This is not a good year for Geoff Jenkins. Because he's a big part of the Brewers lineup, that means it's not a good year for the Crew--especially so, since a perfectly acceptable replacement for Jenks has languished in the dugout, making friends with starting pitchers.
The most striking thing, of course, about Geoff's dreadful season is his complete inability to hit lefties:
| K% | AVG | OBP | SLG | |
| Total | 27% | 255 | 328 | 391 |
| vs. LHP | 42% | 120 | 241 | 181 |
| vs. RHP | 22% | 292 | 353 | 450 |
A 22% K rate isn't anything to be proud of, but at least that's within the realm of what a productive hitter can do. But 42%? I'm not sure how much blame for the 2006 season I want to put at Ned Yost's feet, but the fact that Geoff Jenkins has gotten 120 ABs against lefthanders this year is an absolute crime.
However, it's a mildly understandable crime when you look at some of Geoff's previous stats; he's never been as strong against lefties, but it's never been this bad:
| K% | AVG | OBP | SLG | |
| 00-04 | 32% | 260 | 317 | 437 |
| 2005 | 31% | 255 | 354 | 452 |
| 2006 | 42% | 120 | 245 | 181 |
| July 06 | 24% | 118 | 286 | 176 |
I included the July 06 stats just because he has been hitting a little better in the last month; it's only a 17-AB sample. He's always struck out about 30% of the time against lefties, but especially last year, he put up a respectable line against them.
It's easy enough to knock Geoff's lefty-mashing skills, as he seems not to have any. But the real problem is his performance against everybody. He's hitting 255/328/391 in 2006, which is good for a negative 6.0 VORP. He's hemorrhaging runs at the rate of 0.057 per game, which isn't much, but...don't you think a right fielder who is average at best afield ought to be adding runs?
And, as I mentioned above, we have a couple of options who are playing above-replacement ball this year. Gabe Gross has been worth .272 runs per game--only Bill Hall and Tony "small sample size" Gwynn have been better. Corey Hart has been worth 0.055 per game, which isn't world-beating, but at least it's in the positive column.
So, what to do with Geoff? Do you keep playing him in hopes that he puts up numbers like he did in July against RHPs (306/383/486)? Do you sit him down and let the youngsters take over? Do you see if anybody will take him, even it means paying a huge chunk of his remaining salary? Do you sit him just against lefties, then hide him from Ned Yost in case skip gets cold feet and wants to pinch-hit him for Corey in the 3rd inning?