Andruw Jones Update: Texas Rangers Now Considering Him A Cleanup Option

Posted on March 24th, 2009 11:27am by Evan Grant
Filed under Breaking News, Texas Rangers

NOTICE: THIS POST IS, AS WE SAY, “DEVELOPING.” IT MAY BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

SURPRISE, Ariz. – The latest twist in the strange spring saga of Andruw Jones:

The Rangers, who a week ago were considering releasing him from his minor league contract, are now looking at him as a cleanup option against left-handed pitching. Jones is hitting fourth today against Seattle lefty Jarrod Washburn. Nelson Cruz, who was expected to be the team’s cleanup hitter against lefties, is hitting fifth.

“This is what I’m considering for today in Peoria,” manager Ron Washington said. “Andruw has hit fourth many times in his career. There are going to be plenty of times that Nelson plays and Andruw isn’t in there that I’ll probably put Cruz in there. Nelson has done a great job in the clanup spot, but I also feel like Andruw can hit there and Nelson can protect him, too.”

While the club still hasn’t added him to the 40-man roster, Jones has twice waived deadlines for that move. The most recent deadline was Monday. Now, the club has the next 10 days to examine how he might fit as part of the solution for the Rangers’ problems against left-handed hitters. The team was 21-31 against lefties last year; in the AL, only Baltimore had  a worse winning percentage against lefties.

If Jones has rediscovered his swing with the help of hitting instructor Rudy Jaramillo, he is indeede an intriguing option against lefties. Among active players with at least 900 plate appearances in the cleanup spot, Jones has the best home run-per-at-bat rate by a right-hander (13.15 at-bats). He ranks fourth overall behind lefties Ryan Howard (11.63), Jim Thome (11.87) and Prince Fielder (12.93).

He also has significantly more cleanup experience than either Blalock (704 at-bats) or Cruz (three at-bats).  Jones is a career .259 hitter in the No. 4 spot. He has 117 home runs as a cleanup hitter, 14th among active players.

Tuesday’s lineup also includes right-handed hitting Marlon Byrd in place of David Murphy in left field. The only lefty in the lineup after Josh Hamilton at No. 3 is Hank Blalock, who is hitting sixth. Blalock is the likely cleanup hitter against right-handed pitching. Regular first baseman Chris Davis is not starting, but is expected to replace Blalock midway through the game. There has been some internal discussion, however, amongst Rangers management to use Blalock at first against some tough lefties and protect Davis, who has only 80 games of major league experience. Davis hit. 279 against lefties last year.

“Everything is in play,” Washington said about a potential opening day lineup against Cleveland left-handed pitcher and 2008 Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee. “On the Sunday before the season, you can bet I’m going to sit down with my coaches and get some input. Don’t think I haven’t been thinking about it. I have some options. But the important thing is that even with options, I trust my left-handed hitters.”

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27 Comments to “Andruw Jones Update: Texas Rangers Now Considering Him A Cleanup Option”
  • SSHorn @ March 24th, 2009 at 11:31 am

    Will the madness never end?

  • Brandon @ March 24th, 2009 at 11:37 am

    Back up Outfielder/DH to cleanup hitter. NICE!

  • bioaggie @ March 24th, 2009 at 11:53 am

    The whole Andruw thing makes no sense to me.
    Rudy is a great hitting coach. He better have some real magic up his sleeve for this one. Wash better have a good strategy of using him along with all the players that are actually part of the future of this team.
    I have much more faith in Rudy’s part of the equation than I do Wash’s.

  • melissa @ March 24th, 2009 at 11:55 am

    This is maddeningly stupid.

  • Greg @ March 24th, 2009 at 11:57 am

    I can’t believe Chris Davis is going to lose playing time to freaking Andruw Jones.

  • Section 339 @ March 24th, 2009 at 11:59 am

    There’s either something about to go down we don’t know about yet or the Rangers coaching staff has been passing around a rag soaked in octane booster.

  • Rodney @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Jeez, more angst over nothing? It’s still Spring Training…why get so excited about the lineup?

  • ChopperJim @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    This reminds me of the Sammy Sosa era; he’s taking up a roster spot that one of the kids could fill. Sorry, this just isn’t making any sense to me. Why are we going through all this drama? For the sake of ‘hope’?

    Seems to me that the real story is TR’s indecision. Frankly, I don’t see the fit, and btw, if any other team wanted him, he’d be gone by now. It’s time to put this Jone’s saga behind us and launch him.

    ChopperJim

  • ncrangerfan @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:02 pm

    The Rangers brass can’t resist the “what-if” scenario. “what if” Jones finds his swing again after working with Rudy. “What if” he can knock some rust off in the field. “What if” we can trade Jones for a couple average prospects.

