Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Smell Ya Later, Andruw!

Andruw Jones has mercifully been placed on the 60-day DL, and it’s Tony Jackson with the much welcomed news:

This clears a 40-man spot for Takashi Saito, who was just activated. Andruw is still having trouble with his right knee, which he hurt when he stepped in a hole while with Las Vegas on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment. He’ll play winter ball in the Dominican with three goals in mind, in chronologically order: first, get the knee healthy; second, get into better shape; third, when all that is done, get his swing right. I guess if there were a fourth thing, it would be forget that 2008 ever happened.

And thus ends what might possibly be the most disappointing season in the entire history of the sport, with these numbers forever sealed in frozen carbonite: .158/.256/.249 for a .505 OPS and a 32 OPS+. He hit just three homers, and of all the crazy stats you can dig up on him, this is the one that would have won you billions in Vegas before the season: he hit zero home runs at Dodger Stadium.

I didn’t even consider this possibility earlier today when I said that Pablo Ozuna needed to be the one to go, simply because I never thought the Dodgers would actually do this – and also because I wasn’t sure if putting a player who hadn’t suffered a catastrophic injury directly onto the 60-day would be considered shady or not. Either way, this stops Torre from wasting any more starts on him, and even better, prevents Jones from even being considered for a possible playoff roster.

Is there any hope for Jones in 2009? That’s certainly going to be a large topic of conversation in the offseason, but for right now – good riddance.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness