August 21, 2007
Streak Over
Bobby Jenks streak of consecutive batters retired ended versus Kansas City Monday night:
Jenks entered the night needing only to sit down the first batter he faced to gain sole possession of the major-league record for consecutive batters retired.
Instead, on a 1-2 offering, slap-hitting Kansas City Royals outfielder Joey Gathright rolled a ground ball through the left side of the infield, adding even more disappointment in a summer of discontent for the Sox.
Jenks -- who now will share the record of 41 consecutive batters with San Francisco's Jim Barr (1972) -- did retire the next three to preserve the victory and pick up his 34th save in front of 35,391 at U.S. Cellular Field.
The save is what mattered, but congratulations to Jenks on a great run!
Royals Authority has more thoughts on the game from a KC fan's point of view, and notes the signing of Mark Grudzeilanek to an extension:
Terms were not announced, but the deal is thought to be around $4 million for 2008. He had a player option that would kick in at 500 plate appearances, so the Royals are basically doing their second baseman right by giving him a deal. With the time missed to injuries this year, it was unlikely that Grudz was going to hit his number.
I want to be bummed out by this, but it's difficult to feel that way. Every team needs that "veteran" leadership - a player (or players) to show the young guys the ropes and how to carry themselves as a major league player. And Grudz is an ideal veteran leader. He's professional, plays hard everyday and seems like a likable guy.
I'm not much of a Grudz fan, and paying him $4 million at age 38 strikes me as spending ten times too much money to fill the position. I'd love to see what Esteban German could do over a full season at second. So far in his career, he's done a better job of getting on base than Mark.
Posted by David Pinto at
09:06 AM
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It's not like German is rusting on the bench. The Royals have given him 335 PA's this year. So far he's turned in a .740 OPS. This year Grudz is doing .790 on 361 PA's. German does beat Grudz on career OPS.
At 29 German is no longer all that young himself. His career year may have been 2006, when he put up an .880 OPS in 331 PA's. He could bounce back to something like that, or he could continue to decline.
Maybe the best idea is to keep splitting time between German and Grudz, just to hedge bets. Four million is not much above average for an MLB player these days, so the money hardly seems outlandish to me.
Joey Gathright? Man, that has got to be disappointing. At least it could have been broken by... well, someone not on the Royals.
The thing about Grudz is that the Royals could have certainly turned him around at the deadline for some young guy who might be around to help the Royals win when they're ready - which won't be by 2008.
Congrats to Bobby Jenks! That streak is far more difficult than a pitching a perfect game, and yet gets much less notoriety. Well done, Bobby!
Check the stats Geoff, Joey's having a fine season and is in fact quite hot right now. As for the Royals they are above .500 since June 1st. German is a reserve and is more valuable in that role. He can play virtually anywhere. Grudz is a team leader and fits in well and obviously the Royals brass think he is worth it.