MVN - Most Valuable Network

Tigers DFA OF Jones; puchase contract of OF Joyce

TG Update (Josh Jones):  Both the Florida Marlins and San Diego Padres have interest in Jones.  Florida attempted to acquire Jones last season before salary issues ruined the deal, and Jacque calls San Diego home.

Following a sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland promised that his lineup would look different in the coming days. Leyland’s words rang true today, as the Tigers designated outfielder Jacque Jones for assignment.

Jones, 33, was acquired from the Chicago Cubs in the offseason in exchange for infielder Omar Infante. Jones batted just .165/.244/.253 in 90 PA for the Tigers.

Outfielder Matt Joyce will replace Jones on the Tigers’ 25-man roster. Joyce, 23, was off to a .299/.367/.536 start in 109 PA for Triple-A Toledo.

TG Analysis

While Detroit’s offense has been strong overall (5th in the majors in Equivalent Average), the Tigers have received little production from left field - a combined line of .210/.278/.370 just isn’t cutting it.

Whether releasing Jones helps alleviate this problem is debatable. The man the Tigers brought up, Matt Joyce, seems like a Jacque Jones starter kit- a lefty hitter with modest power who covers the gaps pretty well. Joyce is a career .275/.350/.446 minor league hitter who whiffed in nearly a quarter of his plate appearances in ‘07 and ‘08. At best, Joyce might reach the sort of production that one would have expected from Jones going forward.

I suppose the more fundamental question that the Tigers must ask is, is there a productive left field arrangement to be made between Marcus Thames, Ryan Raburn, Joyce and possibly Brandon Inge? Thames typically does solid work against lefties (.261/.332/.516 career), but he did post a .278 OBP in 2007 and he isn’t off to a rosuing start this season (.220/.289/.366 in 45 PA). Raburn revived his career in ‘07 (.292/.394/.540 in 376 PA at Toledo, .304/.333/.507 in 147 PA with Detroit) and looks capable of pasting some lefties while holding his own against same-side pitching. The 27 year-old Raburn may be Detroit’s best internal option.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Matt Joyce, Jacque Jones, Tigers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.