So long, Andruw
October 2, 2007 at 4:56 pm by Scott Freeman in News, SportsAccording to the AJC’s David O’Brien, the Atlanta Braves told free agent center fielder Andruw Jones today that they can’t afford him and will allow him to sign with another team. Center field at Turner Field without Andruw Jones? It doesn’t seem possible.
I remember hanging around home plate during batting practice in 1999 when the Mets were in town. Shawn Dunston was in the batting cage and he hit a ball right center that would have been a hit in a real game. Except he exclaimed, “That was an Andruw Jones out!” When I asked him to explain, he said the players counted the number of “hits” they got during BP. But there were outs and then there were “Andruw Jones outs.” Essentially, any fly ball hit in the vicinity of center field was an “Andruw Jones out.” That’s how much respect other players have for him.
Jones is generally regarded as the best center fielder since Willie Mays. And even though he had a subpar year in 2007, he was also battling through nagging injuries. After losing Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine to free agency, it doesn’t come so much as a shock to lose Andruw Jones. You get used to it.
The fact is the Braves are owned by a company that is headquartered in Colorado, a company that purchased the Braves as a tax write-off. The Braves aren’t even mentioned on the company’s website.
The Braves will never approach the peaks of the team’s glory years in the ’90s until it is owned by someone in Atlanta who will come to games and invest emotionally in the team. Until then, the team will continue to lose its best players because management will have budget constraints.
So long, Andruw, we hardly knew ya.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 7:16 am
I understand your feelings and agree about local ownership. The Braves were excellent in the 90’s because Ted was local and had a vested interest in their success.
I suppose that the Braves willingness to let Andruw go is a sign that they will make every effort to sign Teixeira, and keeping Teixeira in a Braves uniform, in my opinion, is a great move.