White Sox sign Andruw Jones

[Texsox]

sorry tex, i'm not going to submit to your pity party while we still don't know who our R or LF will be.

 

no pity party, just underwhelmed. I know who they were, and even this is an upgrade. I am hoping that we're not going to hear blah blah economics, blah blah, we're excited, opening day LFer, blah blah blah

[Dick Allen]

.338 wOBA last year from Jones. Fields put up a .336 in '07 and a .287 last season. Chances are you're getting an upgrade here. Even if you could get Jones's .317 from '07 that's a substantial upgrade from Fields. I don't think Andruw Jones is anywhere near as bad as he was in 2008, all his peripherals were way off from his career norms, those corrected last year and he produced nicely.

After April he hit below .200 the rest of the year. I really wonder why Texas didn't want him back. As long as he doesn't play too much, its fine, they can always release him if he struggles and JR won't have a heart attack. I just hope Quentin and either Pods or Crisp or whoever else they get to play in the OF can stay healthy. I really don't think Danks will be ready to play regularly in the big leagues in 2010.

 

It is a total shift from the "we have to show the minor leaguers they will get a shot" position they had last year. It looks like Rutherford, Nix, Liillibridge, De Aza, if they aren't throw ins for other moves, will all be fighting for one spot, maybe, although there will probably be injuries at some point. Ozzie likes 12 pitchers, so its usually the 9 regulars and 4 bench guys, but if they rotate the DH its like 5 bench guys. The rotating DH thing I like if its an everyday-quality player that's being rotated. If its just guys like Kotsay and Jones being worked in, as much as Thome was hated around here, he's going to be thought of fondly pretty quickly into the season. I don't mind a veteran bench, even though I think they overpaid for Vizquel. Most of the minor leaguers the Sox have called up the past few years have appeared almost clueless. I am really looking forward to the real acquistions, the regular players and the bullpen.

[BlackBetsy]

Teahan, Vizquel and now Andruw Jones....getting to be a bizarre offseason. If Vizquel and Jones are just bench players, who cares. But if they get more than 150 AB each...the 2010 Sox are in trouble.

 

It's funny how Kenny tends to keep acquiring people 3-4 years after he first tries to acquire them and well after they can contribute. Griffey, Alomar, the other Alomar, now Vizquel and Jones.

 

By the way, the following members of the 1996-1999 Indians were acquired by the White Sox at some point:

 

Albert Belle

Sandy Alomar

Omar Vizquel

Kenny Lofton

Jim Thome

Bartolo Colon

Roberto Alomar

Alan Embree

Herb Perry

 

A little bizarre for one team to acquire so many players from another, don't you think?

 

[Kalapse]

After April he hit below .200 the rest of the year. I really wonder why Texas didn't want him back. As long as he doesn't play too much, its fine, they can always release him if he struggles and JR won't have a heart attack. I just hope Quentin and either Pods or Crisp or whoever else they get to play in the OF can stay healthy. I really don't think Danks will be ready to play regularly in the big leagues in 2010.

Aside from April and May he didn't hit for much of an average, that's never really been his thing, he's going to draw walks and hit homeruns significantly more so than Josh Fields. He was great in April, respectable in May, bad in June, great in July and then he strained his hamstring at the beginning of August and struggled in his 76 AB. He was streaky, that's kind of why he's a bench player.

[iamshack]

In July, he did manage to post an .965 OPS, so he is capable at least of putting it together over short stretches.

 

Hopefully, we see something in him that we can tinker with a bit and hopefully bring out the better performances a bit more often.

[chw42]

Teahan, Vizquel and now Andruw Jones....getting to be a bizarre offseason. If Vizquel and Jones are just bench players, who cares. But if they get more than 150 AB each...the 2010 Sox are in trouble.

 

It's funny how Kenny tends to keep acquiring people 3-4 years after he first tries to acquire them and well after they can contribute. Griffey, Alomar, the other Alomar, now Vizquel and Jones.

 

By the way, the following members of the 1996-1999 Indians were acquired by the White Sox at some point:

 

Albert Belle

Sandy Alomar

Omar Vizquel

Kenny Lofton

Jim Thome

Bartolo Colon

Roberto Alomar

Alan Embree

Herb Perry

 

A little bizarre for one team to acquire so many players from another, don't you think?

 

Wow we have basically acquired the Indians lineup when that team was in its prime.

 

[iamshack]

Wow we have basically acquired the Indians lineup when that team was in its prime.

Manny is next...

[chw42]

Manny is next...

 

That's a move I would definitely support.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Omar... now Andrew... were going to have one he'll of team in 1997.

[Princess Dye]

no pity party, just underwhelmed. I know who they were, and even this is an upgrade. I am hoping that we're not going to hear blah blah economics, blah blah, we're excited, opening day LFer, blah blah blah

 

The poverty the Sox are claiming actually makes me think you WILL see exactly what you want to happen

 

a big move...which unfortunately will cost us the top guys in the farm system.

