Dodgers Sign Andruw Jones for Two Years, $36.2 Million

It's amazing the money that will come your way in baseball after hitting .222.

Andruw Jones, the new centerfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was given the fifth-highest average salary in the sport after his sterling 2007 season for the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers rewarded Jones and his agent (Scott Boras) with a two-year, $36.2 million deal.

Jones will get a $12.2 million signing bonus, of which $5.1 million is payable next year, $2.1 million in 2009 and $5 million in 2010. He well get salaries of $9 million next year and $15 million in 2009, and also will receive a no-trade clause.

Granted the 30-year-old Jones is a five-time All-Star who has had some excellent years with the Braves. And he and new Dodgers manager Joe Torre have met before. As a rookie, Jones hit home runs in his first two World Series at bats in the opening game of the 1996 World Series against the Yankees.

But Jones hit just .222 in 2007, his lowest average since he batted .217 in 106 at-bats as a rookie in 1996. His 26 home runs were his fewest since 1997. He drove in 94 runs for the Braves, but finished with a paltry .311 on-base percentage.

Photo of Andruw Jones by REUTERS/Bruce Bennett /Landov

Jones' $18.1 million average salary trails only those of the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million), Boston's Manny Ramirez ($20 million), the Yankees' Derek Jeter ($18.9 million), and the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano ($18.3 million).

Used to be that hitting .222 found you on the bench or headed to Triple-A.