Atomic RoadRunners | Andrew Flynn’s High-Energy Fantasy Baseball

Andruw Jones returned to the starting lineup and went 2-for-5 with an RBI in Wednesday’s win over the Brewers. He’s been serving as the league’s most pricey platoon player recently, while the Dodgers have been going with Juan Pierre, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier in the outfield. Jones is still hitting just. 179 on the season and he’ll need to put together a nice stretch of consistent offense at the plate if he’s going to avoid permanently losing his share of the at-bats. (Rotowire)

Andruw Jones keeps his emotions in check, but don’t be fooled by his demeanor. This hurts.
“People think I’m relaxed and laid back. It’s eating me up inside,” Jones said, the sadness evident in his eyes. “I’m upset. I’m embarrassed.” What about that little smile he seems to wear after a strikeout? “That’s the way my face is,” he said. “That’s me. I can’t change that. And I’m not going to break stuff because I strike out. It’s not the bat’s fault; it’s not the helmet’s fault. I’m doing whatever I can to help the team win, even if I’m not hitting. I know I’m better than this.”

Now, with a .170 average, Jones isn’t even close to hitting his weight, which just so happens to have become an issue in his dreadful start with the Dodgers. “It has nothing to do with it,” insisted Jones, listed at 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds.

“Everybody can say, ‘He’s fat, he’s this, he’s that.’ I feel great. I go out there; I can run the ball down. I feel fine. I work hard — that’s all I can do. It’s not like I haven’t played this game before. This is the worst start I’ve ever had, and I’ve had awful starts. All you can do is keep working. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.”

Joe Torre, in his first year as the Dodgers’ manager, said he’s not about to give up on him. Jones hit .263 with 51 homers and 128 RBI in 2005 and .262 with 41 homers and 129 RBI in 2006 before fading to .222 with 26 homers and 94 RBI last season.

“I’m staying with him, because I just don’t believe he can’t hit anymore,” Torre said. “I know how important he has to be for us to do well, so we need to get him started. He’s not going to get started sitting on the bench, not that I’m not going to sit him from time to time.” Consider Jones a buy-low candidate right now, but he is a real, real low guy right now and shouldn’t be a trusted starter in any format. (CBS Sports)

FAAB Acquisition:

• C Chris Coste, Phillies [$0 bid]

Up:

• OF John Bowker
• P Nelson Figueroa

Down:

• OF Andruw Jones
• P Duaner Sanchez

Cut:

• Javier Valentin, C, Cincinnati

Notes:

• Was outbid for re-signing Cubs P Jon Lieber. Cover Zero acquired him for $5 - I had bid $0. Lieber was added to the Cubs’ rotation, and promptly gave up 5 HR in his start. Probably for the best.
• Former Roadrunner Zach Duke was acquired by Misogynistic Padres for $4 FAAB.

Manager Joe Torre said the Dodgers have had the eyes of slumping OF Andruw Jones examined several times. “They’ve checked out OK,” Torre said. “We know his problems aren’t physical ones and his hitting trouble isn’t terminal.” Jones is batting .163 and got the day off Sunday at Colorado. The Dodgers have tried blaming Jones’ batting stance, allergies and now eyes for his poor hitting. Maybe they should just realize what so many Fantasy owners already have: that he is no longer the player who hit 40 home runs in back-to-back seasons in 2005 and 2006. Slumps happen, for sure — even long ones — but when a player who hit .222 last season gets off to a start this poor, you have to wonder just how much he’ll recover. Reserve Jones in all Fantasy leagues for now and consider dropping him if you spot decent alternatives on waivers. (CBS Sports)

Andruw Jones was held out of the Dodgers’ lineup Thursday. The Associated Press reports that manager Joe Torre benched Jones because Thursday’s afternoon game came a day after a night game. Jones came in late in the game as a defensive replacement, but Matt Kemp manned center for most of the game. MLB.com notes that the struggling Jones has made an adjustment in his batting stance Wednesday with a more open batting stance against lefty Scott Olsen. Jones has been pulling off pitches all year. To reach pitches with an open stance, he must bring his left leg toward home plate and the momentum of that act theoretically nullifies his tendency to pull away. He flied out twice to center field and popped to second before walking twice, although, as the game progressed, his stance appeared to close. “I’m trying everything,” Jones said afterward. Right now, it’s best to keep him reserved outside of deeper NL-only leagues until he finds something that works for him. Perhaps the day off will inspire some new ideas. (Rotowire, CBS Sports)

