Why the Mets are looking to give up more players from their farm system is beyond me. There is a big enough market for free agent closers out there, I'd rather dish out the dough for one of them instead of trading away talent.
Ken Davidoff takes a look at Jenks or Francisco Rodriguez on his Baseball Insider blog:
I think I'd vote for a Jenks trade. Remember, in the Santana trade, the Mets gave up top chips for really just one year of Santana. After that, the Mets had to treat Santana like a free agent.
But Jenks is a proven commodity, and if he somehow flops, he won't drain the payroll and roster flexibility as would K-Rod (who, interestingly, is younger than Jenks, despite having three more years of service time compiled).
(This argument is made only for Jenks versus K-Rod. Brian Fuentes or Kerry Wood or even Trevor Hoffman were not figured into this article.)
I understand his point in choosing Jenks here, as last year K-Rod struggled a bit with allowing runners, but seems to be able to work out of it time and time again. Was it luck? Was it skill? Omar Minaya might not want to take the chance, especially with a fanbase of fragile, skeptical Queens faithful due to the inept bullpen over the last two seasons.
I don't mean to downplay Jenks' contribution to the White Sox. He's tallied 117 saves in three plus seasons, closing the book on 41, 40 and 30 games respectively since 2006. He's under team control until 2011, but is arbitration elegible. His price will go up, but it's still miniscule compared to what K-Rod is asking. (Jenks made $550,000 in 2008.)
Still, with a new stadium, a flourishing TV network and a half-decent team bringing in money, I'd much rather see the team sign a slightly bloated paycheck over draining the farm system anymore than it already has been. Sign over trade.