Comments on: Should the Braves Take a Chance on Andruw Jones?

By: Mark Schreiber

Mark Schreiber — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:00:07 +0000

JC, Clearly you did not see Jones play in 2008. I watched many Dodger games last year and trust me, you can not imagine how bad Jones looked. I have been an avid baseball (and particularly Dodgers) fan for nearly forty years and have NEVER seen a major league player look so bad, let alone one with Jones’ pedigree. I have read statistical analysis that this was the worst season in ML history (for a player with over 100 AB) and I have no problem believing it. Jones did nothing at an acceptable level, including play defense. He flails at breaking pitches, he tries to pull everything, he cannot make contact, he cannot move a runner over, he looks atrociously lost at the plate. It is appalling that the Dodgers are on the hook for his 2009 salary, deferred or not. If any team picks him up, even at the league minimum it’s a waste of their time and money. This guy is way past expiration date.

By: Marc Schneider

Marc Schneider — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:50:10 +0000

JC,

If Andruw was unlucky in 2007, does it follow that he was lucky in 2005 and 2006. My feeling was that he was not that much better in those years than he had been previously but that almost everything was going out of the park. I thought that injuries had some fair amount to do with his problems in 2007 but I really wasn’t surprised to see him struggle last year–although no one would have predicted he would be as bad as he was. As an aside, while I was never one of Andruw’s bigger fans–his often flailing at low and away pitches frustrated me as it does with Francoeur–I was somewhat appalled at the way a lot of fans completely turned on him and attacked his character as if 2005 and 2006 never happened.

By: Ron E.

Ron E. — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:14:03 +0000

Especially, considering that the Braves outfield needs some players.

No, the Braves outfield needs healthy, good players which Andruw is not. He’d just be another body and the Braves already have plenty of those in Francoeur, Anderson, Blanco, Brandon Jones, Infante, Diaz, Shaefer, and Norton.

By: Tyler K

Tyler K — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:13:13 +0000

JC, I know you like the Burrell siging, i think that is a great fit for him and Tampa. And what do you think of the Braves maybe going after Oliver Perez, or even taking a chance on Pedro with a one year contract?

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:07:41 +0000

IMO, at this point in his career, Jones is the very definition of a Replacement Level player at the plate. His K rate is alarming. His approach at the plate is terrible. He has no balance in his swing and is the poster child for what not to do at the plate.
Look at his BABIP rate from 2004 onward with the other numbers JC posted. I’ll attempt to add his BABIP rate to the same chart.

Year AVG OBP SLG Iso K rate BB rate +/- BABIP
2004 0.261 0.345 0.488 0.227 22.76% 10.99% ? .303
2005 0.263 0.347 0.575 0.312 16.67% 9.52% ? .240
2006 0.262 0.363 0.531 0.269 18.98% 12.26% +27 .277
Mean 0.262 0.352 0.531 0.269 19.47% 10.92% +16

2007 0.222 0.311 0.413 0.191 20.94% 10.62% +22 .242
2008 0.158 0.256 0.249 0.091 31.93% 11.34% -4 .229

I really don’t think that he has the mindset to try and improve
and become an average hitter. Other players have fallen off the
cliff at around the same age as Jones, and to me, he’s an old 32.
Dale Murphy, Glenn Davis, Kent Hrbek, Kent Hrbek, George Foster,
Shawn Green, Don Mattingly, Matt Williams, Richie Sexson,
Raul Mondesi, George Bell, Eric Karos, Kevin McReynolds, Ron Gant,
Chuck Knoblach, Jay Buhner, Danny Tartabull, Mike Sweeney,
John Valentin, Carl Everett.
Falling off a cliff happens.

By: Rob McMillin

Rob McMillin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:54:08 +0000

I commend to you my contemporaneous piece about the Jones signing, and in particular, Dave Studeman's post-mortem on Jones' 2007 season at The Hardball Times. Studeman's major point was that it wasn't one thing that was falling apart for Jones: it was a "quadruple whammy" of lowered production on outfield flies, line drives, ground balls, and increased strikeouts. Brief and compelling.