SB Nation - Bobby Jenks

Tampa Bay Rays News and Rumors for December 8th: Carl Crawford for Carlos Quentin Swap Discussed, Brian Shouse Rejects Arbitration, Rays Offered Bobby Abreu Two Years, Interest in Matt Capps, and More

R.J. Anderson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:49:20 -0000

Carl Crawford

This one was posted in the previous thread, but for those who missed it:

Sources with Tampa Bay and the Sox said the sides had talked several times this offseason, not only checking out closer Bobby Jenks and his availability in a deal, but more specifically a trade that would have sent Carlos Quentin to the Rays for Carl Crawford.

The author also quotes White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on such rumors, who says:

''A lot of people know what the White Sox need because Kenny talks to so many teams,'' Guillen said. ''Obviously, we need a leadoff hitter, left fielder, we're looking for that. But right now Carlos is prepared to have a pretty good year. The last 10 games of the season, he was the Carlos we expected.

Not to let the proverbial cat out of the bag, but Jenks fits the a similar profile of Kevin Gregg, Matt Lindstrom, and Matt Capps. Each is an end-game reliever coming off a rocky season with longball issues. Salary issues are probably going to prevent Jenks from ever donning a Rays cap, he's due at least $5.6M next season.

Brian Shouse

Good news here. Shouse declined arbitration, which means if/when he signs with another team, the Rays will receive an additional draft choice.

Milton Bradley/Pat Burrell

Nothing's changed. Here's the latest Sun Times piece to prove it.

Matt Lindstrom

A quick update on everybody's favorite Marlin reliever nowadays:

The Texas Rangers and, to a lesser degree, the Tampa Bay Rays are among teams inquiring about the Marlins' hard-throwing right-hander — even though Lindstrom had an inconsistent season.

Bobby Abreu

USA Today has a somewhat interesting note about the contract offer the Rays made last year to Abreu:

Two years ago, the Yankees gave Jorge Posada, a catcher who had turned 36 on Aug. 17, a four-year, $52 million contract. A year later, they let outfielder Bobby Abreu, then 34, walk away after he posted at least 100 RBI for the sixth season in a row.

Abreu spent most of the winter waiting for a big payday. There were plenty of offers, with 10 teams expressing interest, agent Peter Greenberg says, yet only the Tampa Bay Rays offered more than a one-year deal.

The Rays also offered more money than he wound up signing for.

Matt Capps

From the Post-Gazette:

Two sources confirmed yesterday that the Pirates have threatened to non-tender Capps, although that tends to be a negotiating tactic.

[...]

Several teams have asked the Pirates about Capps, including the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays.

Such a move would seemingly lower Capps value, but maybe Neal Huntington knows something I don't.

---

More to come.

Mike Gonzalez an option for White Sox?

Eli Greenspan — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:52:20 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

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INDIANAPOLIS- The White Sox need a reliever.

Bobby Jenks was a solid closer last season, but was not the dominant closer the White Sox had hoped for. Adding a top reliever would give the back-end of the bullpen some much needed relief and give Ozzie Guillen the option of moving Bobby Jenks out of the closer spot if necessary.

Free agent Mike Gonzalez is drawing considerable interest, but the soon-to-be 32 year old would be in a similar role in Chicago, rotation between the 8th and 9th inning. Gonzalez dominated lefties, holding hitters to a career .201 average.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Mike Gonzalez	5-4	80	0	0	0	10	7	74.1	56	28	20	7	33	90	2.42	1.20

The White Sox are also looking to add a leadoff hitter and designated hitter, but are keeping a tight lip on who that may be. After adding Jake Peavy, how much money they have available is in question.

Vladimir Guerrero is an option, who is reportedly looking at a one year deal worth 7-9 million dollars. For the outfielder, Coco Crisp is an option and sources say Scott Podsednik could be had if all else fails. They are reportedly also looking at Johnny Damon.

