Where Is Andruw Jones

Since I'm thoroughly tired of the Biogenesis drama and the eventual announcement of suspensions that are believed to be coming on Monday will only add to the drama, I want to get as far away as I can by taking a trip to the Land of the Rising Sun to check in on former Major Leaguer Andruw Jones. Remember him?

Jones recently passed the 2,000 hit mark (MLB/NPB combined) with a single in the 8th inning in a game for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles against the Nippon Ham Fighters. Jones, a 16-year MLB veteran who many believed to be a future Hall of Famer, signed with the Golden Eagles this past offseason for approximately $3.5 million dollars/¥300 million yen including signing bonus, base salary and performance bonuses.

Jones followed the news of the signing with a productive performance for the Dutch team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic with a trip to the semifinals and a loss to the eventual champion Dominican Republic. Jones batted 9-for-27 (.333) with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored  while drawing five walks in a leadership role for the young Dutch team.

So far this season for the Golden Eagles, Jones has put up the following numbers:

Those aren't the best of numbers for the 10x Gold Glover but at the age of 35 and coming off of a numbers of years as a platoon player for The New York Yankees, I believe he is making the best of his opportunity in Japan.

Jones is currently second on the team in homers with 17 and 51 RBI (behind another former Yankees platoon player Casey Mcgehee who has 20 homers and 58 RBI) and  was one of the five representative for the Golden Eagles in the All-Star Game series (the Central and Pacific League All-Stars play three games against each other) batting 1-6 in the three games in which he played. Jones is also one of the reasons why the Golden Eagles are in first place in the Pacific League, seven games ahead of the second place Seibu Lions.

It would remain to be seen whether Jones returns to MLB for the 2014 season or if he decides to continue playing in the NPB. Either way, Jones seems to be doing well for himself and is quite comfortable playing for the Golden Eagles.

I'll pop back to Japan to see how he's doing a little later in the NPB season.

Sisco Kid

For Further Reading:
- Click Here to access Andruw Jones' career MLB statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to access Andruw Jones' career NPB statistics from the English language version of the NPB website
- Click Here to access the article from NikkanSports.com announcing the Andruw Jones signing by the Golden Eagles dated December 8, 2012
- Click Here to access Jason Coskrey's article Eagles slugger Jones gets his first taste of NPB All-Star Series from the Japan Times dated July 21, 2013

Angel Pagan Esta Encendido

Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees is getting a majority of the press (and deservedly so) for his performance for Team Dominican Republic in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Here are his stats in 7 World Baseball Classic games (courtesy of World Baseball Classic statistics page):

Player	Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Robinson Cano	2B	7	29	5	15	4	0	2	6	25	2	7	0	0	.548	.862	.517	1.410

Impressive indeed. But there is another player who seems to have stepped up with the world spotlight shining on him in this international tournament. He is none other than San Francisco Giants centerfielder Angel Pagan. Here are his statistics in 8 World Baseball Classic games (courtesy of the 2013 World Baseball Classic statistics page):

Player	Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Angel Pagan	CF	8	30	2	11	2	1	0	2	15	4	5	2	0	.441	.500	.367	.941

Where Carlos Beltran came in as the marquee name for the Puerto Rican team, it seems to me that Angel Pagan is now the man for Team Borinquen. I see Pagan carrying over his performance in this tournament straight into the upcoming season for the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants (courtesy of the 2012 Major League Baseball statistics page)

Player	Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Angel Pagan	CF	154	605	95	174	38	15	8	56	266	48	97	29	7	.338	.440	.288	.778

I believe the sky is the limit for Rio Piedras resident Angel Pagan especially after resigning with the Giants this past offseason for a veritable bargain rate of 4-years $45 million dollars through 2016 he has nowhere to look but up. 

What do you think folks. Agree? Disagree?

On a side note, I saw this written about Pagan in the article U.S. falls flat in World Baseball Classic; does the country even care? by Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports!:

Before Friday night's game, Pagan gathered his teammates, bulged his eyes and shouted about honor and dignity and the kids back home who needed a light to follow. They could be their lights, he told them. "It's something to project for the kids," Pagan said. "You have a responsibility. I think it sends the perfect message: Names don't win ballgames."...So when that last baseball soared into center field, as his teammates rushed from the dugout to the mound, as they zigzagged from their positions looking for someone to hug, Pagan was the only one who waited for it to come down. "When I caught that ball, I was thinking of my country," he said. "Hopefully, Puerto Rico is proud of us."

I would say that they are Angel. Keep up the good work.

FH