Bobby Jenks Gives Theo Epstein and Terry Francona More Options

by

Dec 17, 2010

Bobby Jenks Gives Theo Epstein and Terry Francona More Options A few days ago, as quality relievers turned their backs on the Red Sox and signed elsewhere, some in New England were wondering where the bullpen upgrades were going to come. When they came in the form of Bobby Jenks, and to a lesser degree Matt Albers, Boston suddenly saw itself with a multitude of options, both short- and long-term.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona will have loads of flexibility in handling late-game situations as long as Jenks, Jonathan Papelbon and Daniel Bard are all healthy and in the fold. General manager Theo Epstein now has his share of options when analyzing the bullpen over the course of the coming years.

Here is a look at the possible avenues down which the Red Sox could travel with the fireballing trio.

1. Trade Papelbon
It doesn’t seem a likely scenario, given the fact that Papelbon will command $11 million or more in arbitration and will be a free agent in a year’s time anyway. That could be an expensive one-year rental for a guy coming off the worst year of his career. If the Red Sox find a team willing to take on some of Papelbon’s contract and they pick up the rest, they could get a pretty good haul coming back the other way, depending on the trade partner. With Jenks then thrust into the closer’s role at a cost of $6 million, the club would essentially break even in terms of cash.

One big knock against this scenario is that Boston would lose the ability to gain draft picks if and when Papelbon signs somewhere else next winter. In addition, Jenks is also coming off a down year and is not necessarily an upgrade. A trade would only be pulled if the right package is offered and if the organization sees Jenks’ immediate future a bit brighter than Papelbon’s.

2. Let Papelbon walk next offseason, replace him with Jenks in 2012
This is the most appetizing of the options. For one, you get Papelbon giving his all in a contract year before entering a free agent market that might be flooded with closers. He will need a good year to stand out. Secondly, the club would get those aforementioned draft picks and slide Jenks into the closer’s role for roughly half of what Papelbon would cost. Three, it keeps Bard, perhaps the best arm of the three, in the role that the Sox feel is most important to the team’s success anyway, at least through 2012.

Just to elaborate on that, Bard is the one who puts out the most fires, and most of the fires flare up in the seventh and eighth innings. While setup men never make as much money and rarely get the glory that closers do, their job (Bard’s) is the one that clubs, such as Boston, do not want to mess with.

In an ideal world, Papelbon enters a clean ninth, gets three outs and pumps his fist a few times before high-fiving the catcher. He was brought in to start innings fresh 94.7 percent of the time over the past two seasons. Bard, meanwhile, is called upon to do the dirty work more often. He entered a clean inning just 81.1 percent of the time over the same span, all while showcasing superior numbers with runners on base.

OK, so that’s a bit of a tangent, but if the Red Sox expect Papelbon to leave after the 2011 season and are not interested in having to replace Bard — now the more valuable of the two — they can slide Jenks in behind Bard and allow the true ace of their bullpen to keep doing his job.

That might not be the most popular scenario for Bard and all those that want to see him finishing games, but it could present the team its best return on investment.

3. Closer by committee in 2011
This would not be popular with Papelbon, to be sure, and likely not with the other two. Also, it was an idea that the Red Sox played with — and ultimately abandoned — in 2003. The one difference is that the candidates back then had nothing on this trio, and while the closer’s role is the one that gets all the notoriety, it is not always the most important (see previous note).

For all the attention cast on Papelbon (his 3.90 ERA and eight blown saves), the downfall of the bullpen in 2010 was the road leading to the eighth and ninth innings. Having a trio of guys that can dominate simply extends Francona’s reach into those earlier frames.

All three are obviously right-handers and throw hard, but Jenks has had slightly better success against lefties in the course of his career. While the other two have limited left-handed hitters to minuscule batting averages, their opponents’ OPS in such situations has been marginally worse than it is against righties.

Francona may have options in terms of who starts the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, depending on who is due up for the other team. Perhaps in the midst of this operation, Francona and Epstein find the guy they want in certain situations the following year.

It’s doubtful Papelbon will be entering any games in the sixth inning anytime soon, but the sheer fact that there are more options on the back end of things allows Francona, and eventually Epstein, to play around with different ideas. We couldn’t say that a week ago.

Previous Article

Steve Kampfer Notches First NHL Point Against Sabres, Gives Game Puck to His Mother

Next Article

Patriots Cornerback Chevis Jackson Praises Talents of Former Teammate, Packers Backup Matt Flynn

Picked For You