FanHouse JacqueJones

If I wrote on every single silly thing that Dusty Baker has said in the two years since he took over the Reds, I'd be the most prolific author at FanHouse. Generally, when Dusty gets into his Baker-isms, I'm content to let him ramble and just roll my eyes and check Fire Joe Morgan. But FJM is gone now and I feel like there's this void in which someone has to discuss the pure lunacy of Dusty Baker.

Left on Base is MLB FanHouse's link dump.

* "In 21 months, or just 324 regular-season games from now, Derek Jeter's contract expires. At that point, the Yankees have to decide what to do with Jeter and Jeter has to decide what to do with the Yankees. [...] By 2011, the Yanks could have either Jeter or just his future plaque at Monument Park play short; they will have about the same range." -- Joel Sherman, New York Post

* "Sorry Punxsutawney Phil and your six-more-weeks-of-winter prediction, but if you live in New England and are a fan of Red Sox, a sure sign of spring has arrived -- Truck Day!" -- Steve Silva, Boston Globe

Or, if you're scoring at home: The Jacque Jones Era barely started in Miami. After what was seemingly a long courtship, the Fish picked up Jones as a free agent after the Tigers discarded him. But Jones only got four hits in 37 at-bats for the Marlins in 18 games. So the Marlins designated him for assignment on June 11th with the intention of sending him to Albuquerque.

But Jones doesn't like Albuquerque this time of year, and probably doesn't like Albuquerque at any time of any year, because Albuquerque doesn't have a major league baseball franchise. So Jones used his right to decline the minor leagues and become a free agent.

I can't blame him for not wanting to return to the minor leagues, especially if he thinks that another team will be clamoring for his services. But with his .147 average this season, I don't know who that team might be. Maybe J.P. Ricciardi can sign him up to play for the Jays to help an offense that scored a total of zero runs in 12 innings tonight. But Jones would have to like baseball. And since he refused to play baseball in Albuquerque, maybe Ricciardi will see that as a sign that Jones doesn't like baseball enough for his tastes.

It took a while ... almost a year for this to happen. First, the Marlins tried to get him in a trade from the Chicago Cubs, but the deal was pulled because of a guy who had nothing to do with the club. Now, after being released by the Tigers, the Marlins had another shot at him and didn't fail this time, signing Jacque Jones to a free agent deal.

The Marlins' fascination with Jones is interesting, since not only did they want him this year when they were good, but they wanted him last year when they were in last place. They're obviously not concerned with the small sample size of his at-bats this season, where his splits in 79 at bats with Detroit read: .165/.244/.253. The numbers the Marlins are most likely looking at are his numbers against righties from '05 to '07, which read like this: .285/.346/.465.

Combine that with the fact that Josh Willingham is battling injuries, Luis Gonzalez is old, and Cody Ross and Alfredo Amezaga are barely hitting their weight, Jones isn't a bad signing for Florida.

Where's My Tater? tracks the slow starts of notable sluggers who are taking their sweet, sweet time leaving the yard.

Just hours after the very first post in this series, Jacque Jones and Troy Tulowitzki announced to the world (through their actions, at least) that they want no part of this undistinguished club.

Jones knocked a solo shot over the outifeld wall in the third inning against the Rangers, breaking a 5-5 tie to give the Tigers a lead they'd never relinquish. His power set a good example for the rest of his teammates, as they proceeded to simply unload on the hapless Rangers pitching staff, putting 13 more runs on the board to cap off a 19-5 victory.

Jones hit only five home runs in his one-year stint with the Cubs last year, but the Tigers are hoping he'll revert back to the guy who averaged almost 25 hitters the three previous years. (update: see the comments -- I am a lazy reporter who accidentally short-changed Jones one year in Chi-town). It's still an uphill climb -- he's slugging a career-low .340 at the moment -- but Wednesday's game was a baby-step in the right direction.

As for Tulowitzki, I'm guessing he was a bit more motivated by Tuesday's benching than being called out by some random guy on the internet. Whatever it was, he finally started swinging the bat like he did for most of last season, even if it was only for one at-bat: he finished the game 1-for-4 with three RBI. While he won his personal battle with the number zero, his team still lost the game, falling 7-6 to the Cubs.

Where's My Tater? tracks the slow starts of notable sluggers who are taking their sweet, sweet time leaving the yard.

The Cardinals were supposed to be a train wreck this year, but someone forgot to tell them: they're sitting pretty right now, second in the Central with the third-best record in the National League.