Bobby Jenks Cements His Place as White Sox Regular Most-Likely to be Traded this Off-Season

The Cheat — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:47:18 -0000

More photos » by Paul Beaty - AP

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Free agency is 24 hours old, and the supposedly inactive White Sox are keeping things interesting. As you've no doubt heard by now, they're supposedly close to a bringing in Omar Vizquel to play a backup role, and now Joe Cowley has won the weekend with some juicy quotes from Bobby Jenks and Ozzie Guillen:

"Did I feel I was being picked on? No," Jenks said in a phone interview. "But I felt I was the easy scapegoat because I had struggled in the end with some nagging injuries. This organization, just like most in this game, tell you, 'Come in, our door is open and tell us what's on your mind.' And when you do, they turn it around on you and make you feel bad. They're playing on your own words. They want you to come in, be honest and then they turn it around."

There's more... I'd post it, but I'd just be ripping off the entire article. Head on over to the Sun-Times and read Cowley's piece, then come back here to make some cracks about Orlando Cabrera's sexual partners.

White Sox Make "News" at GM Meetings

The Cheat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:38:00 -0000

More photos » by M. Spencer Green - AP

Kenny Williams: The Newsmaker

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Not much happens at the GM meetings. But this year those meetings are taking place in Chicago -- an unnamed hotel near O'hare, actually -- which means the local Chicago rags can afford to send their writers to cover the relative non-event. So we've got a lot to link to for a week after the World Series ended:

There was a reason I refused to put Scott Podsednik in the See Ya Later group and called him a cock-a-roach (in my best Tony Montana voice) on Facebook, he's not going to go away that easily. Those talks that seemed to be dead last week, have, according to the ubiquitous sources, "heated up."
One player who will be gone, is Jermaine Dye. Some speculated that he might be brought back on the cheap to play DH, but JD, while not specifically ruling out the Sox, insists on ruining some as-yet-to-be-determined team's defense.

"There are a number of teams I've heard already that would love to have me,'' Dye said. "I know one thing, I will not be DHing. You can put that down. If a team wants to try me out at first base on an every day basis I'll do that. That's something I feel will be easy to learn. But as far as DHing that's not for me. Teams shouldn't call if that's their plan.''
Bruce Levine seems to think the Sox are going to hang on to Bobby Jenks, and gets the Chicago GMs on the record about instant replay.
Kenny Williams echoed my sentiment about Alexei Ramirez:

"I personally thought it was terribly unfair, the criticism (Ramirez) got," Williams said. "Of course, the lapses are somewhat frustrating, but I expect those as a young player. I expect those coming from young players. That's part of the development."
Williams also joined in raising concerns about the leaking of players names who've been placed on the waiver wire.
And Joe Crede still wants to play for half a season.

Throwback Uniforms: A's and White Sox (1929)

ZombieMonta — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:00:21 -0000

On August 16th, the Oakland Athletics celebrated the 80th anniversary of the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics, who won the World Series, by dressing up in their old uniforms from the '29 season. $18 outfield tickets were dropped to $9.29, $30 box seats were dropped to $19.29, and 10,000 fans walked away with retro A's jerseys. A's manager Bob Geren came out in a suit and tie, a nod to the legendary skipper of the 1929 team, Connie Mack. There was also a pregame parade of Model A cars, music was played from that era, and the public address announcer called the game from an old-time microphone near the playing field.

The Chicago White Sox, who were the A's opponents that day, even played along by wearing their duds from the '29 season. Overall, the amount of attention the Athletics put into the promotion was terrific, worthy of an A+. But what about those A's and Sox uniforms? Were they good enough to be worn on a regular basis or should they have been left in the past? Find out after the jump...

The 1929 Athletics went 104-46 and beat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series in five games. That team featured four Hall of Famers: Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove. Other excellent players on the roster included Mule Hass, Bing Miller, and George Ershaw, who led the team with a 24-8 record. Also in this game, the grandchildren of Jimmie Foxx and Connie Mack threw out the ceremonial first pitches.

The A's won it again in 1930, which was their last championship before moving to Kansas City in 1955. After 13 terrible seasons in Missouri, where they finished no higher than sixth in the American League, the Athletics moved to Oakland where they've been ever since. The White Sox have stayed in Chicago since they joined the American League in 1900.

