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Thursday, January 15, 2009
Andruw’s epic fall from grace
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s finally official: Andruw is a colossal L.A. bust.
Not that he wasn’t by any measure already a Dodgers bust before Thursday night, but it wasn’t until the team officially released him that it became official, since there’s now no way that Andruw Jones will be making some highly improbable comeback to something resembling his former self — not with the Dodgers.
They felt so certain it wasn’t possible that they agreed to eat the remaining $21.1 million of the two-year, $32.2 million contract they gave Jones after the 2007 season, when the Braves didn’t try to re-sign him.
He hit .158 with three homers, 33 hits and 76 strikeouts in 209 at-bats in his first (and, as it turns out, last) season with Los Dodgers.
Let’s see, they got from him 33 hits and three homers for $36.2 million. That works out to about $1.1 million per hit, or $12 million per homer. Even compared to the stock market in the past year or two, that’s a really poor return on one’s investment.
Hey, compared to those returns Mike Hampton was a resounding success in Atlanta.
How has Andruw fallen this far, this fast? Step right up to vote on your favorite explanation: He’s older than he says; he played so hard for so long, he’s 31 with a 50-year-old body; he’s too stubborn to correct fatal flaws in his swing; his immense natural talent couldn’t carry him once he started to break down … Hey, feel free to supply one of your own theories.
But the real question on your minds: Will the Braves take a flier on him and bring him back hoping against hope that he can recapture past glory, or at least keep center field warm until Jordan Schafer takes over? Or, maybe a part-time left fielder? (Yeah, right, like ‘Dru would go for that at 31.)
I’ve got no answer for you, since Frank Wren refused to discuss Andruw today or tonight, even when I e-mailed him one last time after it became official that the Dodgers had dumped him and made him a free agent. (Wren declined to discuss him earlier in the day because he was still technically a member of the Dodgers.)
The Braves and other teams are free to pursue him and could offer him the major league minimum, or a minor-deal deal if he’d take it. But it’s unclear if the Braves would offer him even a minor-league contract, with an invitation to spring training to prove he’s worthy before they bumped someone else from the 40-man roster.
And if they are willing to take that small risk, would he even accept? In a radio interview Thursday with 790TheZone, Jones indicated no interest in a minor-league contract. So maybe the Reds or Mets or some other team will offer him a big-league contract, if he doesn’t get one from the Braves — the team he wants most to play for, according to those who know him.
Jones, who wore a Braves cap at the Georgia Tech basketball game Wednesday, did not return a phone message I left for him tonight.
He’s going to get his remaining $21.1 million from the Dodgers, regardless of whether — or for whom — he plays this season. Nice position to be in, no doubt. But the pride thing, that’s got to be rough. Of course, after going through what he did last year, getting booed lustily from opening day, just getting out of L.A. might feels like huge relief for Jones.
He’s been hitting at Turner Field with old teammates, just as he did last winter after signing with the Dodgers. He’s kept his home in the north Atlanta ‘burbs, probably always will.
But will he play again for the Bravos? I really don’t have a strong feeling about that. If they invite him to camp, I honestly don’t know if he’s got enough left to win a spot. Maybe so. Maybe he’ll surprise us all this year.
If not, this is a story that will have a seemingly inexplicable ending, because I still haven’t heard any good explanation for how a guy could fall this far, this fast, at such a relatively young age, without a serious injury or illness.
I mean, think about it: The Dodgers were willing to eat the rest of contract, all 21.1 million remaining dollars, rather than bring him back. That’s how convinced they were that he was done, or at least that it couldn’t work in L.A.
The Braves didn’t try to re-sign him after the 2007 season, when he won his 10th consecutive Gold Glove but hit just .222 with 26 homers and a .311 on-base percentage — quite a dropoff after hitting .263 average with 92 homers and 257 RBIs during the 2005-2006 seasons, with OBPs of .347 and .363 in those years, along with his fourth and fifth All-Star selections.
It’s been a precipitous decline for the former Atlanta fan-favorite from Curacao, who’ll be 32 in April, an age when the majority of stars these days are still in the prime of their careers.
He’s gone from 2005 major league home run leader and National League MVP runner-up to … this.
And it started long before he went West. He began to falter after the 2006 All-Star break, and since July 21, 2006, Andruw has has hit .209 with 46 homers and a .312 OBP and a .401 slugging percentage in his past 291 games, with 149 RBI, 137 walks and 262 strikeouts in 993 at-bats.
That’s a .209 average and .713 OPS in nearly 300 games and 1,000 at-bats.
The Braves will have a press conference Friday morning to introduce their newest starting pitcher, Derek Lowe. Lowe is a Boras client, too.
With Boras in attendance, might the Braves also announce tomorrow that Jones is back for a second tour with Bobby Cox and the Braves? Maybe those preternatural outfield skills are still there, and Jones can recapture his power stroke, too.
Well, you never know.
But I wouldn’t bet on it.
”IT’S A DREAM” by Neil Young
In the morning when I wake up and listen to the sound
Of the birds outside on the roof
I try to ignore what the paper says
And I try not to read all the news
And I’ll hold you if you had a bad dream
And I hope it never comes true
‘Cause you and I been through so many things together
And the sun starts climbing the roof
It’s a dream
Only a dream
And it’s fading now
Fading away
It’s only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay
The Red River stills flows through my home town
Rollin’ and tumblin’ on its way
Swirling around the old bridge pylons
Where a boy fishes the morning away
His bicycle leans on an oak tree
While the cars rumble over his head
An aeroplane leaves a trail in an empty blue sky
And the young birds call out to be fed
It’s a dream
Only a dream
And it’s fading now
Fading away
It’s only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay
An old man walks along on the sidewalk
Sunglasses and an old Stetson hat
The four winds blow the back of his overcoat away
As he stops with the policeman to chat
And a train rolls out of the station
That was really somethin’ in its day
Picking up speed on the straight prairie rails
As it carries the passengers away
It’s gone
Only a dream
And it’s fading now
Fading away
Only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay
It’s a dream
Only a dream
And it’s fading now
Fading away
It’s only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay
It’s a dream
Only a dream
And it’s fading now
Fading away