Troy Glaus has been a big factor, getting on base, smacking extra-base hits and driving in runs. Any sane fan of the game would be happy with his production ... but if you look at his stats, something just seems wrong: he's homer-less. He may be on pace for 72 doubles, but there's something comical about a projected stat line of .268-0-97.

As we all sit around and wait for the blockbuster deals involving Johan Santana and Miguel Cabrera to take place, there have been a couple of smaller trades going down the last few days.

Just this morning the Cubs sent Will Ohman and recently acquired Omar Infante to the Atlanta Braves for Jose Ascanio.

Ascanio is a hard-throwing 22-year old righthander with limited big league experience. He has a mid-90's fastball, and in his 16 innings with Atlanta out of the bullpen last season, he was 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA and 13 strikeouts.

Anybody who's familiar with the Cubs knew that Will Ohman wouldn't be back with the team this season after spending most of 2007 parked deep in Lou Piniella's doghouse. After being demoted to the minors in August, Ohman said that the team knew of his sore shoulder that was responsible for his performance, while the club said they had no idea he was injured.

Ohman later admitted he was mistaken lied about it.

It's the second time Omar Infante has been traded this winter, as he was just acquired by the Cubs from the Tigers in the deal for Jacque Jones.

Yesterday the Chicago Cubs made a trade with the Detroit Tigers that sent Jacque Jones back to the AL Central, and brought Omar Infante to the north side of Chicago. It was the second trade the Cubs had made with Detroit in the last three months, as they acquired Craig Monroe from Detroit in August.

Well apparently there's a "One Former Tiger At A Time" rule with the Cubs, because they've now shipped Monroe to the Minnesota Twins. In return the Cubs will be getting the infamous player to be named later.

As far as Monroe's concerned, this is a good thing for him. He never found much playing time with the Cubs, and even though the team has said goodbye to both Jacque Jones and Cliff Floyd in recent days, it didn't look like he'd get much playing time next season either.

There are more rumors out there that the Cubs are currently talking to Tampa Bay about a deal that would bring Carl Crawford to Chicago for prospects. Whether or not those talks are going to become a reality remains to be seen, but it's obvious the Cubs are looking to make more changes to their outfield.

In Minnesota, Monroe will have the chance to compete with Jason Kubel for playing time in the Twins outfield. Which there should be plenty of to go around should Torii Hunter sign elsewhere this offseason.

The Tigers shored up their outfield on Monday following the acquisition of Jacque Jones from the Cubs in exchange for Omar Infante. Nothing is official, but it seems likely that Jones will see the bulk of the duties in left field platoon. From Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press:

"I'll play that by ear," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said during a telephone interview Monday afternoon, when asked if he envisioned a platoon between Jones and [Marcus] Thames. "We face so many right-handers that Jacque is going to play a lot, but I can't forget about Marcus."

Jones' splits weren't all that pronounced last season (.295 vs. lefties; .283 vs. righties), but that's likely a fluke due to sample size. Over his career, he's hit just .233 against lefties and .294 against righties. He did suffer a huge power drought last season, going from 27 home runs in 2006 to just five in 2007, but the Tigers are probably hoping that a return to the American League will get him back on track.

In any case, Infante was expendable, especially with Edgar Renteria in the fold. And the Cubs are throwing in some money to defray the cost of Jones' $5.5 million salary, so this was pretty much too good to pass up. Jones will be a free agent at the end of the year, but barring the unexpected he'll likely just be a one-year fix until uber-prospect Cameron Maybin proves that he's ready for regular duty in the big show.

The Cubs acquired Craig Monroe from the Tigers today for cash considerations the ever popular Player to Be Named Later. From Detroit's perspective, it doesn't really matter who that player ends up being -- if the Cubs hadn't bit, Monroe was most likely going to be given his outright release anyway, so getting anything in return is gravy.

But why would the Cubs want Monroe? The guy has hit just .222 with 11 home runs in 343 at-bats. Perhaps they're hoping a change of scenery will help him escape his season-long slump -- after all, this is a guy who's hit 48 home runs the last two seasons combined. Plus, he's always been streaky as all get up -- if he gets to play every day, it wouldn't be out of the question at all for him to suddenly catch fire and double his home run total between now and the end of September.

At the very least, Monroe has still been productive against left-handed pitchers, hitting them to the tune of .302 with five home runs in 96 at-bats this year. Once Alfonso Soriano returns (hopefully on Labor Day), a Jacque Jones/Monroe platoon could be surprisingly effective.

Previously on FanHouse:
Craig Monroe: Remembering the Good Times