It's going to be the question asked by journalists and bloggers all day long, should the Atlanta Braves bring back their longtime Gold Glove center fielder Andruw Jones. There are going to be a lot of people who will want Andruw back and many more who would rather we not add him to our already beleaguered outfield. But today is the day he is set to be given his release from the Los Angeles Dodgers:
It's time for the Dodgers to trade or cut bait with Jones. Surprisingly, the Dodgers this week actually discussed a trade with two clubs interested enough in Jones to consider giving up something rather than compete with another club to get him as a free agent.
Dodgers management, however, isn't counting on any miracles. It still expects to be forced to release the 31-year-old outfielder as part of a recent contract renegotiation that assures Jones he'll play elsewhere in 2009 while providing the Dodgers payroll flexibility by deferring the remaining $21.1 million of his salary over the next six years.
He certainly wants to return to the Braves, and he seems to be doing everything he can to indicate that to the team:
For what it's worth, Jones attended the Duke-Georgia Tech basketball game Wednesday night wearing an Atlanta Braves cap.
I've said all along that I think a minor league contract and an invite to spring training as well as some minor incentives if he makes the major league club should be all we risk. He's already making a ton of money this year not to play for the Dodgers, so if he wants to try and win a spot on the Braves he should want to do it for the minimum. He should want to go above and beyond to really prove himself.
0 recs | 92 comments
For a low salary and not giving up anyone for him, I think it would be crazy NOT to take a try on him. Im not expecting much, but it would be nice to get a break once in awhile.
Mike Kerns - January 15, 2009
I can’t imagine him playing anywhere else, he’ll be back
another - January 15, 2009
That actually makes me feel bad for him…
Smoltz's Beard - January 15, 2009
Have you seen his house/cars?
Don’t feel bad for him.
WienerDog - January 15, 2009
Yeah, there’s no reason to NOT bring him back if he’s willing to accept minimal money and understand that he has to prove himself in spring training to make it. If he’s not on the opening day roster, he goes to AAA and works out the kinks.
beeswax - January 15, 2009
Actually there is a huge reason to not bring him back. I’m not a Cox hater but if he has a fault it’s that he is too loyal. We run a huge risk of Andruw bogging down our lineup yet again. If it were certain that Bobby wouldn’t play him when he starts sucking it up, then yes, there isn’t much downside. But that’s simply not the case. Him plus Frenchy dragging down our lineup is absolutely a reason not to take the chance on him. And I think it’s scary that 80% of the people can’t see that.
ajones2522 - January 15, 2009
who ever said he’s going to drag down the lineup if he’s invited to compete for a job?
bigjoe - January 15, 2009
I think last year he just assumed that he was going to have success because he had had it in the past. So he didn’t feel the need to push himself very hard. That caused him to balloon up and lose his timing and basically just play like crap. This year he will have a ton to prove. I believe that he is now in a position that he will push himself very hard to get back to being a very good player. He probably wants to prove this to himself as much as everyone else.
We already know that he’s trimmed back down and has been having batting practice with some Braves players. That shows at least that he’s got some discipline and motivation. I think he could come in and potentially be a big surprise.
Fischerking - January 15, 2009
Also, as far as what he has been doing this offseason, I dont see any difference between this year and previous years. Every year we hear reports that he is on a new workout or has been working with so and so. It’s not neccessarily his physical preperation that I question. He can take off season BP with whoever he wants but if he continues to practice with the same poor habits and mental approach then the on field results will be the same.
Mash1 - January 15, 2009
Ok, but he was in a walk year in 2007. That should have given him enough “motivation” to have a career year. And yet he hit .222. The dude just doesn’t have it anymore. I’ll be happy to see him manning center again if he can hit, but otherwise I’ll pass.
Weldon - January 15, 2009
The problem is that for the past several years Andrew has not felt the need to “push” himself. He has never demonstrated a complete committment to becoming a better player. I have been hoping that he would go to another NL East team so we could face him more. It’s almost like he refuses to acknowledge any flaw in his approach to hitting. Granted, when he is on a streak he is one of the best around, but at 31 years old with over ten years of full time experience he cant afford to be streaky. That being said, I’d welcome him back as long as the dollar risk was kept low. Maybe he has realized that its time to get his stuff together. Doubtful but it may be worth a minor investment to find out.
Mash1 - January 15, 2009
what another Andruw thread :0)
coachg3 - January 15, 2009
What emoticon is this?
Big nose emoticon?
