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 I never thought I'd write this but Jacque Jones has been the most valuable player on the Chicago Cubs for the past two months....He is the main reason why the Cubs are in first place today. Without him.....the Cubs very well could have faded into third place in the NL Central. It's time to give the guy the respect he deserves from Cubs fans.
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In May, Cubs fans, including myself, were ready to run Jacque Jones out of Chicago. At
the time he was playing right field, even though he couldn't get the
ball to the infield without bouncing it four times.....his hitting was
atrocious, as evidenced by his .205 average for the month, and he wasn't helping the team in any way. Fans at Wrigley were getting on his case, call in radio shows were getting on his case, journalists were all over his back....the guy couldn't do anything right.
Jones' days in Chicago were numbered. It looked like the Cubs had
signed him to a horrendous contract that would last about two years too
long and everyone knew it. It was the largest pink elephant in the room....except people were actually talking about it. People were talking about Jones being done playing baseball altogether if
the Cubs couldn't trade him. He couldn't hit a fastball, he was swinging through breaking pitches, his throws from the outfield were....pitiful. The Cubs were at the end of their rope as Jones had been platooned by Lou Piniella, he had been benched by Piniella....everything that could be done to motivate him was done. Nothing seemed to work. He was well on his way out of
baseball....and then the Cubs tried to trade him.
Fortunately, the trade didn't go through
and the Cubs were left with a) a shell of a baseball player, b) a
player who knew his team didn't really want him and c) glaring holes in
their outfield. They had already tried Jones, Alfonso Soriano, Angel
Pagan and Felix Pie in center field without any luck. Their outfield
lacked defense and power, as a whole, and they weren't really sure
where they were going to get it from. The trading deadline was coming
up, but the outlook was bleak since the Cubs weren't going to give up
any pitching in a deal. They didn't have anyone else ready to play the outfield
in the majors, so what were they going to do???
After it was decided that Jones wasn't going to be traded Piniella
and Hitting Coach Gerald Perry started to work with Jones on his
swing. It looked like they were just trying to be nice to the guy by throwing him a bone. He would go up and pinch hit every once in awhile and Lou would say that Jones wasn't that far away from being back to where he was. They kept working at it. Jones had hit 27 homers his first year in Chicago, so maybe they
could get some return out of their investment in 2007....Piniella and
Perry worked with Jones all the way through the All-Star Break and then
when the second half of the season began Piniella declared that Jones
would be his starting center fielder. Cubs fans gasped at this
atrocity. We had Felix 'I'm hitting .215' Pie in the outfield and they
were winning games. Why not just leave him out there? Well, because Lou
knew what was going to happen.
 See, the Cubs play a lot of day games and during the Summer it gets
really hot in Chicago during the day. This meant that Soriano, Aramis
Ramirez, Derrek Lee and Mark DeRosa were probably going to wear down a
bit. While the Cubs offense hasn't been hitting homers left and right, they have been scoring runs and being productive. The problem was that eventually things were going to slow down. The Cubs needed offensive help and since they couldn't make a
trade, it had to come from within the organization. It was becoming obvious that Pie wasn't going to get the job done yet and that Pagan was a 4th outfielder at best. The Cubs had painted themselves into a corner it seemed. Impending doom surely followed....right? They had already made their big run in June and July; they would need reinforcements for the home stretch so they wouldn't do the normal Cubbie fade.
Throughout all the benchings and trade rumors Jones remained a true
professional. All reports indicated that he was showing up to the
ballpark just like he used to and that he was working with the younger
players to help them become acclimated to the majors. This was important because the Cubs have been shuttling kids up and down from the minors all season long. He easily could
have whined, complained, bitched and sobbed about the situation but for
some reason he didn't....He talked about having confidence in himself. He had been a good player before, he could become a good player again he said. He felt that he just needed another shot.
Like I said, Jones became the starting center fielder when the second
half of the season kicked off and he hasn't looked back since. Even
though he's not hitting with much power, he is hitting .333 since the
beginning of June. He's also been running down balls in the gaps,
hitting cut-off men, running the bases hard and taking over any spot in
the order that has been vacated by injuries to Lee, Soriano and
Ramirez. When Soriano went down, Ryan Theriot took over the lead-off
spot in the lineup, but that left the Cubs without a good hitter in the
two-hole. Enter Jones and the problem was not only filled, but he's
been excelling. He's been moving runners over, getting on base, getting timely hits, scoring runs, etc. You could not ask for more out of the guy right now.
