David O’Brien wrote a provocative column in yesterdays AJC suggesting the Braves pick up Andruw Jones given the right conditions — namely a rock bottom contract contingent on a good spring training. After a horrible season with the Braves in 2007, Jones was traded to the Dodgers and managed to have an even worse year in 2008 with at BA of .158 and SLG of .249! No doubt Jones would love to return to Atlanta where he still has a home (before heading to LA Jones had never played for another major league team after 11 seasons in Atlanta), but the idea of investing anything for him now when the Braves either have to spend everything they can to bring some big names to Turner Field or clean house and start a long rebuilding process seems illogical. Criticized in the past for his work ethic, Jones has spent this winter in the Dominican leagues and dropped some weight. However, reports are mixed about whether he’s improving at the plate – the SportingNews says he’s batting less than .100. In the meantime the Dodgers are trying everything to get rid of him. Jones’ agent, Scott Boras, even agreed to a restructured contract that allows another team to trade for Jones and pay a significantly reduced amount of what’s left of his two year contract. So far there’s been no interest, and if that doesn’t change Andruw will be a free agent by January 15th. After that his chances of remaining in a MLB uniform are slim to none.