Jenks, who has been on the DL three times already in his Red Sox career, does not appear to be part of the bullpen formula anytime soon.
"He's not feeling better yet," Francona said. "As the doctors come in they keep looking at him. I'm not hiding anything. If I get something, I'll tell you, but we really don’t have anything."
That lack of progress for the man once penciled into the late-inning mix could be cause for alarm, if not for the continued success of Matt Albers, who has been a savior in what has developed into a rather formidable bullpen.
If not for Albers, the entire scope of the team’s efforts leading up to the trade deadline would be altered. It would look a lot like 2010, when the pen was a bit of a mess and much of the talk leading to July 31 centered on who Boston would add to fortify that area of the team.
When general manager Theo Epstein did not make a move for a reliever at the deadline, some saw it as a failure. In actuality, the asking prices for relievers was far too high, a trend that carried into the offseason, when several bullpen arms inked rather lucrative contracts, including Jenks, who signed for two years and $12 million.
Albers, however, has emerged as one of the key components for the first-place squad, all for the team-friendly cost of $875,000.
With Jenks’ season becoming a bit of a waste, it’s been a huge development.
"He's been a blessing for that bullpen," Francona added. "I mean, he's pitched some huge innings for us, basically Jenks' innings, right from the get-go."
After retiring all five men he faced in Monday’s loss to Kansas City, Albers lowered his ERA to 2.20. He has a scoreless streak of 11 1/3 innings. Fourteen of his 33 outings have lasted longer than an inning. And if you remove one rough outing against the Chicago Cubs on May 21, the righty has allowed five earned runs in 41 innings, good for a 1.10 ERA.
If the club had received such production from Jenks, it would've been thrilled. That it has received it from the man filling Jenks' shoes has turned Albers into an absolutely essential piece to a bullpen that has shaved roughly three-quarters of a run off its 2010 ERA.
Albers has gained Francona's trust in the process, getting the bulk of his outs in the seventh inning, by a wide margin.
"He kind of got thrown into that pretty early last year," the manager said. "When you get to know people, yeah, you get to trust them more because you know them. He has that trust and that's why he's pitching where he is."
And because Albers is pitching where he is, and pitching how he is, the team has weathered the continued absence of Jenks and may be able to keep its attention elsewhere at the trade deadline.
