Jacque Jones signs minor league deal with invite w/Twins

[Little Slide Rooter]

Twins Sign Jacque Jones

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [February 9 at 1:59pm CST]

The Twins signed Jacque Jones to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. Jones, 35 in April, sat out last season after hitting poorly in 2008. He hit one homer and posted a .147/.239/.207 line for the Tigers and Marlins that year.

 

The outfielder's best seasons came in Minnesota, where he was a regular from 2000-05. Jones' last productive year came right after he left the Twins. He hit a career-high 27 homers for the Cubs in 2006 with an .833 OPS. That marked the fourth time in five seasons he reached the 20-homer plateau.

 

The Twins have Delmon Young, Denard Span, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Jim Thome around already. To make the team's Opening Day roster, Jones would presumably need to win a job from Brendan Harris, Nick Punto or Alexi Casilla or see one of the team's regular's get injured. Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that Jones is willing to play in the minors if he doesn't make the team.

 

Despite Jacque Jones having some unfavorable words about the Cubs a year or 2 ago, I have no ill will toward him and hope he can make a come back after his 2008 derailment.

[inari]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/119/255427516_3e37f2cace.jpg?v=0

 

That is a really bad outfield.

[Post Count Padder]

I don't hate him either. His '06 season was pretty good. I wish him luck.

[17 Seconds]

what were jones' unfavorable words towards the cubs?

[Rob]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/119/255427516_3e37f2cace.jpg?v=0

 

That is a really bad outfield.

 

.291/.347/.425

 

.253/.341/.409

 

Guess which one was Murton/Pierre/Jones and which one was Soriano/Fukudome/Bradley. And then think about the defensive difference.

[beowulf28]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/119/255427516_3e37f2cace.jpg?v=0

 

That is a really bad outfield.

 

Just wondering if he would've had a better time being in our outfield now; away from Pierre and Murton. Maybe teamed up with Soriano and Fukudome, instead?

 

Either way, I didn't have bad feelings toward him, and wish him well. Maybe to enjoy a renewal in Minnesota.

[Cubswin11]

He was one of the few players to have a good year in 2006 and even though his first half of 2007 was terrible he had that really good stretch in the 2nd half of 2007 where he was a big part of the reason we made the playoffs that year.

[SouthSideRyan]

Jacque Jones is one of my favorite Cubs.

[KingCubsFan]

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/119/255427516_3e37f2cace.jpg?v=0

 

That is a really bad outfield.

 

.291/.347/.425

 

.253/.341/.409

 

Guess which one was Murton/Pierre/Jones and which one was Soriano/Fukudome/Bradley. And then think about the defensive difference.

If we're counting Fukudome as a CF, all 6 are pretty bad defensively but at least Soriano can throw the ball (I can't see Jones' range as valuable when he's spiking the ball 20 feet in front of him on throws back to the infield). Unless you're going to cite that ridiculous formula that rated Murton and Barry Bonds as two of the best defensive left fielders that one year.

[Schwarber Fan]

Wow what happened to "auto 0-2", "36 hop throw to home"

 

I certainly remember tons of Jacque hate around here

[Schwarber Fan]

Wow what happened to "auto 0-2", "36 hop throw to home"

 

I certainly remember tons of Jacque hate around here

[Old Style]

Jacque Jones is one of my favorite Cubs.

Are you a Cardinals fan or something?

[Magnetic Curses]

what were jones' unfavorable words towards the cubs?

 

i believe that he had objections to being called the n-word repeatedly by the ususal suspects in the right field bleachers. many interpret this as him bearing the cubs ill-will, or him simply playing the "race-card" (as we all know, racism doesn't exist anymore after it was decided that black people should just stop paying attention to it) because of sour grapes.

 

he was relatively good as a cub.

[davearm2]

what were jones' unfavorable words towards the cubs?

 

i believe that he had objections to being called the n-word repeatedly by the ususal suspects in the right field bleachers. many interpret this as him bearing the cubs ill-will, or him simply playing the "race-card" (as we all know, racism doesn't exist anymore after it was decided that black people should just stop paying attention to it) because of sour grapes.

 

he was relatively good as a cub.

Who can blame Jones for wanting out of Chicago -- the guy got ridden harder by the fans at home than on the road.

 

I know that sort of crap comes with the territory, but still, that's gotta suck to have your own fans trashing you day in and day out.

[Rob]

.291/.347/.425

 

.253/.341/.409

 

Guess which one was Murton/Pierre/Jones and which one was Soriano/Fukudome/Bradley. And then think about the defensive difference.

