Earlier this month, the Dodgers signed Andruw Jones. His signing, and the renewed Pierre-bashing which arose, and the question of just how much Pierre had helped or hurt the Dodgers (and his previous employers) arose. I’m astonished that Jones was able to be signed for such a tiny total contract. Remember this time last year… the Bill James Handbook had projected him for 677 HR in his career, and there was open talk about him making $140MM for 7 years, etc. etc. But it’s a "what have you done for me lately" market, to be sure. Only time will tell whether 2007 was a fluke, or the start of an ugly decline. For me, it seems as though the Dodgers got the best FA bargain I’ve seen among big-ticket signings in recent years.

linky

I wonder who gave him the second place vote

I understand it’s either “sucked last year” or “was injured” but this is about the dumbest award there is. ROY makes some sense because you have to, you know, fulfill the criteria to be a rookie. But what’s the criteria for injured or sucking?

…most weight gained between opening day and the end of the season.

I offer up as evidence of his pathetic conditioning this damning piece of evidence: he is a 10-time GG centerfielder who at the age of 32 was pinch-run for by David Murphy.

All he’s done before was suck.

is anything more meaningless than comeback player of the year?

And 2, AJM said earlier today that Anderson wasn’t being considered for ROY because of his slow start. Well, AJ had the opposite, he started off pretty well, then ended completely useless. But the first impression (he was the clear frontrunner for a few weeks there in May), lasts a long time with some people

David (Fort Worth): Did any players for the Rangers’ affiliate in Bakersfield merit consideration?

Dave Perkin: Yes—Tanner Roark. With that last name, I’m sure he is Paul DePodesta’s favorite player. Roark was outstanding in a very tough place to play—small crowds, rickety old park, bizarre CF fence and dimensions. As for our list, he was just caught in a numbers crunch—too many good players in the Cal League this year.

To that point he had been solid up until that point… ended up being another bad season obviously.

I assume he’ll be in the minor leagues to open ’10.

Because that’s the only feasible explanation

1. The sad part is someone will probably sign him for cheap. If Giambi and Griffey can keep getting signed, you never know…

2. He was a comeback player. He came back from being shit rotten awful to plain terrible in 1 year. That’s tough to do.