Dodgers' Jones isn't feeling weight of the world
T.J. SIMERS
Dodgers' $36.2-million free-agent signee is homer-less and, with a .105 average, isn't hitting even half his weight. But he doesn't appear worried, or even bothered.
Talked to the Dodgers' Andruw Jones before Saturday night's game, and he whiffed again.
I wanted to know if the tubbo thought he could maybe hit his weight at some point this season.
He said he's not fat and doing just fine, apparently envisioning himself as some sort of supermodel and weighing in with a .105 batting average.
He said he's 240 pounds, and I said no way, and so he said, "Do you want me to go weigh myself?"
I said, "Yes, I do," and he said the scale was off limits to the media because as you know the Dodgers get their jollies making most areas around here off limits to people.
"Let's go," I said while leading him to the scale, and he checked in at 248 pounds. "My shoes are on," he said, sounding more like my wife than the Dodgers' center fielder.
I suggested a diet contest benefiting Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA since I would like to drop a ton before a special event in June, but Jones wanted no part of it.
"You're hilarious," he said. "I don't have to prove really nothing."
I guess that's what happens when a team agrees to pay you $36.2 million over two years.
General Manager Ned Colletti said Jones' best weight is somewhere between 235 and 240. Colletti also said Jason Schmidt would help the Dodgers.
Manager Joe Torre, a former tubbo who dropped 20 pounds as a player and then went on to hit .325 and .363, said he could talk until blue in the face, but if Jones isn't buying it, it's not going to make a difference.
The Dodgers, though, have paid Torre to make a difference.
Jones said it doesn't matter what Torre thinks, and I guess that's what happens when a team agrees to pay you $36.2 million over two years.
"That's their problem whatever they think; I have no problem with my weight," the tubbo said.
Maybe it's a problem and maybe it's not, I said, but when you come to a team, struggle and look like a player who just didn't care enough to be in shape when the season begins, it upsets fans.
"That's part of life," he said. "Good players get booed. Look at A-Rod."
The tubbo should ever look that good in a uniform.
The fans in Dodger Stadium, catching the tubbo's act for only the fourth time at home in a Dodgers uniform, booed Jones on Friday night after another wretched performance.
