CINCINNATI - Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty today announced the signing of free agents OF Jacque Jones and 1B/OF Daryle Ward to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League spring training camp.
Jacque Jones is pretty much toast at this point in his career. He's never really been good, but if the Reds for some reason need to go that deep for a fielder I guess you could do worse as long as he is the Jacque Jones that posted wOBA above league average. If you are a fan of the Reds you should probably hope we never get to see play him in the majors. Signing Jones also makes me ask what are we doing at AAA this year in terms of the OF. Drew Stubbs, Danny Dorn, Sean Cumberland, and some of the guys like Hopper/Jones/Gomes/Nix are going to be there likely also. Lots of bodies for limited OF spots.
Daryle Ward on the other hand is at least a move I can see some reasoning behind. He has had some success against righties randomly through his career, and has his fair share of power (career .184 ISOP). I hope this puts and end to the talk of the Reds adding Luis Gonzalez.
Original Story:
http://www.dunnanddunner.com/2009/02/...
