would be a steal if NY can talk him into it.

Paul, you piss me off sometimes. I just spent five minutes doing just that, come back to the page, and there it is.
Slow down! :)

Also, Sox sign Andrew Miller.
Good.
I’m not sure any of them has ever worked out, but I love the idea of signings like this working out. Hey, we got a couple good months out of Kyle Snyder! :-)
I think the Sox were OK with signing Downs. Once they got Crawford, Downs only would have cost a second rounder. I think the Sox have an organizational philosophy against signing middle relievers to three-year deals, which makes a lot of sense, given the horrible track record I and others have pointed out, and why should Downs take less guaranteed money in what is probably his only chance for a big payday?

Comparisons of IRS% in these cases is highly misleading since Jenks came in the vast majority of the time to start the 9th inning since he was the closer. Furthermore, the times he did inherit runners were almost all in in 2 out situations making it easier to get out of the inning without allowing runs in.
The numbers back this up as Jenks inherited 16 runners all year, while Robertson had 32, Logan had 33, and Joba 37. Its not clear at all what Jenks would have done if he was used in the same situations. Bard by comparison had a 30% IS, in line with the other Middle relief that you compared Jenks to.

Draft pick, shmaft-pick! Sign Soriano… :)

which as you demonstrated isn’t the case.
Or, which I demonstrated was in fact the case: Best combination of K/9, BB/9 and HR/9 and a similar WHIP despite it (as well as his hit rate and ERA) being drastically affected by a BABIP that is much higher than his career norms, which can’t be said for Joba and Mitre (I didn’t check the other guys on that front).

Exact quote from Twitter “Heard this from two sources: With the Jenks signing, BoSox payroll is actually higher than NYY. But the Yankees still have moves to come.” – Buster Olney
Andrew Miller was all kinds of nasty in college and even to some degree early on after he was signed. At one time a future #2-#3, so I can’t see any risk in that at all.
Now the reports say Yankees are NOT after Soriano. Meanwhile Wood signs with Cubs for one year, 1.5 million I feel like I am all of sudden a fan of the Royals.

Paul, Cot’s has the Sox at $135 for 2011, minus Miller, Jenks and Matt Albers.
The Yankees are in fact at $178, so that’s accurate.
By the way Jose Iglesias makes a ton of money for a guy that hasn’t played a single game at the Major League level. He’s like the Sox version of Andrew Brackman except with actual talent.

Then he is just as good as then the options I mentioned at 4-8 times the price.
Were the other guys available on the open market? Free agency skews costs, big-time.

Why does it matter how much the payroll is for each team? Just curious. I mean there is a little debate here about how much each team money is giving to its players, and I can’t figure out why it’s so important. I know, at the end of the day, if the Yanks win, I’m happy. I’m also happy they overpaid to bring back Jeter even if it was a bad business decision. Are we that concerned about bad reporting on the part of Buster Olney or does it have to do with how it will affect our rooting interests or do people identify with the work our general managers do? Is this about who is more clever: Theo or Cashman?

Nick: Sam brought up a quote. Brad questioned it. Paul questioned it. I showed where Sam got it from. I don’t think anyone cares, I think what happened was a comment was made that is certainly interesting and it was disputed, etc…Truthfully I don’t think anyone cares how much either team spends, it was just an interesting nugget.
Sweet, the Yankees are interested in Bill Hall and Freddy Garcia. Krueg I hope you are right, I am waiting for that WOW move…

8 hits through 17 innings vs the Yankees, 14 K’s. He only pitched 2.2 innings vs Yankees LY, so I don’t know how or if that applies to the 2011 Yankees, but I am sure we will most certainly find out!

Come on Kreug, you know there is no chance of that. The stats say that AJ is done and Jenks is the second coming ;)

Yeah, I want to clarify that I for one would have no problems if the Sox wound up with a higher payroll than the Yankees. I can’t see it happening because the teams simply inhabit different zip codes in terms of wealth, but if it did, I wouldn’t lose any sleep. That said, I just don’t see how Olney’s sources are getting that info. It’s an interesting prospect, the possibility of the Sox spending more money than the Yanks basically because New York couldn’t find anyone to spend their money on, but one the numbers just don’t support.

“…it cannot be unsubstantiated…”
i meant “substantiated” of course

The point of all this isnt to say that Jenks is a bad signing (he’s not). Its just to show that there are other ways of developing relievers than going out and signing free agents.
100% agreed. I think the Sox will mix it up this year – I expect them to give Doubront a chance, and if so both he and Bard blend the cost of Jenks and Paps since they are at the minimum. I wonder if the Sox have a set “bullpen budget”, above which they will simply not go before the season evolves.
Bullpen construction has got to be one of those things that makes GMs sweat bullets at night – not because of wasted dollars necessarily but because of straight mystery over coming performances. Do any of us have any clue what Jonathan Papelbon will do this year?

“Do any of us have any clue what Jonathan Papelbon will do this year?”
No, but I’d be willing to bet it will be really juvenile and embarassing.

I truly don’t see Papelbon being moved. I think they’ll hold him and see how Jenks/Bard do this year, and then decide either half-way through the season or after 2011.

well, that and shortstop
This, I can’t blame him for. When he got Renteria, he was at the time one of the best defensive and offensive SS in baseball. His downfall, whatever it’s attributed to, cannot be placed on the head of Theo. That’s likened to Cashman being blamed for Carl Pavano and very short sighted.
Lugo, while maybe overpaid was a top ten SS while in Tampa, and again his defensive shortcomings never came to light until he played in Boston, and again, can’t be placed on Theo.
He has done everything he could to put a good SS in that role, and every one of them has failed to be what they historically were before coming to Boston, so on the issue of SS, Theo gets my pass.
On Papelbon: he’s going to be a high priced one year guy for a high priced one year guy. I still think the Metros thing has legs, but we’ll see. Either way, I do not see Papelbon on the Sox all year.

With equal injury risks all the way around, no less. That proposal isn’t as crazy as one would think.
Beltran and Reyes, if healthy (which is the question here), would upgrade Boston much more than staying in NY.
Ellsbury, who is younger and faster will play better defense in CF for NY than Beltran can at this point, and Papelbon is worlds better than the nutcase they have closing (who they aren’t going to let limit out this year to enforce the option), and Reyes is as good as gone anyhow.
I see it as a good move, but I’m probably alone.

“… No way should the Sox be trading the cost-controlled Ellsbury …”
i think the sox should take what they can get for ellsbury…before he has another lost season…you remember him the way he used to be…his trade value is a lot less now…