Friday, November 11, 2005

KYLE F-ING FARNSWORTH?

ESPN.com had a stupid poll in which they asked the following:

12) What should the White Sox do with Bobby Jenks?

(a) Trust him as the closer, with Dustin Hermanson, Damaso Marte and Luis Vizcaino as insurance.

(b) Keep him as the closer but pursue pricey veteran insurance like Tom Gordon, Bob Howry or Octavio Dotel.

(c) Move him to set-up work and pursue a FA closer like B.J. Ryan, Billy Wagner or Kyle Farnsworth.

Kyle Farnsworth is a closer now? I had no idea that Mr. Tightpants was a closer. I was confused, since he has 20 career saves in over 400 career games. Granted, 16 of them were in 2005, but that is less than a month of work for the elite closers in the game. He is also no Eric Gagne, who was a bust as a starter, then became a closer. The Cubs tried to make Mr. Tightpants into a closer for about 350 of those 400 career games, and if the Tigers and Braves think he is a closer, why is he a free agent?

Even granting that Mr. Tightpants is a good fighter (see his patented move here, as well as the result of that moved against Cincinnati here and here), brawling does not a closer make. Especially in the same sentence with Billy Wagner.

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