The White Sox uniforms looked okay. The gray and dark blue went well with each other, and I dig the SOX logo on the baseball cap. But the giant SOX on the left side of the shirt could use some improvement. The current SOX logo that the team wears, which has a Gothic spin to it, looks much better and doesn't stick out as much.

Okay, see here's the problem with the '29 A's uniforms: they are completely blank except for a stripe on the pants, a blue A, and an exaggerated neck line. And I'm sure a neckline that goes down to the buttons was a good idea at the time, however, it looks a little... phallic, if you know what I mean.

Poor Bob Geren, no wonder he got ejected in the ninth inning. An umpire isn't going to take you seriously when your shirt looks like that.

The highlight of the game came in the bottom of the ninth, when A's second baseman Mark Ellis hit the game-winning, walk-off homer with two outs. Here we see him celebrating with his teammates. The blue helmet with the white A looks solid -- just so you know I don't totally hate the jerseys.

Overall:

I have to come down kind of hard on the Athletics uniforms. I'm not against retro promotions, especially when it lowers the ticket prices, and I think it's cool that the A's were respectful enough to honor the '29 team. That being said, if you gave these to the current A's and you told them that they'd being wearing them full-time, I guarantee they'd recoil in horror. I'm sure they looked great in black and white photographs in 1929, but they don't look good today. Chicago's isn't much better, though at least theirs could blend into a later decade.

Final Grades:

Classic Athletics home uniform: D

Classic White Sox road uniform: C

Photos taken by Ben Margot, Associated Press

MLB Trade Rumors: On the Beat with John Perrotto Version

raygu — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:00:37 -0000

by Eric Risberg - AP

2 months ago: Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Chad Billingsley takes a break on the mound after the San Francisco Giants scored their third run in the fourth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. San Francisco won the game 7-2; Billingsley was the losing pitcher. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

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Every Sunday, John Perrotto from Baseball Prospectus puts out an article talking about possible trade rumors and signings, along with analysis of the goings on around baseball. Yesterday's article was chock full of names who could be available in trade talks this offseason, with some suprise names.

Let's take a look after the jump:

Here is a list of names who could be available in trade talks per Perrotto:

Chad Billingsley Kerry Wood

Dave Bush Bobby Jenks

Jeremy Guthrie Pat Burrell

Adrian Gonzalez Nelson Cruz

Heath Bell Ryan Ludwick

Glen Perkins Dan Uggla

Kenshin Kawakami Juan Pierre

Derek Lowe Ryan Doumit

Javier Vazquez Dioner Navarro

Carlos Zambrano Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Matt Capps Geovany Soto

Christian Guzman Elijah Dukes

Corey Hart David Dejesus

Poll

What name on the Perrotto list is most surprising?

Ryan Ludwick

39 votes

Geovany Soto

61 votes

Chad Billingsley

116 votes

Ryan Doumit

17 votes

233 votes | Poll has closed

White Sox Show Their Hand With Teahen Trade

The Cheat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:35:43 -0000

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Two days ago, as the Yankees marched on to yet another purchased World Series title, the White Sox appeared like they could take any number of routes to fill out their '10 lineup. I had planned on writing an SSS Official Off-Season Plan as I have in the past -- quick synopsis: upgrade IF defense by negotiating with the devil. Buy Adrian Beltre, shift the left side of the infield one space right. Find a cheap scrapheap corner outfielder. I was thinking Xavier Nady (also a Boras client) and re-up with Jim Thome -- but Kenny Williams had other ideas, wasting no time in reshaping the '10 roster.

Jettisoned (for sure): Jermaine Dye, Josh Fields, Chris Getz; (maybe): Scott Podsednik (I'm never going to write off his return)

Returning: Mark Kotsay

Newcomer: Mark Teahen

We basically knew all those moves Thursday morning, but it still wasn't apparent how the Sox would use Teahen. My own thought was that it would mean an end to our years of having a lumbering, full-time DH on the roster. In that scenario, Teahen would have played 3B/OF and Pods probably would have been back as well, rotating with any number of players through the DH spot. But Kenny erased that notion by naming Teahen the White Sox 3rd baseman of the immediate future.

