Apparently, it wasn't Andruw Jones's fault. That's according to an article in the LA Times by Dylan Hernandez. In the piece, Jones faults owner Frank McCourt, saying he was responsible for his trials and tribulations during the 2008 season. He explains that McCourt never supported him from the beginning of his arrival to his contract termination. Jones believed that Matt Kemp was the center-fielder of the future, and that the Dodgers had no desire to retain Jones any longer when he emerged:
"I know they had Matt Kemp, who was going to play center field all the time, so I didn't feel like I was in their plans." Jones said he started to get the sense that he was on his way out of Los Angeles when he met with McCourt before undergoing knee surgery last May. "It was disrespect," Jones said of the way McCourt spoke to him. Jones said he was upset when his agent, Scott Boras, told him in the off-season that McCourt was looking into ways to void his contract. While acknowledging that McCourt paid him a hefty salary, Jones said the owner had no right to complain about a deal that was mutually agreed upon. "I got paid that money because that was my value," Jones said, pointing to the numbers he posted in 12 seasons with the Atlanta Braves.
Does Jones apologize to the Dodgers or to the fans for showing up to Spring Training overweight? No. Does he apologize for his incredibly disastrous statistics? No. Instead, Jones decides to play the blame-game and point the finger at McCourt, the man who paid him $36.2 million over two seasons to play like the All-Star he was in Atlanta. He wasn't paying for the name; he was paying for homers, RBI's, and diving catches. And when he couldn't deliver, doesn't it make sense that the boss would want to find out why that is? Not to Andruw Jones:
Jones said McCourt was too involved in the Dodgers' baseball operations. "I know it's his money but sometimes they need to stay away from what's going on in the field. He never played baseball before. He might have a sense of it from running the team but he can't be too involved like that."
Jones sure knows how to bite the hand that feeds him. As per his release, the $22 million or so promised in the second season was deferred over the next six years. McCourt is still technically signing Jones's pay checks. But that means nothing to him. As far as Jones is concerned, McCourt was a nosy, over-involved owner who stuck his head in places where it didn't belong. Jones failure to admit his mistakes and fault his own poor approaches on the field is like a slap in the face of Dodger fans who had to stomach his constant strike-outs. Fans had no choice but to watch him fall apart faster than broken fine-china with runners in scoring position, pushing a majority to call for Ned Colletti's dismissal. Jones shows no respect to the various sources of his salary, instead looking to blame everyone but himself for his pathetic collapse in Los Angeles.
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