Andruw Jones Coming Back To MLB, Mariners Should Look

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, veteran outfielder and 10-time Gold Glove winner Andruw Jones is looking to return to the States after two years playing in Japan.

And according to Cafardo, there are at least two teams interested in giving Jones – who last played in the Majors with the New York Yankees in 2012 – a shot.

In his two seasons with Rakuten, Jones hit 26 and 24 homers respectively with 94 and 71 RBI. He was primarily a DH but also played first base (only one game in the outfield).

I can imagine that Baltimore is probably one of the teams, but the Seattle Mariners should really take a look at him as well.

In their search to find right-handed power, Jones could be a surprise piece to the puzzle. He has 434 career homers and after spending two years in Japan, appears to still have something left in the tank.

More from Mariners Rumors

• Could the Mariners Acquire AL Batting Champion, Luis Arraez?
• How the Mariners could swing a trade for Fernando Tatis Jr
• What it would take for the Mariners to trade for Randy Arozarena
• Mariners News: Everything from Day One of the Winter Meetings
• Is Xander Bogaerts Still An Option For The Seattle Mariners?

Whoever signs him, will probably do so to a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite. So why not? Offer him a one-year $1M-$1.5M minor league deal and see what he has left.

With his experience at first base, it would be beneficial to have a backup for Logan Morrison, who can also platoon in the outfield. Signing Jones would be added insurance in case the Justin Ruggiano/Seth Smith experiment fails. He also would be insurance in case Willie Bloomquist isn’t completely healthy, or one of the Mariners prospects (D.J. Peterson or Patrick Kivlehan) aren’t ready to make the jump to the bigs.

Andruw Jones was a 10-time Gold Glove winner while with the Atlanta Braves and was named to five All-Star teams. He hit a career-high 51 homers in 2005. His batting average – and other offensive numbers – starting in 2007 and found himself headed to Japan to continue playing after the 2012 season.

However, like with several players, a trip to Japan can be beneficial to revitalizing their career. And at 37 years old, Jones could have 3 or 4 or more fairly productive years ahead of him.

So what do you think? Should the Mariners give him a look? If he can come anywhere near what he produced in Japan, he could be a key piece to a playoff run.

Guess we’ll wait and see.