What does it all mean for the '10 roster?

The moves leave the Sox with two obvious holes at Designated Hitter and a corner outfield spot. DH is unlikely to be filled anytime soon, as the Sox don't have much to spend and the bottom has fallen out of the defensively-challenged hitter market in recent years. It's likely that the Sox will go bargain hunting as the calendar turns to February, with Williams not ruling out bringing back Jim Thome or even Dye.

"I don't think you can rule it out because it's a long offseason," said Williams, adding he might not fill the designated hitter role until the latter part of the winter. "We just got started. Everyone knows I think the world of this guy."

The remaining corner outfield spot is a bit trickier. The Sox stand with about $90M committed to their players making above the league minimum (arbitration figures estimated), and an operating budget that figures to come in under $100M. It's unlikely that they can bring in adequate talent at those two premium offensive positions on the open market for less than $10M. This means a trade, of course, is on the horizon; and Bobby Jenks seems like the most likely to leave.

Phil Rogers seems eager to remove Paul Konerko's $12M contract, though he never provides a team willing to take on that contract, or how the Sox will replace his production.

No, I suspect Jenks-for-an-outfielder will be the rumor of the off-season; and it's already started courtesy Joe Cowley with a Jenks and Jordan Danks for Carl Crawford postulation on 670 the score. We'll have plenty of time to discuss these rumors over the winter.

For now, let's take a look at what it means for the Sox as they stand currently:

Beckham moves to 2nd -- In my unpublished off-season plan, I wanted to move Beckham off third not because I didn't think he could play there, but because I thought it was the best way to upgrade both offense and defense at the same time. I don't particularly care which infield spot he gets moved to. Alexei Ramirez committed a number of errors and short, yes; and he was a bit of an adventure turning the double play. But he was solid, and overall a reliable glove in the field.

I learned after the 2000 season not to get upset at an adequate shortstop who draws the ire of radio call-in guests with some high profile errors. Every shortstop makes errors, and most of them are of the 'bad' variety. Alexei is no different than any host of major league shortstops. He was the definition of average defensively. He was merely frustrating because he showed plus range and the ability to make some spectacular plays, but negated it by making the occasional annoyingly lackadaisical error, which he seemed to correct as the season wore on. (He was probably one of the top 5 defensive SS in baseball in the second half). I'll take my chances that he's more the second-half Alexei than first-half.

So Beckham moves to second base, a position that would seem to be more natural for him, and his predicted destination since being drafted in '08. He should have no trouble making the transition, as we saw him make considerable progress at 3B over the course of the season. My only complaint is that if the Sox had this in mind, there was no reason not to be playing Beckham at 2B over the last month of the season when the Sox were clearly out of the AL central race.

As for Teahen at third, um, yeah, that's another story. He's bad defensively. Not quite Josh Fields bad, but close enough that he shouldn't be considered a first option, and isn't the type of player who pushes a franchise player like Beckham to another position.

Offensively, Teahen is living off his reputation from a breakout '06 season when he put up and ISO of .225. In the three years since, he's averaged an ISO of about .135. He has the glove of Mark Reynolds, and the bat of Pedro Feliz.

Watching Teahen bat against the White Sox in recent years, you might get the impression that he was a speedy baserunner, as I seem to recall two separate inside-the-park homeruns. And while he did use Kauffman's expansive outfield to pile up 23 triples in his first 4 seasons, he managed only 1 last season. Diving into the Bill James Handbook, Teahen is listed as having a negative impact on the bases last year due to his ability to run into key outs. James also has a measure called Manufactured Runs Created, a measure of the little things (bunts, steals, sac flies, etc.) impact on creating runs. In this category, Teahen ranked among the Royals top 3 at 16 MRC. But the Royals ranked last in the league, and Teahen appears to be marginally above average here. (A full data set was not provided, and I'm not going to draw any conclusions based on a year of data.)

Teahen's only under contract for a year, and, thanks to the $2M from the Royals, should only cost the Sox about $2.5M. So maybe he's just a stop-gap, future utility guy, and the Sox have supreme confidence in their 3B depth (Retherford, Viciedo, Morel).

