FanHouse Andruw JOnes

Andruw Jones can start a day early on his Thanksgiving celebration, because word Wednesday afternoon is that the veteran outfielder has signed a one-year deal with the Chicago White Sox. There's no word on financial terms yet, but it appears the Sox are hellbent on shoring up their bench as they've now signed Jones and Omar Vizquel in the very young free agency season.

Jones resurrected his career in Texas a bit in 2009, hitting 17 homers and putting up a .782 OPS in 82 games despite his .214 batting average. That's not a great line, but it's a huge improvement over his .158/.256/.249 disaster with the Dodgers in 2008. He didn't play the field much for Texas in 2009, but he didn't really embarrass himself in his few showings out there, so he's probably a capable fourth outfielder, even if he's not the Gold Glove center fielder he once was.

ATLANTA -- The entire Atlanta Braves 25-man roster, coaching staff, some former players and almost 900 fans were in attendance today to watch Greg Maddux become the 21st player in Braves history to enter their Hall of Fame.

Joe Simpson was the Master of Ceremonies today at a luncheon celebrating the career of Greg Maddux, which spanned 11 seasons in Atlanta and ended with the pitcher landing eighth on the all-time wins list with 355 career wins.

Instead of focusing on his four consecutive Cy Young Awards, a feat nobody has ever matched, or his 18 Gold Gloves, fans were treated Friday to stories about Maddux the person and teammate; stories which not only proved his worth as a ball player, but showed us all that Greg Maddux lived, breathed and loved this game, and wanted not only to be the best, but have fun doing so.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

With Chris Davis safely tucked away in Triple-A Oklahoma City, Andruw Jones feels that he deserves more at-bats for the Texas Rangers. The way he's been hitting over the last month proves his point.

Jones belted three home runs on Wednesday and has 11 RBI and five home runs over his last four games.

Over the course of the past month, Jones has hit nine homers and driven in 19 runs. If his batting average were higher than .224 over that time period Jones would really be forcing the hand of Rangers' management. As it sits right now, Jones will see more playing time at DH, but may not see every-day at-bats, yet.

"He swung the bat well against Tampa Bay," manager Ron Washington said. "He's swinging the bat very well right now. It doesn't mean he'll be in there [Friday]. He may or may not be. But he's productive right now and I'm going to play him as much as I possibly can."

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Andruw Jones had two shots at accomplishing baseball's hardest feat.

The four-homer night is rarer than hitting for the cycle or throwing a perfect game. It has happened just 15 times, most recently by Shawn Green in 2002. (There have been 17 perfect games.)

In the Rangers' 8-1 pounding of the Angels that put them back alone in first place in the AL West, Jones homered in his first three at-bats. But he popped up in the sixth and struck out in the ninth.

"I was thinking about it. I tried. I just didn't get it done," Jones said. "I'm just happy we won."

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Federal authorities have asked seven Major League Baseball players -- Greg Maddux, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, J.D. Drew, Andruw Jones, Carlos Pena and Jay Bell -- to return millions of dollars that they received from investor R. Allen Stanford as part of a payout in his alleged Ponzi scheme, according to a report in the Washington Times.

The players -- all clients of Scott Boras -- did not commit any wrongdoing, but, as early investors in the Stanford Financial Group, are believed to have received dividends from Stanford financed by investors that came after.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

The only downside of the NBA playoffs is that I feel like I miss some baseball that I would normally get to see. But with the Lakers (sigh) crowned champs now, both Kobe Bryant and I -- he was at the stadium, I was pantsless in my apartment, natch -- got the chance to watch the Angels and Dodgers go to civil war on Sunday Night Baseball.

And what I was treated to was a very impressive showing from my current favorite mancrush, Clayton Kershaw. You might know him as the "next Sandy Koufax" if you're a real devote, but more than likely, you know him as the "inconsistent southpaw who has yet to really flourish in the Dodgers rotation."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- It was something Dodgers fans rarely saw from Andruw Jones last year: a home run.

The Dodgers fans in attendance during Saturday night's Rangers-Dodgers game booed Jones during four trips to the plate. The Rangers fans cheered Jones when he hit a tying home run to right field in the sixth inning.

Though the Dodgers won, 3-1, it was Jones getting a little revenge on the Dodgers for giving up on him last year. Jones is still upset with Dodgers owner Frank McCourt for letting him out of his contract last year.

OAKLAND -- Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo has a thing for fixer-uppers.

In 2007, the Rangers signed Sammy Sosa out of his one-year retirement and coaxed another 21 homers out of him.

In 2008, the Rangers got Milton Bradley after he had spent most of the previous year on the disabled list, and Bradley became an All-Star.

Now, the Rangers have Andruw Jones, a former MVP-caliber player who was run out of Los Angeles after a disastrous year. A month into the season, Jones seems to have rediscovered at least a part of his game.

SAN FRANCISCO -- You don't have to hang around the Rockies for very long to get the feeling that Dexter Fowler is just about to blow up. In a good way.

By all accounts, Fowler just needs to meet his offensive potential and get the right publicity, and he could one day be one of those players who attain "face of the game" status.

Before you dismiss that as hyperbole, listen to Todd Helton.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Matt Garza is one of those talented pitchers that novice owners probably lost patience with quickly. And if they did, they were watching Thursday's spectacular performance kicking themselves. Garza, who had struggled with his command through his first four starts, took a perfect game bid into the seventh inning against the Red Sox and finished with a line worthy of adulation: 7 2/3 innings, 10 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 walk, no runs. Has he turned the corner that quickly?