Via Rowland's Office comes this article from the L.A. Times about Andruw Jones' struggles early in winter ball. It's only 5 games and 16 at-bats, but he's struck out 8 times and has just 3 singles... and Jeff Schultz from the AJC wants us to look into re-acquiring him.
about 3 years ago
gondeee
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I can’t see us giving up anything useful for his services to be stinking back in Atlanta.
- Leah
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Catcher's Blog - Braves blog by a huge Braves fan.
Ate his entire contract
I’m sure AJ would be happy to oblige.
Formerly Uncle Charlie of Minor League Ball
I Do Think We Should Consider It
If we gave LA lower tier prospects and if they decide to eat up alot of his contract. A couple mill maybe wouldn’t be bad. As much as you guys hate him, would you really want him to go to the Mets and actually bounce back and make us look worse than we are? I would say if LA would take the contract and we could get him for a cheap price, put AJ in left. I’d hate to see one of our own go to the Mets. Seriously. :(
Frankly, if he went to the Mets and rebounded, good for him and the Mets. I don’t think there’s any chance of LA unloading him and I think there’s less of a chance of Andruw rebounding. I’d rather watch another season with Diaz and a left handed hitter getting minimal production than a season where we get nothing out of Andruw and he baloons up to 300 pounds.
I don’t hate Andruw at all; I loved the guy when he was in Atlanta and every time I met him in person he was great. But, the reality is, he just isn’t able to produce at the major league level right now. There is no viable scenario where he should be back with the Braves right now.
Steve Blass Disease for hitters
That’s what Andruw has. He caught it from Wohlers and Ankiel. Francoeur has a serious case if he doesn’t seek treatment soon.
No Andruw
Any time your weight is higher than your Batting Average is a bad sign. Unless you weigh over 500 lbs. Maybe that’s what Andruw is shooting for.
I’d toss the Dodgers prospect if they ate everything he was due save ~$5 million. If he played every day at the defensive level he’s established, he’d have to be Francoeur level bad to not be worth $5 million. Best case, he rebounds and gives us really solid production in CF; we wash our hands of him as Schafer is ready. Worst case, we’re out a low-level arm and $5 million.
Some people forget that even with his terrible offensive season in 2007, he was still better than everyone but Edgar, Chipper, Hudson, and Smoltz and was worth what he got paid.
Still baffled
How does someone make such an Andruw Jones-esque career plunge? To go from 92 homers, 250 RBI and a 131 OPS+ in two years, to basically, pound-for-pound the most expensive/least-productive offensive season ever? I’m still trying to figure that out.
Sure, Andruw was bull-headed, and didn’t want to listen to TP or anything, but I have to imagine that all major-league level players have some natural talent that attributes to their status as a major-leaguer. I also imagine most players could post better numbers than Andruw’s last two seasons on natural talent alone.
If it’s injury, then Andruw’s at fault for not disclosing it, and trying to play while hurt while weighing down the Braves and Dodgers. If it’s his stubbornness, then it doesn’t need to be said again that he needs to get his head out of his ass.
Friends of mine used to joke about this, and as much as I’d like to deny it, I’ll admit to thinking about it too, but PEDs? The spike in homers of the ‘05 season isn’t exactly Brady Anderson-like, but more like Luis Gonzalez. And both have said the same thing – change in batting stance. And much like Gonzalez, Andruw’s career is quickly declining just as fast.
I don’t dislike Andruw at all, I loved what he did for the Braves, and I have plenty of fond Andruw memories. But in this discussion, I’d side with the notion that he’s not worth bringing back, even on the cheap. Even if the Dodgers were to eat the entire contract, I think Andruw would do less damage by not being on the roster than on it, risk or no risk.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Baseball is 90% mental...
I’m also baffled about Andruw’s precipitous fall from being one of the best CFs in the game. I think there is a huge mental aspect (beyond his stubbornness) that hasn’t been adequately considered. This affects his actual play, his approach to conditioning, his life, etc. We all know how much he loves Bobby Cox and how much Bobby has done for him. Bobby seems to be the only one who can translate Andruw’s talent from potential to kinetic, despite the presence of Torre in LA. Torre is essentially his step father. It doesn’t imply that Torre is unable to be as effective as Bobby. But Andruw appears to only respond to Bobby.
I think that as much as Andruw wanted to remain a Brave beyond 2007, he knew we were not going to re-sign him (esp with the price-tag Boras was bound to slap on him). This had to weigh on him more than anyone realizes in his final year with the Braves. He played shitty for the entire 2007 season. He wasn’t even his patent streaky self. Completely…non…existent.
With that said, I still believe that Andruw is past his prime. Even if he re-signed with the Braves after 2007 for a reasonable contract and didn’t play a full year knowing his days as a Brave were numbered, I think his stats would have continued to decline, just not at the current rate.
Maybe ol’ Smoltzy should give him his sports psychologist’s phone number…
by aaaaandTheBravesWin on Dec 31, 2008 10:13 AM EST reply actions
That’s certainly an interesting way of looking at it. Maybe this has some merit. This combined with injuries could certainly make anybody’s production decline.
by bravesfan91 on Dec 31, 2008 12:36 PM EST up reply actions
Poor Andruw
For me, his career will go down as one of the saddest stories in baseball. I will always think fondly of Andruw. It pains me to say this, but I think his time is just about up.
FRIDAY, 7:51pm: Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that the Major League Player’s Association has approved the contract agreement, which will defer Jones’ remaining salary. According to an industry source, Jones will either be traded or released before the start of spring training and perhaps sometime this month.
FRIDAY, 2:38pm: SI.com’s Jon Heyman says the Dodgers and Jones have agreed to rework his contract to save the team $12MM in ’09. Jones is likely to play for another team in the coming season.
would you want andruw for like, a $3 million one year deal? i mean…he’d PROBABLY be better than josh anderson, right?
BIG JOE SUCK ONE
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