Another year in the Majors for Andruw Jones unlikely or not?

After two years in the NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball League) Andruw Jones is trying to sign a deal with a Major League team. According to his agent Scott Bora$$, at least two teams have shown interest. The 37-year old outfielder probably has to settle with a minor league deal.

In two years with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Jones hit a total of fifty homers and sported a batting average of .232. Even compared with his MLB career average the average he hit for in Japan is on the low side. Sure he is a power hitter and power hitters do not hit for average in general.

But you can wonder why a player in the fall of his career would want to play another season in the Majors. As a counterpoint I can ask “why not?”

I don’t think that Jones will expect a big contract, so maybe he plays for the sake of it. He wouldnt be the first. Rickey Henderson played until he was 45. After retiring in 2007 Julio Franco did some coaching, but in 2014, at the age of 49, he made a short comeback with the Fort Worth Cats of the independent United Baseball League.

But to get back to Andruw Jones, if he still thinks that he can play at MLB level, let him. He doesn’t need the money, so I can imagine that he will play under a minor league contract. If he will be prepared to play under such a contract, I think there is a real chance that he will play in the Majors in 2015.