Jayson Stark on Andruw Jones: The Most Overrated CF Ever

Also, there's a tidbit over at MLB Trade Rumors regarding Hunter's future:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/05/hunter_a_fit_wi.html

say for Jones' salary?

this week talking about this exact position and this seems like it would be an interesting read.  Regardless of what Stark believes/proves though Jones will break the bank this offseason.

I hate when people do this. Overrated by who? The media who is encompassed by people like JJT? Yes, when people get older, they do start to lose a step. He's been in the league for 13 years...

My guess? He's putting the most controversial (or creating controversey where there is none) of his chapters out there to get people interested, so they will buy his book...

I've kind of given up on Stark, because 90% of his articles are about the Phillies (yawn) and his use of statistics in his ESPN articles often is less than appealing ("And guess what count their first homers were both hit on... 2-1 as well.  Can you believe it! The similarities between Placido Polanco and Rogers Hornsby's two homer games on May 4th's are just too numerous to be coincidence...")

But this is good, thanks for linking to it.  

He only looked at one season and concluded that he had the worst 50 HR season ever. Looks completely accurate, but what about the rest? Then again, this isn't the BP or THT annual we're talking about.

I'll bet Andruw's agent is enraged by this.

he also says koufax is most overrated lefty pitcher.

props for calling out nolan though

overrated does not mean the player wasn't good, just that the myth around their excellence is either outdated (Jones) or they weren't quite as great as the common perception (Ryan).  

eom

he's on TBS right now, might as well take a look.

I understand Stark's comments about his fielding being vastly overrated.  So he, like many other players, has lost a step as he's aged.  But I got the feeling (whether it's correct or incorrect, I don't know) that Adam was saying that we shouldn't sign him because of that.

But the truth is, Andruw Jones would be our second best hitter.  He's also better than Carlos Lee, who a lot of people liked on this team and thought we should have signed to a similarly huge deal.  Plus, even if he can't play center field for the next 5-6 years, he can still be a very useful player.  

Basically, I don't know how you can be okay with giving MY a 5 year/75 million dollar deal when he's 31 and NEVER played Gold Glove defense, and then think it's bad to give Andruw Jones a 5-6/90-110 million dollar deal when he's a year younger, plays a position that is not harder than shortstop, and actually was the best defender at his position for sometime.  

Although, I'm also confused why everyone is ready to get rid of a .900 OPS guy (Tex).  A.Jones is an .850 OPS guy (.894/.922/.833 the past 3 years), which is certainly solid.  But the only way it makes sense is if you are saying (much like with MY) that you'd rather pay your money to get good hitting numbers out of traditionally hard places to find them (SS, CF, 2B) than simply just pay the best hitters period (usually 1B, 3B, Corner OF, and DH).