Cubs Ship Jacque Jones to Detroit
November 12, 2007 by Geoff Young
Filed under Transactions
The Chicago Cubs have traded outfielder Jacque Jones to the Detroit Tigers for infielder Omar Infante. Jones began his career in the AL Central, with the Minnesota Twins in 1999. For his career, he’s a .280/.329/.455 hitter. Last year, Jones hit just .285/.335/.400 with a career-low five home runs.
Jones, who will turn 33 a few weeks after the 2008 season begins, has played mostly right field over the past few season, although he did get into 84 games at center field last year. Presumably with Curtis Granderson patrolling center, the Tigers will move Jones back to a corner spot and hope that his power magically returns.
On the other side, Infante hit .264/.317/.449 in 2004 as Detroit’s starting second baseman at age 22. Since then, his offensive game has deteriorated and his role has diminished accordingly. I really liked this kid when he and Ramon Santiago were coming up through the ranks, but it looks like Infante is destined to be nothing more than a utility player.
Other Voices
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It sounds like the Tigers are rolling the dice. If Jones stays true to form, he’s no less, maybe a little more, of a threat than Infante was. If Jones can fix what’s wrong over the off season, or during spring training, it’s icing on the cake. I wouldn’t call it a bad trade, but I doubt Jim Leyland was doing cartwheels when he heard. I’m not overly familiar with the Tigers front office, but I’m a little surprised that if they wanted to gamble on an outfielder named Jones they didn’t try for Andruw. Even having to deal with Scott Boras, they might have been able to work out a short term bargain. But if I really knew anything about baseball I wouldn’t be living in a basketball state.
I think you’ve got it about right. Jones shouldn’t be a big piece of the Tigers puzzle next year, but he’s not a bad buy-low gamble. As for Andruw, between Granderson and Cameron Maybin, I’m not sure Detroit has much need for a center fielder. It will be interesting to see where Andruw ends up, though…