FAAB Acquisitions:

• RP, Duaner Sanchez, Mets [$0 bid, active]

Up:

• Shane Victorino
• Andruw Jones

Down:

• Nelson Figueroa
• John Bowker
• Matt Murton

Cut:

• Zach Duke

Notes: I had also bid $0 on the Reds’ Jerry Hairston, Jr., and $0 on Cubs SS Ronny Cedeno.  I was outbid by Tom Ross of Get Off Kong! on both.  He won Hairston with a $4 bid, and Cedeno with a $13 bid.  Yikes.

Andrew Jones was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and four men left on base on Sunday against Colorado. At least the bruised calf is fine, though the team would be better off if Jones needed a DL stint. Mired in a 3-for-27 slump, Jones is down to .159 with 29 strikeouts in 82 at-bats. We could start seeing more Pierre/Kemp/Ethier outfields in the near future. (Rotowire)

Dodgers OF Andruw Jones, hitting only .169 through 77 at-bats, blames allergies on his poor start at the plate this season, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Allergies have been killing me,” he said last week. “My body is achy. This time (of year), it always comes in.” He fouled a pitch off his left calf Friday and left the game. Jones was replaced by Matt Kemp who promptly had two hits and scored the winning run on Russell Martin’s sacrifice fly. Jones missed some time recently with flulike symptoms, which were more likely reactions to his allergies than the actual flu virus. The allergies could potentially affect him at the plate, but after he hit only .222 last year, you have to wonder if he has much Fantasy appeal outside of NL-only leagues at this point in his career. This calf injury might sideline him for a few days, so consider him a risky start for Fantasy Week 5 (April 28-May 4). Joe Torre may realize that the club is better off with Juan Pierre starting with the two kids in the outfield and Jones on the bench, but it’s hard to see the club resting an $18 million / year player too often. (CBS Sports, Rotowire)

Andruw Jones is out of the lineup for Tuesday’s game because of allergies. A direct result of him dispersing so much pollen with his swings lately. Juan Pierre is getting a start tonight. Jones pinch-hit in the eighth and struck out for the ninth time in his last 17 at-bats. “Andruw’s fighting it a little bit,” manager Joe Torre said. “He’s had a little bit of a flu bug, and we’ve got that long flight (home) tonight. We’ll get him back in the lineup.” You can’t really blame the flu bug on Jones’ problems as he has been in a funk for most of the season. He has really struggled with his swing the last two seasons and you have to start wondering if thr 13-year veteran is breaking down? (Rotoworld, CBS Sports)

Also, Seamless Baseball ran their early-season obituaries, and Andruw’s Hope, RIP:

Hope for Andruw Jones, 2, Dies
The hope for a return of Andruw Jones to something resembling a serviceable major league hitter died Monday. It was two years old.

The death was reported only minutes after Jones’ last fumbling at-bat against the Reds, a game in which he was demoted to the eighth spot in the order for the first time since 1998. He returned his manager’s confidence in suit, going 0-for-4 against such past Cy Young winners as Matt Belisle and Josh Fogg. More impressively, he did it while his slumping team scored 9 runs and smacked 15 hits.

After he single-handedly proved the contract year theory wrong last year, he was doing even worse this year, his batting average sinking to a lowly .156. He is survived by his ridiculous contract, his middle name (Rudolf), and his frequently awkward ass-out, knee-in-the-dirt swings.

FAAB Acquisitions:

• P Nelson Figueroa, Mets ($2 bid) [active]
• P Manny Acosta, Braves ($1 bid) [active]
• OF Gregor Blanco, Braves ($0 bid) [active]

Up:

• OF Matt Murton, Cubs
• C Chris Iannetta, Rockies

Down:

• OF Brian Barton, Cardinals
• OF Andruw Jones, Dodgers
• C Javier Valentin, Reds

Cut:

• P Peter Moylan, Braves
• P Jon Lieber, Cubs
• OF Rajai Davis, Giants

Note: Gregor Blanco becomes the first Atomic Roadrunner this season to re-join the team following his release. Blanco has worked his way into a LF platoon with Matt Diaz, something that hadn’t happened when he was released last week.

