Bobby Jenks has had some outstanding years as the Sox closer. But his velocity and save % have gone down in the past few years. At this point, do you believe he's still their best option as the closer? or do you believe Putz or Thornton should be inserted into that role?? If a change were to be made, would you switch Jenks to a set-up guy, or trade him to another team??

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I think they have to stick with Jenks.

For one, I'm not convinced that he is really in decline. He has stated in past years (post 05) that he has made a conscious decision not to throw his fastball as hard as he really can in most situations in the interest of preserving his arm. I believe this to be true. While he generally throws it in the mid 90's these days, I have noticed that he will be up around 99 in situations where the game is truly on the line and he needs a strikeout. Also, when his curveball is right, I don't think it matters if his fastball is coming in at 90, 95 or 100.

The other issue is that I don't think they have another viable candidate for the closer role. Thornton is a terrific set-up guy, but he doesn't have the makeup to be a closer. Getting 3 outs in the 9th is a whole different animal from getting outs in the 7th or 8th. I seem to recall that Thornton got some save opportunities while Jenks was hurt in 08 and did not do well. He had been nearly unhittable as an 8th inning guy earlier in that season and turned to shit when they asked him to start pitching the 9th. (Interestingly, the same thing happened to Linebrink. He was actually very effective for the 1st half of the 08 season. Then, they started using him in some save opportunities and he shit the bed and has continued to shit it ever since.) I haven't seen enough of Putz to say for certain, but he does not appear to me to be a guy who would be an improvement over Jenks.

He was throwing in the mid 90's yesterday, and I thought his curve was fine, he just gave Thome a fat pitch to hit with 2 strikes. If Jenks is switched, it's because he's not getting the job done and is blowing games - I doubt another team would trade for that. He'd probably fall out of any late innings role for the short-term while they try to fix him, and then slowly re-insert into 7th/8th innings - assuming Putz or Thornton (or Santos) earns the role, I doubt they'd put Jenks back into the spot.

For now, I'm fine with Jenks though.

I don't know where you are getting your information, but I watched his appearance against the Twinkies, he was throwing the heater at 96, so to conclude after 2 appearances that "his velocity is down" is at best inconclusive at this point. The last couple years he has relied more on his curveball as a strikeout pitch anyway. Why do people want to replace the closer? If he starts blowing games, fine, but until that happens leave him alone. The back opf the bullpen is the least of the Sox problems right now.

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My only concern about the back of the bullpen is the amount of innings that they are getting early on due to the amount of low scoring/close games thus far and a few extra inning games. I don't want to burn out Thornton in April / May because the offense can't score runs.

I will enjoy the emergence of Sergio Santos as Jenks closes the rest of this year

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Even though I feel Matt Thornton could easily close for this White Sox team if something happened to Bobby Jenks this season, I thought I heard something about Sergio Santos, the converted infielder turned reliever, as a potential long-term closer of the future for this team. I don't know if it was Sun-Times/SCORE insider Joe Cowley or if it was Steve Stone, but I'm not sure Santos has a future as a closer...

Dude has some wicked offspeed stuff. Keyser's guy looks very good early on here.

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Putz can easily close for this team as well. Before his injury, he had two seasons of 35+ saves in a row. I think you can't go wrong with either guy. It is a nice situation to be in.

I'm not sure what you base that upon, in limited action he has been able to locate 3 if not 4 good pitches, and he does not look scared at all out there. AJ puts down the fingers, and he throws it. Ozzie has been running him out there in higher leverage situations. If a guy can throw 97 and locate his other pitches, there is absolutely no reason not to consider him as a short reliever until he has proven that he can't handle the job.

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Isn't that why they play the games?

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I don't know if he does or doesn't, but he's earning a spot in the 7th/8th innings right now.

Yeah no idea what SHARK is thinking about there. Now accuse me of being a meatball fan but the guy is a great story, he truly came out of nowhere. He has pitched professionally for only about 30 innings on any level but unbelievably, has demonstrated command of his pitches and doesn't appear to be fazed whatsoever by big league hitters. Did i mention that he throws 97 MPH

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