At first, I wasn't worried that ESPN's Buster Olney was reporting that the Mets were interested in Dodger disaster Andruw Jones, still owed something like $15M in salary and $7.1M in bonuses for one more year of his dubious services. After all, if you're going to get someone to take Luis Castillo, you have to take back someone the other team can't wait to get rid of.
And then Olney writes:
But it's unlikely that the Dodgers would have interest in Castillo, because they have a young second baseman in Blake DeWitt, and Castillo does not play a lot of different positions.
First of all, DeWitt was primarily a third baseman last year. According to baseball-reference.com, DeWitt played 95 games at third and 27 at second. So even if the Dodgers are planning to use him at second after acquiring Casey Blake, he does have another position if the Dodgers got Castillo.
No, the real reason the Dodgers are unlikely to have interest in Castillo is that it is unlikely that ANY major league team would have interest in Castillo at his salary.
But for the Dodgers to even mention trading Jones without taking back Castillo is just plain insulting.
In fact, the Mets might actually be better off with Castillo than Jones.
Andruw Jones hit .158 last year in 209 at bats. .158! A full 42 points below the Mendoza Line.
Pedro Martinez isn't exactly the Sultan of Swat, and he hit .154 in 2008. Johan Santana spent his whole career before 2008 in a league with the DH, and he managed to hit .141.
But the real comparison is with Castillo, who had a bad year at the plate, only batting .245.
That's 87 points higher than Jones.
And if you're thinking that maybe Jones, who used to be a power hitter, at least had most of his base hits leave the ballpark, nope, he only had three homers and 14 RBI in those 209 AB.
Jones' slugging percentage was .249, barely higher than Castillo's batting average.
Fortunately, metsmerizedonline.com and hotfootblog.com have both noted that Marty Noble of mlb.com says that the Mets are no longer looking at Jones.
And that's just as well, because not only is he a .158 hitter, but no good can come of the Mets trading for a former Braves star named Jones.
I lost my appetite when i heard that rumor. We need hungry "wanting to win" players, not hungry "wanting to eat" players...cough CC...cough.
ReplyDeleteCould you imagine the dynamic duo of Andruw and CC roaming loose in NYC looking for a late night all you can eat place after games together???
Well, at least Met fans can't tease us about CC anymore! :-)
ReplyDeletehaha yeah, that was my biggest fear, all of my CC fat jokes would have been ruined!
ReplyDeleteAndruw Jones has fallen off the planet. And he's only going to be 32 next April.
ReplyDeleteGet a load of this, from the aforementioned Baseball-Reference.com (a site I luv, luv, luv). Similar Batters through Age 31, from most to least: Sammy Sosa, Johnny Bench, Ron Santo, Al Kaline, Dale Murphy, Carlos Beltran, Reggie Jackson, Duke Snider, Del Ennis and Ruben Sierra.
A guy with over 600 homers, by whatever means; the greatest catcher in National League history; the best NL third baseman of his era and a should-be Hall-of-Famer; a member of the 3,000 Hit Club; a two-time MVP; the best all-around player on the Mets right now; a guy with 563 home runs, plus 18 more in postseason play; the best centerfielder in the history of NL ball in New York (remember, Willie Mays was gone after just five seasons); the Phillies' greatest-ever left fielder; and a guy who drove in 100 runs 4 times. Those aren't shabby comparisons.
Andruw had 368 home runs before turning 31. Here's a list of all the other players in history who did that: Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Mathews, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. And for a time, Andruw was also considered one of the best defensive center fielders ever, along with Tris Speaker, Joe DiMaggio, Mays, Curt Flood, Jim Edmonds and Griffey.
What happened?
Naturally, he seems a perfect fit for the Mets, who once picked up Roberto Alomar, who subsequently became the only player I can think of who played himself out of the Hall of Fame. That is, he was considered a probably HOFer, but then was not, and it can't be blamed on injuries or substance abuse: He just stopped playing well.
I would imagine that mr.jones is a candidate for ped's as well. but the deal would work if it was a salary swap. with castillo gone the mets would be free to pursue hudson. jones is a FA after this year, whereas castillo has an extra year. thing is, if we just want to eat a salary, no pun intended, why not just ditch castillo and move forward?
ReplyDeleteWhile i'm not enamoured with A. Jones. i would be willing to see what he can do, on a 1 year, dirt cheap, incentive laden contract. i think there are better options than him, but if we got him on the cheap as a reclimation project, i don't think it would be the end of the world. as long as he was cheap enough to Jettison if he performs like crap.
ReplyDeleteI think i'd almost rather have Manny and his baggage however.
hochman, there is no option for a 1year, dirt cheap, incentive laden contract with jones. he would be acquired via trade and would be entitled to what he is due. the dodgers could pick up some of that, but if we want them to take castillo off of our hands, i wouldn't count on it.
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