Jones became the glue that held this team together in July and August.
Now, with Soriano coming back from injury in the next week or so it
will be up to Jones to move back down in the batting order and stay
productive. He's gone from nearly being pushed out of Chicago to being
a guy that all Cubs fans should thank at some point this season. No
longer should people be sending boo's his way like earlier in the
season....not after what he's done for this team and for being a true
professional. He is probably the main reason why the Cubs are where they are, it's time to give him credit.
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20 Comments
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2008 Cubs Preview
I don't like him cause he's French
You can call him jack jones if you want?
Speaking of another guy named Jack...Cust just hit another shot. Just wanted to throw that in there.
All I have to say is 'you're welcome.' It's like clockwork, just when I give up and drop a player from my fantasy team he comes back from the dead - example #259: Jacque Jones.
Thank you!!
No offense, but if you were holding onto him that long your team must be struggling. He's not really a viable fantasy option, but he's a good 'glue' guy for the Cubs right now.
You really want to go there? You want to start critiquing my fantasy team?
Redhead - I need you to drop Sean Casey, Aaron Hill, Jay Payton, Jarrod Saltamachhhhhhhhiasssss, BJ Upton, and Wang. All have gone in the crapper in the last two weeks and cost me first place. Thanks in advance.
Wang I can do for you. Everyone else - you're on your own.
Sure, send your roster on over with your league rules. I'll put you on the fast track to success. If you are out of the playoff run I can't do much, but I can set you up for next year. If you are making a playoff run I can get you over the top. Seriously, sadly I rule FB.
Jack, I was kidding. A woman's fantasy team is like her clothing choices - not open to criticism by men. I appreciate the offer, but I'm just going to continue to crash and burn as per usual.
Gianluca-
Aaron Hill...solo shot today...it's not much, but better than an 0 - 3 day
Why you have Jay Payton is beyond me though...
Red...I did not know that. Very interesting....I've filed that info away for later use.
About Jacque Jones. He has been a savior. sorry, im late to this party Jack. been busy heckling skyler all day.
GM- AL only fantasy league with 25 man roster and 4 starting outfielders. Payton is on the bench but I need to save him til September when roster expand. Lost Monroe last week. Well - he sucked all year but at least was playing every day. Can't stop the bleeding......
My buddy and I began sarcastically referring to Jones as "the black Ted Williams" last year. It was difficult to watch his struggles earlier in the season, but it's great to see TBTW back to his old self. I can't thank you enough for recognizing the brilliance that is TBTW.
TBTW....that's hilarious. He's turned it around, we can't complain much anymore...
I think you give Lou a little too much credit here. While I'm sure he believed Jones still had some good baseball left in him and it would only take a little coaching to get it out, I doubt this whole "Lou knew what would happen in the future all along" approach. Lee has played in South Florida, DeRosa has played in Texas, Soriano grew up in the Dominican and also played in Texas, and Ramirez is also from the Dominican. Somehow it's only the heat in Chicago that makes them tired? It's more likely Lou knew what any good baseball manager does: any player, anywhere, is going to go through cold stretches at the plate. Other players never will get it going. But he decided to take a chance on Jones and it worked out. Good move, but he's not a fortune teller.
I don't know what you've got against Angel Pagan, but the guy's a keeper. He's a good all-around player on a team without many around, and the only reason Jones has even gotten to play so much is because he's recently been on the DL. Before that, he was holding down the CF spot pretty well.
Pagan is a good 4th OF, but he's out of the picture for now and probably for the rest of the season. It's a shame because he did play well. I have nothing against him but he's out of the picture. Jones was still the primary CF when Pagan was healthy.
My point was that Lou knew that there would be a 'low point' during the season where the Cubs would need a lift just based on their normal swoon's that coincided with the temperature rising in Chicago during the Summer. They play more day games than anyone in MLB and it does take a toll on them. It doesn't matter where you are from, what color/race/nationality you are, it takes a toll. I think Lou was preparing for that and when he saw the Cubs were going to have limited options around the trade deadline and after trying out all the younger players, he had to do something. So, he (and Perry) started to spend extra time with Jones in the hopes that he could be that guy since he had been productive previously.