If we're counting Fukudome as a CF, all 6 are pretty bad defensively but at least Soriano can throw the ball (I can't see Jones' range as valuable when he's spiking the ball 20 feet in front of him on throws back to the infield). Unless you're going to cite that ridiculous formula that rated Murton and Barry Bonds as two of the best defensive left fielders that one year.

 

Look at it position by position and you'll have a harder time fooling yourself.

[Guest]

.291/.347/.425

 

.253/.341/.409

 

Guess which one was Murton/Pierre/Jones and which one was Soriano/Fukudome/Bradley. And then think about the defensive difference.

If we're counting Fukudome as a CF, all 6 are pretty bad defensively but at least Soriano can throw the ball (I can't see Jones' range as valuable when he's spiking the ball 20 feet in front of him on throws back to the infield). Unless you're going to cite that ridiculous formula that rated Murton and Barry Bonds as two of the best defensive left fielders that one year.

 

Look at it position by position and you'll have a harder time fooling yourself.

 

Not sure what the point of the exercise is, as the UZR's from those two years are influenced by outlier defensive years that account for nearly 3 wins.

[17 Seconds]

what were jones' unfavorable words towards the cubs?

 

i believe that he had objections to being called the n-word repeatedly by the ususal suspects in the right field bleachers. many interpret this as him bearing the cubs ill-will, or him simply playing the "race-card" (as we all know, racism doesn't exist anymore after it was decided that black people should just stop paying attention to it) because of sour grapes.

 

that's pretty much what i thought.

 

derrek lee has said more annoying things about cubs fans

[Rob]

.291/.347/.425

 

.253/.341/.409

 

Guess which one was Murton/Pierre/Jones and which one was Soriano/Fukudome/Bradley. And then think about the defensive difference.

If we're counting Fukudome as a CF, all 6 are pretty bad defensively but at least Soriano can throw the ball (I can't see Jones' range as valuable when he's spiking the ball 20 feet in front of him on throws back to the infield). Unless you're going to cite that ridiculous formula that rated Murton and Barry Bonds as two of the best defensive left fielders that one year.

 

Look at it position by position and you'll have a harder time fooling yourself.

 

Not sure what the point of the exercise is, as the UZR's from those two years are influenced by outlier defensive years that account for nearly 3 wins.

 

Didn't say anything about UZR. Was just trying to get KingCubsFan to compare players to each other where it matters... Soriano's arm compared to Jones' didn't seem like it meant anything.

 

No point to the exercise as it doesn't have any real value... just good old fashioned debate. Somebody pointed out that they felt our 2006 outfield was awful... I was merely trying to illustrate that last year's was worse. Soriano, Fukudome, and Bradley are all much better players than Murton, Pierre, and Jones obviously... but due mostly to a combination of Soriano's knee injury and Bradley's power outage, that 2006 outfield was actually better. It's just not a thought that occurs to most people simply because of the names and payroll involved.

[KingCubsFan]

.291/.347/.425

 

.253/.341/.409

 

Guess which one was Murton/Pierre/Jones and which one was Soriano/Fukudome/Bradley. And then think about the defensive difference.

If we're counting Fukudome as a CF, all 6 are pretty bad defensively but at least Soriano can throw the ball (I can't see Jones' range as valuable when he's spiking the ball 20 feet in front of him on throws back to the infield). Unless you're going to cite that ridiculous formula that rated Murton and Barry Bonds as two of the best defensive left fielders that one year.

 

Look at it position by position and you'll have a harder time fooling yourself.

 

Not sure what the point of the exercise is, as the UZR's from those two years are influenced by outlier defensive years that account for nearly 3 wins.

 

Didn't say anything about UZR. Was just trying to get KingCubsFan to compare players to each other where it matters... Soriano's arm compared to Jones' didn't seem like it meant anything.

 

No point to the exercise as it doesn't have any real value... just good old fashioned debate. Somebody pointed out that they felt our 2006 outfield was awful... I was merely trying to illustrate that last year's was worse. Soriano, Fukudome, and Bradley are all much better players than Murton, Pierre, and Jones obviously... but due mostly to a combination of Soriano's knee injury and Bradley's power outage, that 2006 outfield was actually better. It's just not a thought that occurs to most people simply because of the names and payroll involved.

I agree the 2006 outfield probably played better. The difference is that everything went wrong for Soriano and Bradley last year. The 2006 outfield basically played as well as they could have, and the two were still similar. On paper, I'd take last year's outfield every time. I was responding to the fact that you seemed to be insinuating that Murton, Jones and Pierre were somehow good on defense, or at least much better than last year's version of the outfield. I have a hard time believing that.

[NewUserName]

I really hope there is no plausible debate on which outfield is better between 2010 and 2006