Bench Geoff Jenkins

Recently Geoff Jenkins has been on the bench because So Taguchi is Charlie Manuel’s best option in the lead off spot. But who will platoon the Phillies outfield after the return of Shane Victorino? My concern is that Jenkins will return to right field and Jayson Werth will be relegated to the bench. I’m on record as not being a big fan of the Jenkins signing. I thought he would not bat for a high enough average with mediocre power and play atrocious defense. I was right.

AB R HR RBI BB SB AVG OBP SLG
Geoff Jenkins 64 6 1 3 4 0 .250 .294 .359
Jayson Werth 50 9 3 8 8 2 .300 .407 .540

Jayson Werth has outperformed Geoff Jenkins by a wide margin in every single statistical category. In addition Werth’s fielding ability and throwing arm are far better the Jenkins. There is no reason to play Jenkins over Werth. Jayson could easily go 20-20 while hitting close to .300. Jenkins hasn’t played poorly. However, that truth doesn’t change the fact that an objective analyst can’t reasonable believe that Werth is the best option. I only hope that Charlie Manuel comes to this realization sooner rather than later.

Big Props to My Boy Carlos

I a huge Carlos Ruiz fan. Carlos is a great baseball player. He does everything well. He has a little power, speed, and is a good defensive player. Catchers don't receive nearly enough credit when a team succeeds.

Tonight he had a huge two out hit that broke the game open. It was an absolutely great at bat. With two outs and the bases loaded Ruiz stepped up to the plate. Ball one was a close pitch with lots of movement. On pitch two of the at bat Carlos took the other way and knocked in two runs with a huge double. Now that's how you play the game.