    Either they are crazy or they are feeling pretty confident that Blalock is on his way out sooner than later.

  • Whatever @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Get real. We sucked versus lefties last year. Sucked. Murphy and Davis are not very good against lefties. And if you limit jones to just those situations, maybe he can help this team.

    He won’t take that many ab’s away from young guys. Right now, it is him versus marlon byrd for those at bats. Leave it at that. Don’t read anything more into it.

    They are concerned about Cruz. Is he legit, I think so, but lets let him work his fragile pschyie into shape before we thrust him into the 4 hole to protect our best player.

    Jones may suck, but you have to see it right now. And then you can make an informed decision.

  • SAD @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    Gotta believe that Rudy is telling them that Jones still has it or they would have let him go already. Hope he’s right.

  • doctorED @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    Maybe this makes sense if there is a deal brewing that would send Marlon Byrd to someone for bullpen help? Byrd is certainly one of the Rangers more tradeable commodities, and I can’t believe that JD is looking for bullpen help more than anything else. Just a thought.

  • losangelesrangerfan @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    My theory is that they’re pumping up the p.r. machine on Andruw Jones to ignite trade interest on him – he’s going to be dealt for a middle reliever any day now

  • utb @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    I don’t want to be too rash or knee-jerk about a ST lineup…but SHOOT ME NOW!

    Seriously, let’s see how it plays out. If Jones replaces Cat on the roster – fine. I still am holding on to hope thatJones will not affect Davis – but I don’t feel too good about it.

  • rob m. @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:34 pm

    Jones still has 12 days to prove Rudy wrong. Has it been proven that Blalock can play 1B?

  • Mike E @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:37 pm

    This just gets worse and worse. Now I just have to root for him to tank completely the rest of the spring so maybe they won’t go ahead with adding him to the team.

  • Wes @ March 24th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    Does anyone know how Jones has fared against left-handing pitching this spring? I know he has not had a great spring, but I would be interested to know what his splits are against lefty vs. righty.

  • horsedooty @ March 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    does Jones or his agent have pictures of JD or Warsh with small fuzzy animals? It gets curiouser and curiouser.

  • bill powell @ March 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    Hay RODNEY…..

    I dont think anyone read your blog, but ME.

    Jeez, more angst over nothing? It’s still Spring Training…why get so excited about the lineup?

    makes sense to me.

  • Brett in SD @ March 24th, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    I like A. Jones hitting cleanup if he’s found his stroke. He gives them a legit cleanup hitter, as opposed to Blalock, who simply is not a cleanup hitter, or Cruz or Davis, who are not yet established major league hitters in the #4 spot.

  • TylerJ @ March 24th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    just when you think someone is in charge, we see the old crap come back. who do they think jones is? the second coming of Josh Hamilton?

  • Daniel @ March 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    Ideally, we could play Jones for half of the season, have him put up decent numbers, and then trade him to Atlanta and raid their farm system some more.

  • James @ March 24th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    This quote right here tells me that Jones is on the team: “There are going to be plenty of times that Nelson plays and Andruw isn’t in there that I’ll probably put Cruz in there.”

  • Sriram @ March 24th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Brett – I would agree with you IF the Rangers were legit contenders. But let’s not kid ourselves – they’re not. If there’s no real shot at the postseason, why not let Cruz and Davis spend the year trying to establish themselves at the ML level? If they struggle, chalk it up to growing pains and let them work through it. I repeat from my last post, it shouldn’t matter if they lose a couple of extra games in the process.

    And that’s what I don’t get about all of this. The Rangers are supposedly “building for the future this year”, and you DON’T do that by taking ABs from the kids who are learning so a vet who might have something left can get a few. It’s not like they’re faced with the prospect of playing Broussard or Shelton at DH (in that case, by all means, take a chance on Jones, he couldn’t possibly be any worse).

  • Jolly @ March 24th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    What had such a good feel to this spring training was that almost all the players had a good feel for where they were playing and their role on the team……

    I guess Boras has convinced Wash that chaos will breed excellence…..all I see is Jones giving Wash a piggy back ride to the unemployment line…..

  • Trebor @ March 24th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    The idea that you need some sort of experience to hit in a particular spot in the lineup is dumb.

    Hitting Andruw Jones cleanup at this point in his career is dumber.

    “Protecting” Chris Davis, who had no problem handling lefties last year and had no platoon difference in his minor league experience either, by benching him for a guy that has a career sixty freaking four OPS+ against lefties is beyond dumb. It’s EPIC FAIL. Catalanotto is notorious for sucking against lefties, and even his numbers aren’t as bad as Blalock’s.

  • Joel @ March 24th, 2009 at 6:46 pm

    I think part of the reason they are doing this weird crap is simply to get any PR interest in the team whatsover. They are very concerned attendance is going to be awful out of the gate.