It’s the beginning of the second half of the Major League Baseball season, a time to reflect on the incredible moments of the first half and to look ahead to what will unfold come August and September. We’ve talked about the All Star Game, both good and bad. What we haven’t talked about, however, is the first half that Dodgers center fielder Andruw Jones had. Jones is on pace to have one of the worst offensive seasons in baseball history, and yet nobody has spent time acknowledging his faults. Lets rewind…

It’s December 5th, 2007 and mastermind GM Ned Colletti agrees to terms with Jones on a two year contract worth approximately $36 million. Genius, Ned. Jones was coming off the worst offensive season of his career and had scraped and clawed his way to a .222 average in the 2007 season. Nothing screams $18 million a year like hitting .222 with an OPS of .724. Jones celebrates his robbery of the Dodgers franchise by packing on the pounds and showing up to Spring Training noticeably overweight, slower, and not in what most people call “ideal” shape for a center fielder. His off-season weight training combined with his philosophy that apathy is the best attitude result in Jones’ swing breaking down and he struggles to start the season. Lets fast forward to current day….

July 17th, only 11 weeks left in the baseball season, and Andruw Jones is tearing the cover off the record books. In 165 at-bats this season, Jones has compiled a batting average of .165 hitting as many home runs (2) as he has eyes and driving in as many runs (10) as he has phalanges. All you have to do to find out how many strikeouts he has this season is take the number of hits he has (27), double it, and add a few more for good measure. We’ve come to the Sexson paradox. How can you possibly afford to have a player worth that much money struggle as bad as Jones has and justify running him out there every single night. Joe Torre can’t sit $18 million on the bench next to the other reserves and pinch hitters. So instead, Jones atrocious efforts have taken Torre and the Dodgers hostage.

I can think of 36 million better ways to spend the money Andruw Jones will make over the next two seasons. And if the Dodgers don’t make the playoffs this year, they know one of the main places to look. But hell, what does Andruw care? He’s getting paid. Instead of getting frustrated, let’s just sit back and enjoy nights like these when his line in the box score is good enough to put a smile on anyone’s face.