Yanks sign Andruw

[Colin William]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/01/20/yankees.jones/

I've no idea how Andruw's defense is these days, but I wondered if he
might have been useful for us in CF against lefties.

Colin

[Tarkus]

Post by Colin William
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/01/20/yankees.jones/
I've no idea how Andruw's defense is these days, but I wondered if he
might have been useful for us in CF against lefties.

Not for $2M.

Per DOB:
In past 4 seasons, Andruw Jones hit .212 (284-for-1340) w/ 65 HRs, 199
RBI, .312 OBP & .724 OPS. He hit .197 w/ runners on, .217 w/ RISP

[Colin William]

Post by Tarkus

Post by Colin William
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/01/20/yankees.jones/
I've no idea how Andruw's defense is these days, but I wondered if he
might have been useful for us in CF against lefties.

Not for $2M.

$2m doesn't buy much in the free agent market, especially when you're
looking for a backup CF. Last year it cost us almost that much to sign
Troy Glaus, and Ankiel last year made close to $3m. Again, though, I
don't know how viable AJ's glove is in CF these days. Hell, Francoeur
managed to get $2.5m this year (okay, those last two were both Kansas
City contracts, so they don't really count).

Post by Tarkus
In past 4 seasons, Andruw Jones hit .212 (284-for-1340) w/ 65 HRs, 199
RBI, .312 OBP & .724 OPS. He hit .197 w/ runners on, .217 w/ RISP

Those numbers are somewhat misleading, because they are
disproportionately weighted down by his historically awful 2008. That's
not to say it doesn't count, but that was the only one of those four
years where he actually hit below that .212 aggregate mark.

Yes, his BA in the other seasons does suck, but his peripherals have
kept him useful the last two seasons. Last season AJ had an OBP a few
points above the ATL team average, and an SLG higher than that of any
Brave. AJ's OPS+ the last two seasons were 100 and 119. Last year
Andruw hit 256/373/553 in 102 PA against lefties (our current CF has a
career 677 OPS against lefthanded pitching, with marks of 688 and 378 in
his last two seasons).

Again, I don't know if his glove is still up to even a platoon role in
CF. And, that low BA isn't trivial, and it might suggest a forthcoming
old-player-skills implosion. But, given that our current CF is coming
off a brutally bad year with the bat, is no great shakes in CF, and
can't hit lefties, I figure AJ might have been worth a look as a backup
or platoon option.

Colin

[Tarkus]

Post by Colin William

Post by Tarkus
In past 4 seasons, Andruw Jones hit .212 (284-for-1340) w/ 65 HRs, 199
RBI, .312 OBP & .724 OPS. He hit .197 w/ runners on, .217 w/ RISP

Those numbers are somewhat misleading, because they are
disproportionately weighted down by his historically awful 2008. That's
not to say it doesn't count, but that was the only one of those four
years where he actually hit below that .212 aggregate mark.
Yes, his BA in the other seasons does suck, but his peripherals have
kept him useful the last two seasons. Last season AJ had an OBP a few
points above the ATL team average, and an SLG higher than that of any
Brave. AJ's OPS+ the last two seasons were 100 and 119. Last year
Andruw hit 256/373/553 in 102 PA against lefties (our current CF has a
career 677 OPS against lefthanded pitching, with marks of 688 and 378 in
his last two seasons).
Again, I don't know if his glove is still up to even a platoon role in
CF. And, that low BA isn't trivial, and it might suggest a forthcoming
old-player-skills implosion. But, given that our current CF is coming
off a brutally bad year with the bat, is no great shakes in CF, and
can't hit lefties, I figure AJ might have been worth a look as a backup
or platoon option.

Fair enough. FWIW, he had some support over in Talking Chop, for at
least a platoon role. And even Wren acknowledged that his name had come
up in discussions.

Sounds like they're really banking on McLouth and/or Schafer to really
turn things around this season. A bit of a gamble, to be sure, but they
did pretty well last season with a black hole in CF. And at least LF
will be improved when Chipper is healthy.

[Colin William]

Fair enough. FWIW, he had some support over in Talking Chop, for at
least a platoon role. And even Wren acknowledged that his name had come
up in discussions.
Sounds like they're really banking on McLouth and/or Schafer to really
turn things around this season. A bit of a gamble, to be sure, but they
did pretty well last season with a black hole in CF. And at least LF
will be improved when Chipper is healthy.

Yeah, that does seem to be the plan. McLouth did have a good finish to
the season, so hopefully that wasn't just a blip.

Schafer, OTOH, hasn't done anything useful anywhere in the last two
years. Heck, last year he posted an OPS in the minors almost 100 points
less than what McLouth did in the majors. Ugh.

Colin

[Tarkus]

Post by Colin William

Post by Tarkus
Sounds like they're really banking on McLouth and/or Schafer to really
turn things around this season. A bit of a gamble, to be sure, but they
did pretty well last season with a black hole in CF. And at least LF
will be improved when Chipper is healthy.

Yeah, that does seem to be the plan. McLouth did have a good finish to
the season, so hopefully that wasn't just a blip.
Schafer, OTOH, hasn't done anything useful anywhere in the last two
years. Heck, last year he posted an OPS in the minors almost 100 points
less than what McLouth did in the majors. Ugh.

Wren keeps pushing the point that Schafer is finally healthy. Whether
that's wishful PR or an exciting fact remains to be seen. Needless to
say, I think 2011 is his make or break season with the Braves. It would
be nice if he could at least turn into a useful backup.

[Colin William]

Wren keeps pushing the point that Schafer is finally healthy. Whether
that's wishful PR or an exciting fact remains to be seen. Needless to
say, I think 2011 is his make or break season with the Braves. It would
be nice if he could at least turn into a useful backup.

Yeah, I think that's his best case scenario by now. Fact is, it's not
like he had that solid of a minor league track record. He did well in
2007, but that was all A-ball, and then he did well in 84 games at AA in
2008. But, he has never shown any particular talent above AA. It's
tempting to think that that's because of the injuries - all of his AAA
time has come since his wrist injury - but it seems just as likely (if
not more so) that the injuries have provided cover for a guy whose
ceiling was AA.

And that's not even taking into account the fact that he hasn't hit a
lick since he was busted for HGH.

I hope Wren is right that there's some talent there, but I'd prefer for
Schafer to start the year in AAA, away from the pressure of being in the
majors. If he starts the year with Atlanta he's going to know that he
has a lot riding on how he hits in that first month, and that kind of
pressure cannot help.

Colin

[Dale Hicks]

Post by Colin William
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/01/20/yankees.jones/

It's about time. Wasn't he supposed to be playing for them five
years ago or something?

I guess he outgrew small market Atlanta.

[Tarkus]

Post by Dale Hicks

Post by Colin William
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/baseball/mlb/01/20/yankees.jones/

It's about time. Wasn't he supposed to be playing for them five
years ago or something?
I guess he outgrew small market Atlanta.

Should only be two or three years away from being a Kansas City Royal.