Open mouth with large lower lip?
someguy917 - January 15, 2009
big nose and a crooked smile
coachg3 - January 15, 2009
gotchya
someguy917 - January 15, 2009
+9999999999 or whatever
You beat me to it, coachg3. I was going to warn Gondee that he should prepare to be skewered, because unless there are a bunch of hypocrytes commenting on this blog then they have no choice but to hammer Gondee the way they did you yesterday. People need to get a grip sometimes and realize they have the option of not reading threads if they are repetitive. I say the more the merrier, and I laud Gondee and the fine work that him and his readers do here.
The trolls that only want to talk smack or think they are better than others can (insert expletive here). I’m not singling anyone out, mind you, because quite frankly I have enjoyed everyone on this site so far, even Big Joe (seriously, adding suck one to your signature was pretty damned funny and I used your name because I know you can take a little criticism, even though there is none provided here).
And not that anyone cares, but I wrote up my thoughts on the upgraded rotation on my blog yesterday.
TheSportsIdiot - January 15, 2009
Great post idiot except...
Big Fat Joe is a main reason why a lot of us don’t post, just tired of the immaturity and holier than thou attitude.
Fortune favors the brave(s) - January 15, 2009
just ignore him
or respond back to him with reason. he will go away or give up when he realizes that he can’t get to you like he can others…
justincredubil02 - January 15, 2009
You know, if you use facts and a reasoned argument, Big Joe can be your friend.
cbwilk - January 15, 2009
I <3 big Joe
mattdiaz4life - January 15, 2009
+1
mvandonsel - January 15, 2009
+1
WienerDog - January 15, 2009
I’m sorry, but I have no clue what <3 is supposed to mean.
TheSportsIdiot - January 15, 2009
mattdiaz4life is less than 3 bigjoes. He’s deferring to him.
royhobbs - January 15, 2009
Um, alrighty then. What can I say, I’m illiterate when it comes to the language of texting and instant messaging? I don’t speak Textlish?
Yeah, I’ll go sit in the corner now.
TheSportsIdiot - January 15, 2009
what does <3 look like when you turn it counter clockwise?
a heart…mattdiaz love’s bigjoe.
justincredubil02 - January 15, 2009
Sorry
I couldn’t resist.
royhobbs - January 15, 2009
...
LOL!
justincredubil02 - January 15, 2009
hahaha
mvandonsel - January 15, 2009
I am pretty slim. And bigjoe is pretty…big.
mattdiaz4life - January 15, 2009
You’d be surprised. I’m actually pretty trim
bigjoe - January 15, 2009
Stop
Just stop, before you get nailed with more double entendres.
royhobbs - January 16, 2009
+1
Smoltz's Beard - January 15, 2009
this.
bigjoe - January 15, 2009
hey look, something else for me to flag
bigjoe - January 15, 2009
thanks, sportsidiot
I can care less with other people say, I don’t make a living by writing nor does anyone on here pay my mortgage for me, so I will continue to have fun on this site talk some braves baseball and start a thread on any topic I want, and like you said if people don’t want to comment or read it who cares….ps if anyone wants to pay my mortage for me I can give you my cell # and we can talk.
coachg3 - January 15, 2009
The expression is “I couldn’t care less…”
Smoltz's Beard - January 15, 2009
+ Another 8 million or something
I can not stand it when people misuse that expression. The negative is there for a reason?
TheSportsIdiot - January 15, 2009
I couldn't care less :o)
coachg3 - January 15, 2009
The one I hate
Is “loose”. Like as in “If Bobby bats Andruw at cleanup, I’ll loose my lunch”. It’s lose.
WienerDog - January 15, 2009
what about this one
“You better be lucky that I didnt …”
The correct expression is
a. You WERE lucky that I…
b. You better be GLAD that I…
justincredubil02 - January 15, 2009
At least in the “could not care less” argument they are forgetting a word. In yours they don’t even know how to spell the word lose? Damnina!!!
TheSportsIdiot - January 15, 2009
How about people saying “dominate” when they mean “dominant”? That really bugs me
bigjoe - January 15, 2009
yeah.
like “they were totally dominate”
My biggest pet peave though, is when people type like they talk. Most of the message boards on espn.com are full of examples of this.
justincredubil02 - January 15, 2009
I sort of hate to do this, but since we’re on the topic…it’s spelled “peeve.” Peave is, of course, what Jake’s buddies call him.
mattdiaz4life - January 15, 2009
lol
dangit…mispelling “pet peeve” is also a pet peeve of mine…I guess my muscle memory is geared towards “peave” since I have been typing Peavy’s name so much lately…lol
justincredubil02 - January 15, 2009
Good one.
