Andruw Jones Signs With White Sox

Andruw Jones can start a day early on his Thanksgiving celebration, because word Wednesday afternoon is that the veteran outfielder has signed a one-year deal with the Chicago White Sox. There's no word on financial terms yet, but it appears the Sox are hellbent on shoring up their bench as they've now signed Jones and Omar Vizquel in the very young free agency season.

Jones resurrected his career in Texas a bit in 2009, hitting 17 homers and putting up a .782 OPS in 82 games despite his .214 batting average. That's not a great line, but it's a huge improvement over his .158/.256/.249 disaster with the Dodgers in 2008. He didn't play the field much for Texas in 2009, but he didn't really embarrass himself in his few showings out there, so he's probably a capable fourth outfielder, even if he's not the Gold Glove center fielder he once was.

So maybe Kenny Williams is confused and thinks he's building a team for 2002 instead of 2010. Really, though, I don't think Jones is a bad pickup, so long as he's not actually asked to do more than be a fourth outfielder/pinch-hitter. It is important to note that he's not really an ideal candidate for a platoon because his righty/lefty splits were similar (.793 OPS vs. righties, .762 vs. lefties in 2009 and his career split really isn't much more dramatic, though it is slightly better against lefties).

If Williams is thinking about platooning Jones and Kotsay, he'd probably be much better served to go out and find a free agent to fill his final outfield slot. I hear Mike Cameron is available, since Williams seems so set on signing veterans.