Dodgers sign Andruw Jones

After sitting at the winter meetings in Nashville this week seemingly with his thumb up his ass the entire time, Dodgers' GM Ned Colletti somehow mustered up the energy to make a move, signing Gold Glove center fielder Andruw Jones to a two year deal. After reading this article a couple of days ago, I was more than resigned to another year of waiting and hoping for the combination of young/unproven and old/past it players to try and get a playoff spot. It seemed as if Colletti was not only not trying, but didn't seem to care that the "sit and wait" attitude was starting to make Dodger fans run their head into blunt objects, or worse, start wondering how he could score tickets to Beckham's first game next season. I started to wonder myself just how quickly the pitching would fall off, or how many games Russell and Rafael could win by themselves before it starting going south.

But with yesterday brought new excitement. The Dodgers improved their lineup without giving up anything. Yeah it's a bit over what he's worth, but who cares, he's still good and the Dodgers are a team that can overspend. No more Juan-for-four Pierre patrolling centerfield? Yes please. A perennial Gold Glover with 50 HR potential and 7 seasons with at least 30 HRs? Sign me up! We all know no one is dumb enough to take Pierre off of our hands, so that leaves Torre to sit either Ethier or Kemp each night, or trade one of them for a pitcher (preferably Ethier). I personally like Jones more than Aaron Rowand, and think that this provides the Dodgers with at least the best lineup in the NL West. Not only that, but apparently he WANTED to come to LA, and that played a big part in the signing. Now all we need is the pitching, and with no good starters available as free agents, it looks like they will have to make a trade. I'm not as high on Kemp as everyone else seems to be, but I would not trade him for anyone except Santana. Plain and simple. Don't even get me started on the 3B search either. (Brandon Inge, WTF?!)

At least the Dodgers are staying in the mix, keeping the interest level up, and letting the fans know that they are willing to improve the club each year. Now if they can only get us some pitching, we'll look like a contender.

P.S. - In ironic fashion, the Dodgers biggest offseason free agent signee is on the DL already, as Joe Torre underwent knee replacement surgery this week. Hopefully not a sign of things to come......