Here is a question for you literary folk:
When did it become pleaded instead of plead (pled?)? As in, OJ pleaded not guilty to inserting his fist into his own……
Can we get an official ruling on OK or okay?
TheSportsIdiot - January 16, 2009
From Word.com
The media did it!!!!
mvandonsel - January 16, 2009
Gondee’s too drunk and surly to be bothered reading fanposts. If coachg3 has a similar affliction than I may have judged him too early, and for that I apologize.
Smoltz's Beard - January 15, 2009
apology accepted I thin
coachg3 - January 15, 2009
oops... apology accepted, I think?
coachg3 - January 15, 2009
Sounds like someone is backing their way slowly out of the room….
Just kidding. You have good stuff here and on MLBTR when you comment there. Yes, I am always lurking…
TheSportsIdiot - January 15, 2009
I didn’t think I was bashing coachg3 personally the other day in his thread. Just posing general questions. And Gondee knows that he isn’t above reproach on this blog. Christ, the guy advocated signing Ken Griffey Jr this offseason.
Smoltz's Beard - January 15, 2009
In thinking about it more, I was probably having a flashback to the good ol’ days of Griff.
gondeee - January 16, 2009
Andruw just gave one of the worst interviews I’ve ever heard on 790 The Zone. He had clearly just rolled out of bed and said he wouldn’t accept a minor league deal to come back to Atlanta.
sdp - January 15, 2009
That was this morning? If that’s the case then good luck to him. I’m sure the Reds or the Royals or some other perennial loser will cough up a million for him.
cbwilk - January 15, 2009
Ha, was it really THAT bad?
Mike Kerns - January 15, 2009
He’s playing with fire here. Even he has to realize that his performance doesn’t warrant anything other than a minor-league deal at this rate, and that he’s dangerously close to burning bridges in Atlanta with comments like that. Any educated fan knows that money must be earned, and it’s hard to be sympathetic to someone who’s going to be making almost what Brian McCann’s contract is for the next six years because the Dodgers didn’t want him anymore.
royhobbs - January 15, 2009
WOW
that changes a few things.
brndn - January 15, 2009
Yeah beggars can’t be choosers. If he doesn’t realize that he looked like Stevie Wonder at the plate and ButterBean in the field then what do we owe him? Not a damn thing.
Basically us giving him a shot to make the team is as much of a kind gesture as it is an actual search for a power hitting outfielder.
What an idiot
Fischerking - January 15, 2009
Gwinnett and Atlanta
Andruw, Gwinnett is only a short drive away and you could use the sojourn in AAA to practice what TP will show you in Florida about resetting your approach at the plate after the damage done the knee injury and the other physical issues. Take the AAA deal, and get yourself in such great shape that Jordan Schafer is no longer the best CF in the organization. Or, if you prefer, use the AAA time to learn left field.
Barry Larkin, Al Leiter, and Harold Reynolds did a segment yesterday on “Hot Stove”, a show on the new MLB Network, comparing Andruw’s 2005 and 2008 stance. They said there were too many voices talking to him last year, and they wanted him going back to the wide stance which TP taught him and which worked so well here. Pressure in LA was another factor. They were kind enough not to mention Fatburger, Bob’s Big Boy, Paco’s Taco’s, and the incredibly scrumptious sauce at Rubio’s Fish Taco’s.
JimK - January 15, 2009
Rubio’s is fantastic. You forgot to mention In and Out Burger.
gondeee - January 15, 2009
How could anyone leave out In and Out Burger!
Andy Braves Fan - January 15, 2009
In-n-Out is spectacular
mvandonsel - January 16, 2009
You left out
Randy’s Donuts!
WienerDog - January 15, 2009
Tommy's Original Hamburgers
Far greasier unhealthier burgers than Fatburger (which for some reason is one in Buckhead) and In-N-Out. Naturally I found this out the hard way during my Dodgers trip. And Rubios down in San Diego, which was marvelous.
royhobbs - January 15, 2009
-100 to you all
for not mentioning Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles even once
Rhyno18 - January 15, 2009
Super underrated
Not many people know about it though. Good food, even better when you don’t get shot at.
mvandonsel - January 16, 2009
Wow
80% of Braves fans want a guy who hit .158 last year? That’s much higher than I thought it would be.
