OzzieBall

I’m as big of a Bobby Jenks fan as there is. Got the t-shirts, have a jersey, think the guy has done the job in the past with flying colors. This year, Bobby is having issues and in my opinion has had more than enough time to work them out at closer level. Ozzie seemed to allude to the fact that he agrees with this sentiment and Bobby won’t be closing games here in the near future.

Bobby’s velocity seems good, maybe too good. When he was effective and had pretty good control he was topping off about 94-95MPH. Lately it seems he’s back in the 97MPH mark but getting lit up. That says to me he’s leaving the ball over the plate and not hitting the corners like he should be. I know there are some closers who rely on the 100MPH fastball to get guys out, Bobby isn’t one of them. A 90-95MPH fastball coupled with his killer 12 to 6 curve are deadly weapons. Throw a decent slider in there and you have a good closer.

I know there are some fans who think Bobby is done, but I’m not one of them. I just think Bobby needs to clear his mind and stick with the game plan that got him where he is today. I’m sure his ego may take a little bruising in the process, but that’s not always a bad thing. Plenty of people gave up on Scott Podsednik before the White Sox gave him a chance to play again last year and a lot of people had given up on Andruw Jones after two bad seasons. They’re both playing at All Star levels once again and I believe Bobby Jenks can too.

In the meantime, it sounds like Ozzie wants to go with a closer by committee. I guess we have a DH by committee, why not a closer. The problem is the DH by committee is hitting in the .200 range so let’s hope the relief corps do a little bit better.

If you had to pick a closer replacement for Bobby Jenks from within the Sox ranks, who would it be? I’d be pretty evenly split between Matt Thornton and Sergio Santos based on their performance so far this year. Both have somewhat of a flaw with Thornton being left handed and Santos being a rookie who wasn’t even a pitcher before this season. JJ Putz has pretty good stuff and has shown the medal to be a closer in the past so maybe he gets the call. What do you think?