Andruw Jones spring training mean anything?

[southsider2k5]

For people that have seen Jones, is he hitting all fastballs? Is he the type that has been a spring training all star in the past, or does he look legit?

[joeynach]

I was thinking this too, he looks good. Hes been able to hit balls to all corners of the field and with power. Physically he looks great and hes definatly been hitting fastballs and breaking balls, I think he should be penciled in as primary DH. I would really only prefer to see Kotsay in a backup role.

[Kalapse]

I know he had an OPS in the high .800's, 3 HR and 2 SB in the spring of '07 and another outstanding spring last year. Spring Training is fool's gold, you get your hopes up based on spring performance and you're bound to be disappointed.

[Melissa1334]

I know he had an OPS in the high .800's, 3 HR and 2 SB in the spring of '07 and another outstanding spring last year. Spring Training is fool's gold, you get your hopes up based on spring performance and you're bound to be disappointed.

well i guess if theres a positive, its that hes playing good defense and running real well

[Dick Allen]

well i guess if theres a positive, its that hes playing good defense and running real well

He's lost weight. I saw him play CF the other night and he made a boneheaded throw over the cutoff man that eventually cost the White Sox a run. He is looking better than I ever thought he would but the breaking balls don't break much in AZ and he hasn't seen the pitchers' best stuff yet. I do know one thing.......if he does half as well as people are projecting, the Greg Walker b****fest must come to an end.

[DGSOXFan14]

Since he is showing some shades of his old defense, I would love to see Jones in RF and have Quentin DH. That would also lower the chances of Quentin injuring himself. However, I think that would diminish Carlos' value and don't really want to do that at this point in his career...

Edited March 18, 2010 by DGSOXFan14

[Melissa1334]

Since he is showing some shades of his old defense, I would love to see Jones in RF and have Quentin DH. That would also lower the chances of Quentin injuring himself. However, I think that would diminish Carlos' value and don't really want to do that at this point in his career...

the sox are probly a better defensive team with jones rios and cq in the outfield no? not that its going to happen

[hi8is]

the sox are probly a better defensive team with jones rios and cq in the outfield no? not that its going to happen

I got it!!

Let's make noooodle arm boy our DH!!!

[macsandz]

I got it!!

Let's make noooodle arm boy our DH!!!

 

Pierre was among the best defensive LFs in the game last season...

[whtsoxfan]

I know he had an OPS in the high .800's, 3 HR and 2 SB in the spring of '07 and another outstanding spring last year. Spring Training is fool's gold, you get your hopes up based on spring performance and you're bound to be disappointed.

 

 

 

Jones has a mantle that is full of gold gloves and a long track record including a few decent years hitting so I am not sure the Spring Training Flash-in-the-pan analysis applies to him.

[Kalapse]

Jones has a mantle that is full of gold gloves and a long track record including a few decent years hitting so I am not sure the Spring Training Flash-in-the-pan analysis applies to him.

Given that he's now 33 years old, sporting bad knees with nearly 2000 games of wear, hasn't had an above average offensive season since his 20's even despite 2 very good spring training performances in the past 3 seasons and put up s*** offensive numbers in 2007 despite his getting in shape prior to the start of camp I think it's absolutely necessary to proceed with extreme caution when attempting to make anything out of 20 to 60 spring ABs in unforgiving Arizona air against pitchers who are just trying to find their release points and get a feel for their offspeed pitches.

 

There are plenty of fine baseball players that put up big numbers in March and fall flat on their face when the games start to count just as players put up dreadful numbers during the spring and rip the s*** out of the ball in April. Like I said; Spring Training is fool's gold. Your 2009 spring training home run leader was Josh Wilson followed by Mark Teahen (Craig Monroe, Corey Hart and Travis Ishikawa rode the top of the leaderboard for the NL), Brian Buscher and Coco Crisp made an appearance in the top 5 for Batting Average (flirting with .400), Josh Hamilton had the Spring of his life (he of the .660 April OPS) and David Ortiz put up a .900 OPS. Just looking at a couple of Blue Jays: Alex Rios put up a .960 OPS and Marco Scutaro finished at a rather poor .650.

[RockRaines]

Blah blah blah, doomsday!!! Spring training means nothing!!!!

 

 

Thats what you'll hear from people that havent seen him live in a game this year. He is not pulling everything and isnt bailing out on breaking balls. He is going to have a great year.

[DBAHO]

Spring Training is fool's gold, you get your hopes up based on spring performance and you're bound to be disappointed.

Especially when you go from the hot Arizona weather to the cold Chicago weather to start the season (and we've seen the effect that's had on Alexei for example).

[witesoxfan]

Wilson Betemit was the White Sox best offensive player in March last year. He was demoted, never to return by like May 1st.

[Kalapse]

Blah blah blah, doomsday!!! Spring training means nothing!!!!

