Over the past few days there have been several reports out of the Rangers camp about their potential interest in former Gold Glove and All Star centerfielder, Andruw Jones. In my opinion, there are certain pros and cons to this situation, namely being his extreme decline in numbers, his recent injury history, and the overcrowded nature that is the Rangers outfield right now.

I have been opposed to this from Day 1, mainly because of the numbers he put up last year and how injury riddled and overweight he has become since 2006. Without jumping to too big of a conclusion on the heels of the A-Rod announcement, I think all signs point to steroids in the 2001-2005 season for the Braves outfielder. He has been injured several times after being one of the most durable players in MLB and his number have been atrocious. This coupled with a unexplainable weight gain (one of the side effects of getting off anabolic steroids) lead me to believe he will never be near the player we saw in the late 90′s and early 00′s. 

I would like to think the Rangers have taken this into consideration and believe the Rangers would not sign him and take up a spot unless they thought he had the potential to come back from last season. I have not seen Jones workout, nor have I seen him hit, run or throw since last season, so he could be in better shape. He hit with Rudy Jaramillo the other day, which could have significant impact on his plate approach as Jaramillo has resurrected the hitting career of many players throughout his tenure with the Rangers. If he is not having knee problems and has lost weight, his defense in centerfield would be much better than anything we could trot out there, but that is a big if. 

I trust the Rangers at this point when it comes to looking at older, declining, players and getting some value out of them. Daniels has done it with Gagne, Lofton, and Guardado, trading a player that no longer has worth to the Rangers, but does to a team in the playoff hunt. Jones could be great trade bait in this sense. This was a guy who two years ago was the 5th highest paid player in the league and now has no team willing to sign him for anything more than a minor league deal. The upside on Jones could be huge, I think we can all agree on this, and the worst thing that could happen is the Rangers release his contract if he doesn’t pan out. The upside is that if he has a big year he could be flipped at the ASB for either a major league ready pitcher or some near ready propects. But is there any upside left in Andruw Jones anymore, and if there was wouldn’t you think the Dodgers would have seen it rather than outright release him from his massive contract? Bottom line, if someone is released from a huge contract like this, something is fundamentally wrong.

One of the biggest problems with signing Jones is it is going to overcrowd an already player rich Rangers outfield. Josh Hamilton is locked in. Nelson Cruz, being a much needed right handed bat, is probably locked in. Marlon Byrd and David Murphy would be the odd men out if Jones is signed. If the Rangers are going to make this deal they should not have arbitrated Byrd’s contract, or they need to see if they can’t trade him before the season starts. The Rangers do not need to go into the season with 5 legitimate major league outfielders. This would not only hinder the development of the young Murphy, but would lower the trade value of Byrd, as well. 

If the Rangers are going to go forward with the Andruw Jones signing, they have several hurdles to overcome. I would be grudgingly on board with this if they can show us that Jones is baseball ready and not just a chubby, no hitting, shell of his former gold glove and all star self. After seeing him last season, however, I have a hard time believing he is ready to play. If he isn’t major league ready, DO NOT SIGN HIM. We already have 4 good major league outfielders (Frank Cat as well), we do not need to add another aging former star unless he is somewhere near the quality of the old Andruw Jones.  

Here are the links:

From T. R. Sullivan - T. R. runs down the circumstances surrounding the Andruw Jones deal.

From Jeff Wilson – Wilson runs down the lack of space the Rangers have in the outfield