 

 

But all signs point to it .....the staff is win-now...the positions to be filled are often ones at a surplus..... and also factor in how Hudson/Flowers are right now at peak value.

Edited November 26, 2009 by Princess Dye

[Chicago White Sox]

Wow, this article makes it sound like the Sox will be rotating the DH spot between bench players. Awful news if that's truly the case.

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws

 

[iamshack]

Wow, this article makes it sound like the Sox will be rotating the DH spot between bench players. Awful news if that's truly the case.

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws

I think it's just Merkin speculating, trying to pay an adequate amount of respect to both Jones and the signing. Ultimately, I doubt he knows anything more than the rest of us at this point.

[Chicago White Sox]

I think it's just Merkin speculating, trying to pay an adequate amount of respect to both Jones and the signing. Ultimately, I doubt he knows anything more than the rest of us at this point.

I agree, it's just that comment about Nix being involved in a rotating DH that got me worried.

[macsandz]

Speed be damned. Give me a guy with average foot speed and a .370 OBP and I'm golden.

 

His name is Nick Swisher.

[greg775]

His name is Nick Swisher.

 

If people are gonna keep bringing up Swisher, then I'm going back to Rowand.

His name is Aaron Rowand.

[Stocking]

Didnt look through all the pages but found this interesting article.Danks, Jones, McCarthy

The Jones/McCarthy/Danks Connection And 600 Home Runs

JOEY MATSCHULAT | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009 AT 12:04 AM | PRINT ARTICLE | SHARE ARTICLE

So, ninth-place finisher in the AL Comeback Player of the Year balloting Andruw Jones has quickly been reunited with Rangers teammate Omar Vizquel in Chicago (signing a one-year, $500,000 pact with potential performance bonuses amounting to an additional $1 million), and reading through the Baseball Think Factory thread on the subject, what should I stumble upon but this 2006 tidbit from SI.com rumor monger Jon Heyman:

 

The Braves are shopping Andruw Jones around, hoping to land young pitching in return for the eight-time Gold Glove center fielder. Atlanta asked the White Sox for right-hander Brandon McCarthy but were rejected. They are still in talks with the Red Sox for a package that may include left-hander Jon Lester, who is 5-1 with a 3.49 ERA during his rookie season.

 

So, if some configuration of that deal happens, neither McCarthy nor Jones likely ever land in Texas, John Danks likely remains a Ranger and, heck, maybe the Mark Teixeira trade never happens either. I am being more than a little facetious, of course; every single major league general manager could play this exact same game, wistfully scanning their old notes and wondering if a certain trade or signing that they failed to pull the trigger on might have propelled their ballclub to bigger and better things. Remember that purported Jose Cruz Jr.-for-David Wright deal that J.P. Ricciardi was said to have unconditionally vetoed? Yeah.

 

As for the signing itself, it's neither terrible not great ... it's just another run-of-the-mill low-base contract that may or may not ever come to fruition. Jones wasn't a total disaster in Texas (.348 park-adjusted wOBA) and might have had more utility if Ron Washington had opted to selectively utilize him more so than he actually did. As it stands, Jones served as a nice walk sponge and showcased some surprisingly renascent power, but was over-exposed by his manager, couldn't remotely hit for average and, defensively speaking, seemed to be a shadow of his former Gold Glove-winning self.

 

Something that's eminently difficult to comprehend: if you had run Jones through the Bill James-devised "Favorite Toy" three years ago, the resulting forecast would have given him a 49 percent chance to reach 600 home runs. Combined with his well-deserved reputation as one of this generation's greatest defensive players and lack of association with PEDs, he probably would have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Now? The door is still open, but the pile of .225/.320/.420 projections doesn't really portend well for his chances of a career renaissance.

[hi8is]

Very interesting to say the least.

Could turn into something cool.

 

Redemption song.

[Bubba Philips]

Very interesting to say the least.

Could turn into something cool.

 

Redemption song.

The rangers batting coach who couldn't get all the bugs out of JOnes' swing is now the Cubs batting coach. We now get to see if Walker can create some magic in jones' bat. we'' se if Walker is >than Jeramillo.

[Dick Allen]

Wow, this article makes it sound like the Sox will be rotating the DH spot between bench players. Awful news if that's truly the case.

 

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws

It would be awful news, I just don't see how it can be true. KW said he wanted the team OBP to be .350. Swapping out Thome for a mix of guys like Jones, Kotsay maybe Nix isn't going to help it. I think they either sign or trade for enough guys that if they have 13 non-pitchers on the roster they have 9 regular-types, Kotsay, Vizquel, Jones, and a catcher. Who knows, maybe they will pencil Flowers in as a DH, and try to get him regular AB. The bench guys are OK if not overly exposed. It was one criticism of how Jones was handled in Texas. Chances are if Kotsay, Vizquel and Jones get 300 or more AB apiece, Soxtalk is going to need an upgrade to handle all the fire Walker stuff that will be posted.

