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Is Andruw Jones' career already over?
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Posted by: min0 lee
SportingNews.com - Your expert source for MLB Baseball stats, scores, standings, blogs and fantasy news from MLB Baseball columnists
January 4, 2009
Richard Justice
Andruw Jones once made it look easy, and maybe that's the root of the problem.
Maybe baseball WAS easy for him, perhaps too easy.
Maybe he lost his focus somewhere along the way. Maybe he got bored.
Whatever the reason, Andruw Jones is one of the real strange stories in sports because few players have fallen so far so fast.
The Dodgers can't even give him away. Even after he agreed to a restructuring of his contract, Jones remains with a team that no longer wants him.
Just two years ago, he appeared on the fast track to the Hall of Fame. Yes, two years ago. Not five years ago, not 10 years ago.
He was a 10-time Gold Glover in centerfield and coming off back-to-back seasons in which he averaged 46 home runs and 128.5 RBIs.
He was a great player no matter how one defines greatness. Beyond the numbers was the fact that he had an easygoing personality that wore well during a long baseball season.
Jones seemed headed for one of those breath-taking contracts in 2007. And then with so much on the line, he was unable to deliver.
That was the beginning of his trouble. That 2007 season should have been a warning to the Dodgers.
His batting average fell 40 points from the previous year, to .222. He hit 15 fewer home runs.
Late that season, a high-ranking person in the Braves organization was asked about Andruw Jones. At the time, Scott Boras was still thought to be seeking a mega-contract, one worth, say, $20 million per season.
That guy with the Braves said he'd love to have Andruw Jones back at $5 million. He still liked Andruw, still thought Andruw was capable of greatness, but he was no longer sold on giving him an A-Rod-type contract.
Jones had gained weight, and either because of the weight gain or a diminished work ethic -- or a combination of the two -- he'd lost something at the plate.
The Dodgers believed they were being cautious in signing Jones to a two-year, $36-million deal. They believed a short-term deal would force him to work harder and prove he deserved a long-term deal.
But he showed up at spring training heavier than ever, and his average never got above .200 after the first week of the season. He was booed at Dodger Stadium and became a punch line for columnists joking about his love of donuts.
He underwent knee surgery in May and finished the season on the bench. His final numbers: .158 batting average, three home runs, 209 at-bats.
Jones so wants out of Los Angeles that he agreed to restructure the final year of his contract. He came to understand that the Dodgers couldn't trade him if he was still owed $22 million in 2009.
Now he'll take $5 million in base pay in 2009 instead of $15 million and will get the rest of his money paid out at zero interest over 15 years.
If the Dodgers can't trade him by the end of spring training, they've agreed to release him.
The Reds and Braves are among the teams believed to be interested in Jones, but they have zero incentive to make a deal. Even if they do not have to give up any significant players in a trade, they know they might be able get him for the major league minimum of $400,000 after the Dodgers release him.
Moreover, there's no sign that he's determined to get better. He's hitting less than .100 in winter ball and still looks lost at the plate.
If nothing else, he's worth keeping an eye on in spring training. If the Dodgers can't trade him, they'll still play him regularly and hope he can still produce.
He was so good for so long that it's almost incomprehensible his career is over at 31. Then again, these last two seasons have gone a long way toward making us forget that other Andruw Jones.
Richard Justice is a columnist for the Houston Chronicle and a regular contributor to Sporting News.
Posted by: soxmuscle
Knee problems plus the added weight have killed him.
I don't think he's done, I just think when he was younger he was playing the game purely on god given talent. With the injuries and added age, he's done nothing to keep himself in baseball shape.
I don't think he's done. I actually think he'll be quite good for the team that takes a chance on him because his motivation is money but I wouldn't dare sign him to a long term deal next offseason if/when he does excel in 2009.
Posted by: ZECH
Any one remember Mark Wohlers? Guy threw 100 mph fast balls and no one could hit him. Then all of a sudden, he could not hit the side of a barn.
Posted by: soxmuscle
Players do lose it, yup. It's called Steve Blass disease.
Wohlers was interesting. Was pretty much regarded as the best closer in baseball, then he gives up a World Series deciding home run and can't locate his fastball the following year.
This probably comes from being so nervous about fucking up that it effects your whole being.
Byung-hyun Kim was a different pitcher that year with Arizona than he was with Boston the following year.
That Jeter home run and that Brocious home run just killed him.
Posted by: ZECH
Wohlers also had a shoulder injury and surgery which many think was his problem. He did eventually come back for 3 years and pitch decent with the Reds, yankees and Indians.
Posted by: soxmuscle
This is true.
Posted by: min0 lee
I think Dale Murphy had the same thing happen to him...oh and there was an Indian second baseman the Mets traded for who just fell off the map...I forget his name.
Roberto ALomar also bombed as a Met so did George Foster..um maybe it's just the Mets.
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Is Andruw Jones' career already over?
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