 

Thats what you'll hear from people that havent seen him live in a game this year. He is not pulling everything and isnt bailing out on breaking balls. He is going to have a great year.

Well, that's just wrong.

 

Alfonso Soriano and his .975 OPS looked amazing last spring too but then he came north and the breaking balls started breaking as they should and he shutdown.

[RockRaines]

Well, that's just wrong.

 

Alfonso Soriano and his .975 OPS looked amazing last spring too but then he came north and the breaking balls started breaking as they should and he shutdown.

Thats your example huh. Well Beckham and his ST looked great last year and he turned into a stud. Now your turn.

[SoxFan562004]

I saw him hit the ball to the right center gap the other day, the last few years he has been extremely pull happy, so that and a couple other of bats I saw at least show he's changed his approach

[macsandz]

I saw him hit the ball to the right center gap the other day, the last few years he has been extremely pull happy, so that and a couple other of bats I saw at least show he's changed his approach

 

He's also got 3 steals so far in ST, including stealing 3rd today. Andruw looks awesome. Even the LA commentators (Lyons- who HATES Jones) says he looks like the Andruw of old and nothing like he has the past couple years. Konerko told Lyons before the game Jones is considered by the Sox the best CF on the team right now.

[Felix]

Blah blah blah, doomsday!!! Spring training means nothing!!!!

 

 

Thats what you'll hear from people that havent seen him live in a game this year. He is not pulling everything and isnt bailing out on breaking balls. He is going to have a great year.

lol, this was supposed to be green, right?

Edited March 18, 2010 by Felix

[witesoxfan]

He's also got 3 steals so far in ST, including stealing 3rd today. Andruw looks awesome. Even the LA commentators (Lyons- who HATES Jones) says he looks like the Andruw of old and nothing like he has the past couple years. Konerko told Lyons before the game Jones is considered by the Sox the best CF on the team right now.

 

Well then Konerko and company are insane.

[macsandz]

Well then Konerko and company are insane.

 

The guy was considered the best CF in baseball for over a decade, is only 32, has lost 25 lbs and clearly has regained a step or two so I'm gonna go with the team of professional evaluators on this one...

[witesoxfan]

The guy was considered the best CF in baseball for over a decade, is only 32, has lost 25 lbs and clearly has regained a step or two so I'm gonna go with the team of professional evaluators on this one...

 

He's only 32 but he's played 13 years in the majors, and he had already declined quite a bit, and just because he's gained a step or two doesn't mean he's suddenly back to being a 25 year old star CFer. And, even better, is that they are basing all of this off of like 24 plate appearances and practice. That's less than 6 full games of actual playing time. Mind you, in his last 1228 plate appearances in the major leagues, he's put up a line of .207/.304/.393/.696. Which sample size do you think is better?

 

I'm actually expecting good things out of him this season, but to consider him to be the team's best CFer with Alex Rios on board is an absolute joke and is, quite frankly, insane.

[qwerty]

Spring training is the best tool we have to determine how the roster will be constructed on opening day. You are not gonna find many that will argue with you about that. But year after year, inevitable and unwarranted roster spots are obtained by someone that got hot at the right moment. By this someone i mean those AAAA fodder type that catch on with a new organization trying to make it, somewhere, anywhere. While on the other hand, another player who is more talented, struggled mightily. Every team has a dewayne wise or two.There was arguably no reason for a player of his caliber to be on the roster, let alone a starter. How many relievers don't even make it three weeks because they get absolutely shelled in their limited outings? It's a good deal. But then again i suppose it is fair, since they got the job based on limited outing in the first place. Between may and june (hell it can be even sooner) all of those replacement players are in the process of being weeded out.

 

The weather comes into play big time, it's huge. Playing in the weather they play in during spring is a complete 180 in comparison to the first month of baseball in a lot of cities, and chicago tends to rank up there on the list. As stated earlier, pitches are very flat with limited bite, which is not an exaggeration. 20-80 at-bats should not be looked at as anything more than what it is, 20-80 at-bats. Sample size.

 

I feel the sox organization/players bought the andruw jones hype. This is not the first time organizations/players have said the same thing him in the past couple of seasons. As we know, he ended up falling on his face. Hopefully this time around there is a different outcome.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Pierre was among the best defensive LFs in the game last season...

 

I don't care what the metrics say. I absolutely refuse to believe this.

[gatnom]

The guy was considered the best CF in baseball for over a decade, is only 32, has lost 25 lbs and clearly has regained a step or two so I'm gonna go with the team of professional evaluators on this one...

 

They are professional baseball players, not talent evaluators. That being said, how has Andruw looked in the field this spring? I have a very hard time believing he is a better CF than Rios at this point in his career. I'm encouraged by his spring thus far, but I've been tricked too many times before by misleading spring stats to completely buy the rejuvenated Andruw Jones just yet.