[beck72]

A theme of these recent posts has been how we're headed for a deep lineup with no one bat that is scary.

 

Look at what we had '06: Absolutely scare-your-soul hitting from three guys. But we were as bad as our weakest links, of which there were several.

 

Now in '05.......it was actually AJ's worst hitting year for us. Dye had power but underwhelming OBP. Really eight of our offensive positions had lower than .352 OBP.

 

However.... almost all the hitters were at least decent.

 

So in short I think I'm going against some of the other things I've said in this thread. Lets get back to being deep and see where it takes us. Sure we all want a big signing, but in a sense we had our expenditures with Peavy and Rios........and now it's time to fill two positions where there are a bevy of options out there (so let them all bid against each other).........and fortifying the bench is a great thing to do while we're waiting.

I also see this trend-improving the total overall talent on offense and defense throughout the 40 man roster but particularly the 25 man. While it would be great to add an Adrian Gonzalez to the lineup [and it still could happen] the sox need to be solid 1-25, with better talent for possible callups 26-40 as well.

 

When the sox started the year with Anderson/ Wise and Fields as starters, and MacDougal, Corky Miller, Colon, Wilson Betemit and Lillibridge with jobs, and few options to back even those guys up, the sox had gaping holes that couldn't be filled for a long time.

 

I do like the fact that the sox could be helped mid year by guys like Flowers, Jordan Danks, or Brent Morel. While they may not be able to pull a Beckham right away, they are versatile talents that could help the sox in other ways besides hitting.

[beck72]

It would be awful news, I just don't see how it can be true. KW said he wanted the team OBP to be .350. Swapping out Thome for a mix of guys like Jones, Kotsay maybe Nix isn't going to help it. I think they either sign or trade for enough guys that if they have 13 non-pitchers on the roster they have 9 regular-types, Kotsay, Vizquel, Jones, and a catcher. Who knows, maybe they will pencil Flowers in as a DH, and try to get him regular AB. The bench guys are OK if not overly exposed. It was one criticism of how Jones was handled in Texas. Chances are if Kotsay, Vizquel and Jones get 300 or more AB apiece, Soxtalk is going to need an upgrade to handle all the fire Walker stuff that will be posted.

I like the talk of Blanco as back up C because it would mean having Flowers start in AAA getting regular AB's and working on his overall game.

[Dick Allen]

I like the talk of Blanco as back up C because it would mean having Flowers start in AAA getting regular AB's and working on his overall game.

I agree with you, I think not having Flowers catch everyday isn't wise, but the White Sox might think Flowers' bat is too valuable not to have in the line-up, so they can make him the DH, maybe let him catch some and have AJ DH more and have Blanco or whoever catch once or twice a week. If you have 3 guys who can catch, you can DH one of them, or if they had C.J. on the roster, he supposedly could catch in a pinch, so theoretically you could have Flowers on the roster as the back-up catcher but get him ABs as the DH.

As long as the Sox are signing fossils maybe they should look at Brian Giles. He was about as awful as you can be last year, but before that has always been a solid OBP with lots of production. He said he may have to sign a minor league contract. The wife or girlfriend beater accusations I suppose may scare teams away, and I wouldn't blame them, plus he will be 39. But that will be about the average age of the White Sox bench.

Or Flowers may be trade bait. If Adrian Gonzalez or BJ Upton or someone of that ilk become White Sox, I would think Tyler Flowers would become an ex-White Sox.

Edited November 26, 2009 by Dick Allen

[The Ginger Kid]

fat, slow and on the decline. yippee.

 

 

[Chicago White Sox]

It would be awful news, I just don't see how it can be true. KW said he wanted the team OBP to be .350. Swapping out Thome for a mix of guys like Jones, Kotsay maybe Nix isn't going to help it. I think they either sign or trade for enough guys that if they have 13 non-pitchers on the roster they have 9 regular-types, Kotsay, Vizquel, Jones, and a catcher. Who knows, maybe they will pencil Flowers in as a DH, and try to get him regular AB. The bench guys are OK if not overly exposed. It was one criticism of how Jones was handled in Texas. Chances are if Kotsay, Vizquel and Jones get 300 or more AB apiece, Soxtalk is going to need an upgrade to handle all the fire Walker stuff that will be posted.

Yeah, I really don't think KW is going to settle on Jones/Kotsay/Nix as his DH. I mean, the Sox would be at a huge disadvantage relative to other AL teams by using backups out as their DH. It would defeat the actual purpose of the spot. In fact, it would be one of KW's more mind-blowing decisions.

[bmags]

though, yes, I don´t think we actually are going to rotate that trash as DH. BUT, i will say recently in offseasons things like jerry owens as CF have been said by KW, and I laughed it off. And then they really didn´t replace CF and we had DeWayne Wise. So I do worry.

 

But yeah, one of these DH´s will be had for cheap.