Bobby Jenks is Big (Now that we have that out of the way…)

When I began writing this entry, around 9:15 this morning, it was 51 degrees in Ft. Myers and 41 degrees in Boston.  While 51 degrees is a heatwave in Boston in February, I don’t imagine they feel the same at the Fort.  I’ll take the 41 for now and enjoy the sound of melting snow.

As regular readers and anyone who knows me is aware, I hate reading most of the mainstream Boston sports media. During the season, this isn’t as much of an issue as I can get info pretty much anywhere but during Spring Training it becomes a little more problematic as the information coming out isn’t as easy to access if you aren’t reading the mainstreamers who made the trip to Florida.  So this morning I decided to get to reading so I can keep up with the fellas in the Fort.

I’m not sure this was such a good idea.

BUT instead of focusing on a lot of the already negative stuff they’re coming up with, today I choose to focus on one of the new guys:  Bobby Jenks.

I dig Jenks.  I can’t help it.  He’s a bullpen pitcher, he’s a big guy, and he says things like this:

“I don’t want to go into the whole Red Sox-Yankees battle just yet, but I’d rather be a Red Sox, for sure”

As has been the case for most of his career, Jenks is probably going to be the butt of ignorant fat jokes all season long. The only way to respond to them, aside from just punching some jackass in the face, is to pitch well.  I’m looking forward to watching him do just that.

An aside: The article I linked to above was written by Brian MacPherson at the Providence Journal.  It’s possible heband Gordon Edes will be the only mainstream Boston sports writers I link to all season.  We’ll see what happens as the season progresses.

Tomorrow everyone shows up in Fort Myers.  While NESN started their reporting from the Fort last night, this coming weekend will mark the beginning of their covering workouts live (on Saturday and Sunday morning).  It might sound like a silly thing to sit and watch but seeing the guys on the grass, throwing, running and getting back into playing shape is exactly what those of us who have been snowbound for the last month and a half really need to remember that someday soon baseball will be played again.