So what did the Sox gain by adding Teahen? Not much in my view. They didn't give up anything of value. Chris Getz is the best player they gave up, and he might be able to post some league average production at his peak (if he can stay healthy).

Overall, it was the right idea -- getting a 3B to move Beckham to a more natural position -- but Teahen is the wrong player to take the Sox to the next level.

Rosterbation-Mania!

U-God — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:18:10 -0000

More photos » by Ted S. Warren - AP

Raise your hand if you want to play for the White Sox next year. Esteban, please put your hand down. Seriously though, Esteban, you aren't welcome. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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Over the past couple days, and inspired by the infamous U.S.S. Mariner post and the on-going reader input over at Sox Machine, I've been putting together my off-season plan. I tried to keep it as realistic as possible (no video game trades), especially in terms of payroll. Feel encouraged to leave your own roster plans in the comments section. U-God's 2010 plan lies after the jump.

Free Agent Acquistions:

DH- Nick Johnson, 1 year/5.5 mil

I love Jim Thome and always will. He is my back-up plan. With that being said, I would be thrilled if KW went out and got Nick Johnson. The 31 year old lefty has a career .849 OPS fueled largely by his .402 career OBP. Johnson also allows us to rotate Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin in at DH as well. He does come with injury-risks, but using him mainly as a DH in combination with one of the premier medical staffs in baseball should counteract that. The injury risk combined with the down market should allow the Sox to grab him at a reasonable price for a year.

RF- Marlon Byrd, 1 year/4.5 mil

Byrd would be a very refreshing change of pace out in rightfield. He has posted an OPS above .800 each year since joining the American League and has been an above-average defender in right as well. His career high 20 homers last year will guarentee him a raise, though probably a modest one. Byrd also provides a nice stop-gap for our outfield prospects.

C- Brian Schneider, 1 year/1.5 mil

Schneider's days as a starter are over. He's a lefty-catcher who has had good success stopping opponent's run games (38 CS%). Being a backup drops his price tag and lowers his risk of getting hurt again.

1B/OF- Mark Kotsay, 1 year/1.5 mil

Bring him back. He was good after we traded for him and gives Ozzie more flexibility with his bench and lineups.

Contract Extension:

Offer John Danks the Jon Lester deal (5 years/30 mil). It's a back-loaded contract that buys out John's arbitration years and allows him to hit free agency at age 31. It may take more money to lock him up, but for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to use the Lester deal.

Batting Order:

DH- Nick Johnson, 3B- Gordon Beckham, LF- Carlos Quentin, 1B- Paul Konerko, C- A.J. Pierzynski, CF- Alex Rios, RF- Marlon Byrd, SS- Alexei Ramirez, 2B- Chris Getz.

That OBP in front of Beckham gives me dirty thoughts.

Bench:

C- Brian Schneider, 1B/OF- Mark Kotsay, UTIL- Jayson Nix, OF- Alejandro De Aza

Nix gives pop off the bench and De Aza gives Ozzie a speedy pinch-runner for late in the game.

Starting Rotation:

Jake Peavy-RHP, Mark Buehrle-LHP, Gavin Floyd-RHP, John Danks-LHP, Freddy Garcia-RHP

I like the idea of having Peavy and Garcia pitch back to back.

Bullpen:

Bobby Jenks-CL, Matt Thornton-LHP, Scott Linebrink-RHP, DJ Carrasco-RHP, Tony Peña-RHP, Jhonny Nuñez-RHP, Randy Williams-LHP

I wanted to trade Jenks, but his value is too low right now and I don't want a repeat of the Nick Swisher trade.

Other Costs:

$1 mil buy-out for Jermaine Dye

$.35 mil for Mike MacDougal, damn him

Team Payroll:

$96.65 mil, only .55 higher than last season's opening salary. All figures (except my FAs and arbitration guesstimates) taken from Cot's Baseball Contracts.

