Andruw Jones No Longer a Dodger!

Yes, it’s the New Year’s gift we’ve all been hoping for, but it does not come cheap. According to Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, the Dodgers have agreed to pick up ALL of Jones’ remaining salary, but will defer it to future years. Jon Heyman at Sports Illustrated is reporting this will save the Dodgers $12 million this year, which obviously could be used for the long-awaited Manny Ramirez signing. According to Heyman, Jones will be released or traded before Spring Training. In exchange, Jones is free to sign as a free agent elsewhere, and the Dodgers will pick up the tab.

Regardless of what happens to Jones, I still think this is the move that had to be made. For whatever reason, Andruw was never comfortable in LA, and nothing that Torre, Mattingly or even Man-Ram did could break the guy out of what (at best) could be described as one of the most incredible slumps of all time.

Good luck, Andruw. We hardly knew thee.