At Least They Did Something...?

While Jenkins is a so-called “power-hitter,” he’s by no means a Pat Burrell. As hard as it may seem, Jenkins makes Burrell look like a solid player. Jenkins had a steadier batting average through each month of the season (hovering around .240 and .250), which meant that he never hit a Burrell-esque .129, but it’s unlikely that he’ll ever hit .435 in a month, as well. Jenkins hit his peak in 2000, amassing 34 home runs and 94 RBIs, but he’s also proved that he’s never been able to do much more at the plate than whack a few. After showing some semblance of plate-patience the past few years, Jenkins only had 32 walks last year. Burrell had a career-high 114. In a time when you think Pat Burrell has reached his ceiling as a power-player, there are still others to actually make you feel pretty good about where he’s going.

The left-handed Jenkins is expected to compliment and platoon with Jason Werth in right field, theoretically playing to both players’ strengths. That’s how the brass and a sizable portion of the media want to spin it, anyway. Jenkins appeared in 54 games against left-handed pitchers, batting .215; however, he bat .262 against right-handers and accumulated 18 of his 21 home runs from that side. This works with Werth because he hasn’t played a full season in the majors, and only hit .253 against righties (yes, only), and .375 against lefties. Unless we’re going on pure power stats here, this is not a significant upgrade. Werth is a better fielder, and had more walks (44) than Jenkins in 38 fewer games.

I'm not very impressed with the Phillies' offseason. They brought in a questionable closer, and sent Brett Myers, who has yet to fully "break out" as a starter, back to the rotation. What else is there that could be done?

1) Kris Benson is still on the market, and drawing interest from several teams. He's coming off a torn labrum injury, but reports from his public workouts have been good. His career numbers are better than Adam Eaton's, and even if he doesn't pan out, I'm OK with wasting my money in hopes of improving our pitching.

2) For the same reason, why aren't the Phillies checking in with Mark Prior? He's got the most potential out of anyone on the market. If Gillick won't even watch him throw, much less attempt to give him a one-year contract, I'd have no problem calling him a hypocrite. I appreciate the effort on the Freddy Garcia deal, but don't be afraid to take risks, Mr. GM. Your mission this offseason is to improve the pitching, not pretentiously write off players.

3) Another name that's been thrown into the rumor mill is Akinori Otsuka, the former Texas bullpen ace. This is another player who is coming off injury. A sore elbow cost Otsuka half of last year. However, he did have 32 saves and a 2.11 ERA in 2006. Beyond that, he still has an impressive track record as a set-up man and closer. Texas said they couldn't reach a contract agreement because the two sides were not able to agree on a "shared-risk deal." Part of me hopes they get Otsuka, even if he can't throw right away, but another part doubts that the Rangers, a team that needs pitching, would let him walk away.

Image Credit: Flickr user Rafael Guzmán