Hot Stove Coal: Yankees Reportedly Close to Andruw Jones Signing

Yahoo!'s Tim Brown is reporting that the Yankees and outfielder Andruw Jones are "nearing a one-year deal." Previously the Yankees were said to be looking for an outfielder who can play all three outfield positions, but were off on salary according to MLBTradeRumors. For the right price, Jones would certainly be a good fit for the Yankees' fourth outfielder, filling in vs. lefties and providing a good defensive and offensive player for the bench. If it isn't a lot of money, I think that Jones is certainly worth the gamble.

Andruw Jones may be heading to the Bronx for 2011 (AJC)

Finding a value for Andruw Jones may be tough, though judging from the fact he signed a $500K deal last off-season with incentives, it doesn't seem to be much of an outlay from the outlook. Even if he gets a raise on guaranteed money from that deal, he's still worth it for the Yankees.

Jones burst on to the scene in 1996 at 19 and killed the Yankees in that year's World Series. From 1998 to 2004, Jones averaged over 30 HR and almost 100 RBI per season while winning a Gold Glove every year. Then Jones really took off. He led the majors in HR (51) and the NL in RBI (128) and a .922 OPS in 2005 when he finished second in the MVP voting (with an 8.3 fWAR) and followed it up the next season with 41 HR and 129 RBI. That was at age 29 and he looked prime to continue on that path. 2007 was a down season for Jones as he hit .222/.311/.413 for the Braves and was scooped up by the Dodgers in the off-season. The Dodgers season was a disaster for Jones and the contract was a bust for the Dodgers as Jones hit an awful .158/.256/.249 before being released. He's been slowly building up his value with the Rangers and White Sox in the American League the past two seasons.

Jones will turn 34 in April and has now been relegated for 4th OF duty. For the Yankees, that may be a perfect place for him. The Yankees have left-handed hitting outfielders in center and left and can use a Marcus Thames-like righty bat for the bench. Thames was a lefty masher last season, and Jones is not too shabby himself hitting .261/.361/.501 vs. lefties in his career and .256/.373/.558 last season. He also had a great second half last season hitting .272/.380/.565 and providing some hope that maybe he has gotten that Hall of Fame swing back.

The Hall of Fame part is an interesting one as there are three other OFs with Jones on the free agent market who have a legitimate shot at the Hall of Fame: Manny Ramirez, Vladamir Guerrero, and Johnny Damon. Although Damon may be the least likely of the foursome, all four have enjoyed pretty great careers as this FanGraphs WAR graph shows:

Click to enlarge (FanGraphs)

As you can see, Jones was well on his way to the Hall when things started to go off track when he turned 30. He still would seem to have had a Hall of Fame career with his overall production similar to Manny Ramirez who should be headed to Cooperstown. At 34, one wouldn't think it's too late to have a few more seasons of high-caliber play and the Yankees would be wise to try to milk one of out of Jones while he's still relatively young. Although his defense is nowhere near where it used to be, Jones is still more than a serviceable OF according to UZR. And that's where his value is so much greater than Thames who the Yankees couldn't put out in the field without covering at least one eye. And since an injury to one of the Yankees' three outfielders is not a crazy though (all three had injuries in 2010), Jones would certainly be a competent outfielder to play for a few weeks while Gardy, Grandy or Nick Swisher mends on the DL.

If the Yankees do ink Jones, their remaining off-season priority would seem to be a final starter by either convincing Andy Pettitte to come back, signing a low-risk, high-reward pitcher like Justin Duchscherer, or moving Joba Chamberlain back to the rotation. The Yankees seemingly have had a pretty boring off-season but after resigning Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, they brought in former All Stars Russel Martin and Rafael Soriano. Adding Jones to that mix would certainly seem to help build this team for success in 2011.