Geoff Jenkins or Kevin Mench

[gobucks106]

I just read where Jenkins our Mench could be made available before opening day. Would either one be a nice fit in our outfield. Jenkins could add some pop and is a good defensive outfielder, more so than Mench. Mench is three years younger 29 vs 32 and does not strike out as much. Much smaller salary too. About 375K vs 7.7 mil. I personally like Jenkins. He could play right and add some pop, nice club house guy. Strikes out a lot, not what we need but we need more offense out of our outfield now that Kearns is gone,

[oneupper]

We have 5 outfielders on the 25 man. Dunn, Griffey, Deno, Freel and Hamilton along with Conine who can stand out there also.

Don't see the need for these guys.

[Tom Servo]

We have 5 outfielders on the 25 man. Dunn, Griffey, Deno, Freel and Hamilton along with Conine who can stand out there also.

Don't see the need for these guys.

There is a need for a true middle of the lineup hitter though, and Jenkins or Mench would fit that bill.

[dunner13]

I like the idea of adding one of them, my only concern is I really think we need someone who can play center and push junior over to right. Cocco Crisp could be a nice fit, hes not the middle of the lineup hitter we need though. But if EE and Ross step up, we get 500 at bats from junior we could be ok with on offense, not great but good enough to win. Then if votto takes 1st over by the second half of the season and hits for some power we could be alright.

[remdog]

I just read where Jenkins our Mench could be made available before opening day. Would either one be a nice fit in our outfield. Jenkins could add some pop and is a good defensive outfielder, more so than Mench. Mench is three years younger 29 vs 32 and does not strike out as much. Much smaller salary too. About 375K vs 7.7 mil. I personally like Jenkins. He could play right and add some pop, nice club house guy. Strikes out a lot, not what we need but we need more offense out of our outfield now that Kearns is gone,

ESPN lists Mench's '06 salary at $2.6M. I'm not sure what he's due in '07 but I would have greatly preferred Mench to Conine and his $2M salary.

Rem

[RedsManRick]

Mench destroys lefties and would make an awesome platoon with Junior in RF.

Mench vL (3 years): .307/.379/.590
Griffey vR (3 years): .294/.370/.566

That right there is an all-star right fielder. But getting Junior to sit versus lefties could be tough. Of course, he could play LF and Dunn could play 1B vs lefties for all I care. The question is what is it going to take to get him (maybe they'll take Hopper :-P ). I would continue to advocate trading Freel for the best thing we can get for him.

[Topcat]

I like Sir Large Head Mench and I would stick his butt in LF and Dunn at 1st. I would offer something along the lines of Countlangus(sp?) and some low a guy and see if that is enough. They are going to dump him thats a given so why not try to make an offer.

[Newman4]

ESPN lists Mench's '06 salary at $2.6M. I'm not sure what he's due in '07 but I would have greatly preferred Mench to Conine and his $2M salary.

Rem

Mench should be arbitration eligible this season. He signed last year at 2.8 to avoid arbitration,

Kevin Mench of
1 year/$2.8M (2006), plus $50,000 in incentives

re-signed 2/06, avoided arbitration ($3.05M-$2.45M)
$50,000 in incentives ($25,000 each for 600 & 640 PAs)

1 year/$0.345M (2005), renewed 3/05

1 year/$0.345M (2004), re-signed 2/04
1 year/$0.3275M (2003) 1/03
agent: Dan Lozano (previously Ivan Schwartz)

ML service: 3.124

[Doc. Scott]

Mench is a brutal defender and couldn't play right or center.

Jenkins might work, possibly, although I know he hasn't played a lot of right, either. I don't think he can play center.

As much as the lineup could use either of those bats, I don't know that acquiring either player would help resolve the outfield mess all that much. It might, more than anything else, encourage a Dunn trade or take PT away from some of the players that deserve a shot like Denorfia.

[Ravenlord]

Mench is a brutal defender and couldn't play right or center.

Jenkins might work, possibly, although I know he hasn't played a lot of right, either. I don't think he can play center.

As much as the lineup could use either of those bats, I don't know that acquiring either player would help resolve the outfield mess all that much. It might, more than anything else, encourage a Dunn trade or take PT away from some of the players that deserve a shot like Denorfia.

Jenkins played right field almost exclusively the last two seasons.

[RedsManRick]

Unfortunately Jeff also has a brutal split against lefties. The Brewers would be smart simply to platoon those two in LF, play Clark in CF, Hart in RF, and Hall at SS. They were idiotic to sign so many unnecessary IF. They are to IF as we are to relievers.

[Doc. Scott]

Jenkins played right field almost exclusively the last two seasons.

Ah. Then acquiring him might not bung things up. But still a no on Mench.

[Handofdeath]

Mench is a brutal defender and couldn't play right or center.

Sorry, but you are wrong about Mench playing RF. He's got 224 games in RF for his career. His fielding is .993. League average is .983. Range factor 1.84 and league average is 1.86. Pretty good arm. Sounds average to above average to me. Not to mention it's hard to get comfortable in the field when Buck is shuffling you between positions. Offensively you can expect a pretty Kearns-like performance as well with a few less walks but similar power.

[Doc. Scott]

Sorry, but you are wrong about Mench playing RF. He's got 224 games in RF for his career. His fielding is .993. League average is .983. Range factor 1.84 and league average is 1.86. Pretty good arm. Sounds average to above average to me. Not to mention it's hard to get comfortable in the field when Buck is shuffling you between positions. Offensively you can expect a pretty Kearns-like performance as well with a few less walks but similar power.

Man, it's not my day, is it?

I really don't remember the guy playing RF, but that's what the numbers say.

So what would you give up, then, if you thought either of these players could be had?

[Patrick Bateman]

Sorry, but you are wrong about Mench playing RF. He's got 224 games in RF for his career. His fielding is .993. League average is .983. Range factor 1.84 and league average is 1.86. Pretty good arm. Sounds average to above average to me. Not to mention it's hard to get comfortable in the field when Buck is shuffling you between positions. Offensively you can expect a pretty Kearns-like performance as well with a few less walks but similar power.

You may have picked out the worst 2 metrics to define fielding prowess. Fielding % is completely useless. It says nothing about range. Range factor is completely dependent on opportunity.

An easier, and more accurate and simple stat is zone rating. It's not perfect (and few fielding stats are), but it does a pretty good job of measuring how good a player is at turning balls in his area of play into outs. In that cateory he has a rating of .817, which is in the same territory as Wily Mo Pena (.819), and we all know how great of a fielder he is. Among guys with a decent sample size in RF, the only noticeably worse player is Bernie Williams (.797).