Fantasy Baseball: 2010 AL Closer Dynasty/Keeper Rankings

Ian, yo — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:05:47 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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1. Mariano Rivera- Another year older, another year of a sub 2.00 ERA. I do think Mo's age will catch up with him one day, whether it be in the form of injury or inefective-itis, but I don't think that will be 2010. I think Rivera will have another season of 35+ saves and excellent peripherals.

2. Joe Nathan- Had a career high 47 saves and while he had the highest ERA in 4 years, a 2.10, isn't really all that bad. Look for an ERA around 2 with 35+ saves again and a K/9 possibly hovering over 10.

3. Jonathan Papelbon- Numbers close to career averages except a BB/9 of over 3, which is the highest since he'd been put in the closer role. Boston fans seem fed up with him and the Sox have a closer in waiting in Daniel Bard. Don't be surprised to hear Papelbon's name floated in trade rumors.

4. Joakim Soria- Posted the highest K/9 in his career and saved 30 games while missing time in 2009. Expect another season with peripherals hovering in the same area but don't be surprised to see another year with a low save total.

5. David Aardsma- Career highs across the board, including innings pitched. This will be the first time Aardsma has played back to back seasons in the same city, which could help his cause extremely and maybe provide the consistency needed.

6. Brian Fuentes- Had the most saves in baseball in 2009, but had a large drop in K/9 and a spike in whip (1.40 with a career of 1.26) He may get you a high total, but it may not be pretty.

7. Andrew Bailey- Logged 83.1 innings as a rookie so you can definitely see a regression. A regression could be a jump in whip and ERA, but expect the K's to be there.

8. J.P. Howell/Other- The closer situation in Tampa is a bit sketchy, but I don't feel confident with any of the closers left on this list, so Howell gets this by default. Keep in mind that the Rays could go out and get a closer in free agency or trade (hint: Billy Wagner.) If they do, that person would likely be number eight still.

9. Frank Francisco- Spent many weeks on the DL in the 2009 season, and had an ERA floating on the high end of the 3's. Possibly due to the injuries. I'm fine taking a closer on a solid offensive team this late.

10. Bobby Jenks/Matt Thornton/Other- Whispers have been spreading about Kenny Williams sending a letter mentioning his veterans being available in trades and Jenks was fairly disappointing in 2009. Thornton has the stuff to be a nasty closer and 2010 could be the season it happens.

Wednesday Afternoon Quick Hits

Eli Greenspan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:36:57 -0000

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

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Here are some links for you guys on this Wednesday afternoon:

Before I get to the links, I have a MLBDD-related announcement: Are you interested in writing for MLB Daily Dish once or twice a week? If you have knowledge of all thirty teams and are available to write once or twice a week for a portion of the day, please email me here. In your email, include some of your writing background, as well as two articles, displaying your knowledge of a particular situation or concept.

If you have any questions about the openings, feel free to email me: mlbrumors@gmail.com.

Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told reporters that interim manager Jim Riggleman has a legitimate shot to return as manager in 2010. The Nationals are expected to explore the market, possibly interviewing former managers like Mike Hargrove, Buck Showalter, or Bobby Valentine. The search is expected to begin after the season.
The New York Daily News is reporting that Mets would like to bring Alex Cora back for the 2010 season. Cora is currently on the disabled list, but his versatility makes him a desirable bench player. An inexpensive one year deal should do the trick.
35-year old sidearmer Chad Bradford may retire after this season, he told the St. Petersburg Times. Bradford, who said his decision won't come until January, hasn't had a full season since 2007 with the Orioles. He has a career 3.26 ERA in 561 appearances.
The Rangers would be smart to use Marlin Byrd in center field next season, FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal suggests. The Rangers need to sign Byrd first, which might be tough after putting up career highs in home runs and runs batted in. Still, there is a mutual interest so a deal is possible.
The White Sox may move closer Bobby Jenks after this season. Jenks, who is not a free agent until 2011, who has 29 saves with a 3.71 ERA in 52 games. The Braves could target Jenks as their closer, assuming they let Rafael Soriano walk.
Check this out! Mariners television broadcaster Mike Blowers predicted that Matt Tuiasosopo will hit a home run. It wasn't just predicting the home run, he predicted to what part of the field, the count, and which at-bat. Very impressive.