Will Shelton - January 15, 2009
We are under the assumption that Andruw would sign for the league minimum. Now if he starts asking for millions, then you can bet that 80% would shoot to 0% in a heartbeat.
I’m all for signing Andruw like a lot of other Braves fan, but this time Andruw is gonna have to prove himself and be in shape.
Sparhawk - January 15, 2009
We should sign Andruw to 5.5 million plus incentives, just to piss of Smoltz.
I’m kidding of course. I haven’t voted in the poll yet, because i don’t know how i feel about this. If we’ve got a trade in the works for Swisher or someone more reliable and less of a gamble than Andruw, i’d rather have that and go with Schafer in CF. Or Anderson if Schafer’s not ready, then he can come up from AAA if need be. Maybe there should be a third option on the question saying “Only if we can’t find anyone else.”
10-4 - January 15, 2009
LAWL
someguy917 - January 15, 2009
haha…
Smoltz's Beard - January 15, 2009
LMAO
Stellar.
WienerDog - January 15, 2009
Are we sure Andruw isn’t in his like late 30’s or something? This would explain why he seemingly lost any and all ability at being a decent hitter so rapidly and the fact that he defied all precedents and made the majors at age 19.
I mean I’m not sure if Curacao has the same issues with birth certificates that say, the Domincan Republic or Cuba has, but it would make more sense to me.
get swoll yunel - January 15, 2009
Ya know, I’ve always had this thought as well.
soup du jour - January 15, 2009
Curacao belongs to the Netherlands. They've got their stuff together.
although that would explain why Jurrjens has the maturity level of a 30 year old pitcher.
10-4 - January 15, 2009
If you’ve ever seen Andruw when he was supposedly 19, you’d know he was really 19. I don’t think he lied about his age.
SunDolphin - January 15, 2009
Gotta love that 19 year old AJ mustache too
bravesguy311 - January 15, 2009
I had a friend who, when he was 14, had a full beard. It was insane! I wanted one so bad.
SunDolphin - January 15, 2009
bravesguy311 - January 15, 2009
I'd say.
If he comes cheap, what the hell? Don’t stop looking for another outfielder though. Hell he can make Frenchy fight for his spot in right.
Perrinbar - January 15, 2009
Pyschology
Andruw has always been a headcase and has always struggled with the mental aspects of the game. I think that’s what it comes down to over the last couple of years. He played like crap the year before he left Altanta because he was worrying about leaving, and he played like more and even worse crap after he was gone, because he was gone. Atlanta is his comfort zone, and though I don’t think it’s 100% that he’ll come back and play for us and be great, I do think Atlanta gives him the best chance at a come-back, and if he does mount a come-back he’s unlikely to succeed anywhere else, not because he’s not given a chance, but because it’s not Atlanta.
SunDolphin - January 15, 2009
Tip of the iceburg
I think you are right but I would argue his “comfort” zone is a small part of a bigger problem. If you look at Fangraphs stats for Andruw’s 2006 and 2007 seasons you can see a clear pattern that points towards pitch selection being his biggest problem. His increases in swinging at pitches outside the zone and making contact on pitches outside the zone significantly increased from 2006 to 2007. I’m not saying age and/or injury isn’t playing some role in his downfall, just that it pales in comparison to him trying too hard and swinging at practically every pitch.
scstrato - January 15, 2009
I agree. The dude has just never known what a ball is. He’d swing at pitches that the catcher would grab off the dirt a foot from the plate.
SunDolphin - January 15, 2009
and sometimes
he would fall on his butt while doing it…
justincredubil02 - January 15, 2009
He has a surprisingly good BB% for his career, but you’re right…he does it in the ugliest way possible.
Smoltz's Beard - January 15, 2009
The poll
Needs more options. It’s not clear under what terms AJ would come back.
As a no-risk NRI, it would make sense for AJ to get a chance to prove himself in the Spring.
Yakker - January 15, 2009
They Better Not....
I never liked Mr. Strikeout. I prayed that the Braves would get rid of him. After dumping Smoltz the way they did, with him being my favorite Brave, if they bring back Fatty, who was always my least favorite Brave, I am done with this team FOREVER!
BeachGaBulldog - January 16, 2009
OK. See ya
bigjoe - January 16, 2009
Ditto. I guess the bandwagon Braves “fans” are starting to drop off the airship like it was on fire.
the Braves will be fine in the long run.
Sparhawk - January 16, 2009
Seriously
Dumping Smoltz? Um, okie dokie.
TheSportsIdiot - January 16, 2009
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