Monday, May 12, 2008

Joe, it's time to bench Andruw!

OK, we're almost a quarter of the way into the 2008 baseball season and a few players have become a bit beyond annoying to some of us. Actually, there's probably one who has caused more ire than anyone else for fantasy leaguers: Andruw Jones of the Dodgers.

What can I say? 19 hits in 112 at bats for a .170 batting average???!!! He has all of ONE home run and FIVE runs batted in on the year so far. Lance Berkman of the Astros recently had almost as many hits in a week (18) as Jones has for the entire season! Yes, this is the same Andruw Jones who hit 92 home runs and drove in 257 over the 2005 and 2006 seasons for the Braves. Nagging injuries and a pre-season diet where he took off 20 pounds were thought to be the main reasons why he slumped to a .222 batting average, 26 home runs and 94 RBI's last year. He put the weight back on (plus about 5-10 more pounds) and he has simply fallen into an abyss this year. He looks completely lost at the plate, and is striking out more than once for every three at bats. If Joe Torre is as smart of a manager as he's supposed to be, he should bench Andruw until further notice and go with an outfield of Juan Pierre, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier for the foreseeable future.

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