UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 11:03pm: Talks between the Dodgers and Andruw revived today, according to Ken Gurnick. Gurnick thinks Scott Boras is looking for something similar to J.D. Drew’s Dodgers deal, a long-term one with an opt out in the middle. Boras told Jerry Crasnick today that he does not have a one or two-year deal in mind for Andruw.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 2:00am: MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick is with Tony Jackson on this one…Colletti hasn’t made any offers and will move on to other priorities unless Jones and Rowand reduce their demands. Gurnick notes that the Dodgers are still in hard on Hiroki Kuroda but don’t seem terribly interested in David Wells.
UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 12:44am: Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times does not agree with Jackson exactly…he says the Dodgers still want to sign Jones or Rowand.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 11:49pm: Jackson now has some quotes from Ned Colletti…Colletti wasn’t able to get to the point of making an offer to Andruw. Apparently Boras wants far more than the Dodgers think Jones is worth. Also, Aaron Rowand wants 5/70 and the Dodgers ain’t havin’ that.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 9:31pm: Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News counters Crasnick’s report, saying the Dodgers did not offer 2/32 to Andruw. As far as Jackson can tell, no offer at all was made to Jones today.
UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 1:04pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick says the Dodgers have a two-year, $32MM offer on the table. That seems a little light; I suggested $38MM earlier.
FROM 12-3-07 at 1:24am:
According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, the Dodgers have stepped up their talks with free agent Andruw Jones. As we suggested before, it seems Ned Colletti’s rift with Scott Boras was overblown.
Andruw is asking for something bigger than Torii Hunter’s five-year, $90MM pact. However, Jones had a terrible 2007 and the Dodgers only want to give him two guaranteed years. This is one of Ned Colletti’s methods that I actually like, the paying more to decrease the term (see Rafael Furcal and Jason Schmidt).
So if Torii makes $18MM annually, maybe the Dodgers will offer Andruw two years, $38MM? That would keep their risk low while giving Jones a chance to become a free agent as he enters his age 33 season. If no agreement can be reached, it sounds like the Dodgers could make a similar high-dollar short-term offer to Aaron Rowand. Failing that, they’d turn to Mike Cameron.
Gurnick adds that the Dodgers are aggressively pursuing Hiroki Kuroda for rotation depth.
