The Phillies are scouting Bobby Jenks and J.J. Putz of the White Sox, according to Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago.com. Philadelphia is "among a couple of teams" looking at the White Sox and trying to project which players will be available if they are unable to get back into the AL Central race in the next few weeks.
Jenks and Putz would help solidify the back end of the Phillies' bullpen, which is their main area of concern. Jenks, 29, has 12.0 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 with a 5.40 ERA in 16 appearances this season. However, he has looked strong in his last three outings where he surrendered two hits and no runs. Putz, 33, has a 3.95 ERA with 11.9 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 13.2 innings.
Jenks will make $7.5MM after avoiding arbitration with the White Sox this offseason. Tim recently wrote that Jenks is a non-tender candidate. Meanwhile, Putz is set to earn $3MM in 2010 with the opportunity to earn more through incentives.
Following a team meeting on Wednesday, White Sox GM Kenny Williams told reporters that he has been politely turning down overtures from other teams to make a deal. However, if they continue to struggle, it's hard to imagine Williams keeping that stance.
Taking either one of these guys will decrease the odds of Phili winning this year.
But it would be nice to see Jenks change teams without lighting himself on fire for a change.
Good luck and good riddance to both of them.
Bobby Jenks?? Why the heck didn’t we just keep Brett Myers??
Because they can’t see into the future? The Phillies didn’t think that both Lidge and Madson would be out.
Madson I understand, but Lidge? The guy had two off-season surgeries, this all should have been expected with him.
Like I said, they didn’t think that BOTH Lidge and Madson would be out. They figured that if Lidge was injured, they would have Madson to fall back on. Apparently they were wrong, but still, they couldn’t have foreseen that. He’s been pretty durable.
Another headcase just what the Phils need
send jenks to the phillies for a mid level prospect the whitesox stil have 3 in house closer candidates in thonrton, putz, and santos get jenks outta there, hell send them garcia too for the hell of it