| Christopher Reina. 3rd October, 2007 - 4:45 pm
 Andruw Rudolf Jones
Age: 30
Position CF
2007 Salary: $14 million
Awards: 9 Gold Gloves, 5 All-Star Appearances, 2005 NL Homerun Champ
Potential Destinations: Giants, Padres, Rangers, White Sox, Phillies, Orioles
It has already been 11 years since Andruw Jones hit a homerun in each of his first two World Series at-bats in Yankee Stadium as a 19-year-old from Curacao. During his decade-long career with the Braves, he has taken Ken Griffey’s slot as the best all-around centerfielder in the game, but is he still the same player?
Power
Since 1997, only Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado and Vladimir Guerrero have hit more homeruns than Jones’ 363. He has hit 30 or more homers in seven seasons and hit 51 in 2005 and 41 in 2006. With his body being bulkier now, Jones’ power numbers should be in the low 40’s annually, but he hit just 26 this season, a 15 homerun decline from the previous season. His slugging percentage was just .413, the lowest of his career.
Average
Jones has never been a high average batter (career average of .263), but his 2007 season was exceptionally dismal, posting a career-low .222 batting average and a career-low .311 OBP. He has eclipsed .300 just once, which was all the way back in 2000, probably his finest overall season.
For his career, Jones bats .219 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position and batted .169 in 2007.
Speed
Jones came into the big leagues as a threat on the base paths, stealing 20 or more bases in each of his first four seasons, but he dipped to 11 in 2001 and that number has been single-digits in each of the past six seasons.
Defense
Long considered the best defensive centerfield in MLB since Willie Mays, his range as declined significantly over the past few seasons though it does remain above average. His fielding percentage is steady, but he only has had seven assists in the past two seasons combined, while he had 11 in 2005, 10 in 2004 and had an amazing 20 assists back in 1998.
Jones’ Market
The Braves have already stated that they will not attempt to re-sign Jones and presumably will not offer him arbitration.
The centerfield position is already filled for high-spending teams like the Yankees (Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera), Mets (Carlos Beltran), Red Sox (Jacob Ellsbury and Coco Crisp), Dodgers (Juan Pierre) and Angels (Gary Matthews).
This leaves the Giants, Padres, Rangers, White Sox, Phillies and Orioles as Jones’ primary list of suitors.
Agent Scott Boras will begin the winter seeking a seven-year, $140 million deal, which he will quickly realize his unrealistic for a player that was only four win shares better than a bench player in 2007.
This would give Jones a richer deal than Alfonso Soriano’s eight-year, $136 million contract he signed last winter with the Cubs. Soriano was coming off a 46 HR, 41 SB season, where he also posted a career-high .351 OBP.
Boras burned the Giants last winter with Barry Zito and despite their desperation; it is unlikely they will succumb to him again (unless it is Alex Rodriguez).
The same goes for Texas, who appears to strongly favor Torii Hunter at this point and the White Sox, where Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams are keen to bring back Aaron Rowand.
Jones, however, could see several rich one-year offers from teams that lose out on Hunter and Rowand, as well as the small market Padres. Boras believes Jones would receive approximately $16 million via arbitration, which gives a good benchmark on a one-year contract, but he also will be reluctant to pass on a multi-year deal, no matter the price.
If Jones does pass on a richer one-year deal, preferring a severely reduced multi-year one would be an excellent indicator of where he thinks his own career is heading. |