Andruw Jones has been dropped into the eighth spot in the starting lineup for the first time since Aug. 22, 1998 for Monday’s game against the Reds. Yeah, because what he really needs to see now is more sliders low and away. Even if he is the Dodgers’ eighth-best hitter right now, this isn’t the way to handle him. He went 0-for-4, lowering the five-time All-Star’s average to .159. Jones is a candidate to buy low at this point, but don’t trade for him. He will be cut in many leagues if this keeps up. Also, if you are in a league without reserves, it will be dangerous to have him active right. Jones got paid, and reported to camp in the worst shape of his career, so it is conceivable he is finished being a reliable Fantasy option. (Rotoworld, CBS Sports)

Andruw Jones continues to struggle in his first season with the Dodgers. He went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts on Sunday. Jones is now batting .169 and has 21 strikeouts in 69 plate appearances, an average of one strikeout every 3.3 times he steps into the box. Jones was the big power bat that the Dodgers hoped would rejuvenate this offense, but he has started slow again. Jones reported to camp heavier than ever, and that has to be a concern for a player who is performing much older than his reported age the past few years. He is far less of a must-start Fantasy option at this point than he was in previous year. Bench him for better alternatives in mixed leagues. (CBS Sports)

Andruw Jones hit his first homer of the year and walked twice Saturday in his second game back in Atlanta. Jones has four extra-base hits during his current five-game hitting streak. He’s still at just .182 for the year, but it’s a start. (Rotoworld)

In today’s BP Fantasy Beat, Mark Normandin has an insightful (and pessimistic) view of Andruw Jones’ collapse:

After posting one of the more disappointing lines of 2007 at just .222/.311/.413, Andruw Jones has picked up where he left off with a .105/.209/.132 start to 2008. There are tons of players hitting badly at this point in the season, but Jones sticks out for a few reasons. For one, Jones has only hit 11.5 percent of his batted-balls for liners; the league average is closer to 20 percent, and his career rate is 18.1. Even last year he was at 17.2 percent; this can easily even out, since 11.5 percent is just three liners out of 26 batted-balls, but it’s something to watch.

There are two things that worry me more than his liner rate. Jones’ grounder rate is 69.2 percent; he’s hitting 3.6 times more grounders than flyballs at the moment, an odd thing for a player who has crossed the 40 percent mark for flyball rate the past three years. He’s also striking out in 31.6 percent of his plate appearances, the highest mark he’s had since he first came into the league as a 19-year old rookie. He’s never hit for much of an average, so if his bat is slowing to the point where he can’t hit for much power, he’s not going to be any help at the plate.

The evidence for his bat slowing is sort of muddled with the few numbers we have to look at this early in the year. He’s pulling 27 percent of the balls he makes contact with to the left side of the infield, and then another 26 percent of them to left field. Only 16% of his batted-balls have gone to the right side of the field. Last year, Jones hit 33.4 percent of his batted-balls to the left side of the infield for a batting average of .171, so that pull rate is nothing new.

Jones is hitting .304 on fastballs so far this year, but the only place he’s killing the ball is right down the middle of the plate and outside; he hasn’t been able to do anything effective with inside pitches yet. This makes me think that so far, he’s only been hitting mistakes off of guys who aren’t challenging his bat speed yet. If that’s the case, Jones’ line may not jump to the point where he’s going to be any help for you at a very deep position. Keep an eye on him and watch for improvement or stasis in his batted-ball data, strikeout rate and pitches hit before doing anything rash.

CF Andruw Jones went hitless in three at-bats Tuesday, dropping his average to .103. He is hitless in his past 15 at-bats with seven strikeouts, and he has three hits in 29 at-bats for the season. Jones took early batting practice before the game, but then received permission from manager Joe Torre to skip regular batting practice. The fact Jones reported to camp heavier than ever is a serious concern for a player who is performing much older than his reported age the past few years. Consider him a candidate for a comeback, but he is far less of a must-start Fantasy option at this point. Bench him for almost anyone at this point.