Andruw Jones may be my first reasonably-high draft pick (round 13) to get dropped. I have Shane Victorino coming off the DL next week and need to make a spot. Between Jones’ slump and the pile-on, like this Eric Karabell column, there’s zero trade interest. Karabell writes:

I wouldn’t trade for Jones, because again, I don’t think things are going to get much better. He’s hitting .159 with a token home run he mashed at Atlanta. That’s it. He batted second Wednesday, in an effort to get him better pitches, I suppose, and he raised his average three points by getting one single in five at-bats. You could call it a bad start and I wouldn’t disagree, but at what point is a bad start just, well, the real deal? His swing looks long, slow and robotic. His home park isn’t exactly friendly to the long ball. The Dodgers have three other outfielders worthy of everyday play. Jones might not be.

In poor performance, if not profile, Jones reminds me of a similiar player I drafted in the teens and dropped early a year ago: J.D. Drew. Both were coming off mediocre years but seemingly had great upside. They were changing teams, which suggested thoughts of a new start. In J.D. Drew’s case, he was coming to a great lineup and hitters park. In Jones’ case, he was coming to a team with some developing talent and leaving a terrible hitters park, one that was signficantly worse than Dodger Stadium in 2007. In fact, Karabell is factually wrong when he writes that “[h]is home park isn’t exactly friendly to the long ball.” Dodger Stadium has been better than the MLB average in home vs. away home-run production every year since 2003 and significantly better than Turner Field this millenium.

But when Karabell writes “long, slow and robotic” it just makes you want to drop the guy yesterday.

Update: On Sunday Jones goes 0-4 with three Ks and four men left on base. He’s released.