DESMOND JENNINGS
Here’s a potentially ‘low risk, high reward’ kind of player. Desmond Jennings is sitting in free agency after spending the previous seven seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he slashed .245/.322/.393 in 567 career games.
Jennings was once heralded as one of those “can’t miss” guys for Tampa and seemed like a shoe-in for the everyday job in center field in Tampa for years to come. However, he never could really quite put it all together, or stay healthy. Defensively, the raw numbers show he was also an elite defender in the outfield, while some analytical databases would debunk any of those.
Health has been a huge concern for Jennings. He’s been limited to just 93 games over the past two seasons due to separate knee and hamstring injuries. Add in the emergence of Kevin Kiermaier in center field and the team trading for Corey Dickerson last off-season and it made it easier for the Rays to part ways with the once-touted Jennings, which they did so last August.
Jennings is still only 30-years-old, with perhaps still a couple good seasons in front of him by MLB standards. It’d be risky because of the injury concerns, but about as low as it can get for that very reason, very pocket-friendly.
