I held the 54th pick of the 2008 Sun Baseball League (fantasy) draft. I already had A-Rod, Tulowitzki, Prince Fielder, and Papelbon. I wanted a slugger … and an outfielder.

Already off the OF board:

Matt Holliday (the No. 5 pick), Manny Ramirez (13), Ben Braun (17), Carl Crawford (18), Alfonso Soriano (20), Carlos Beltran (21), Grady Sizemore (22), Magglio Ordonez (23), Curtis Granderson (25), Carlos Lee (27), Bobby Abreu (32), Ichiro Suzuki (33), Vlad Guerrero (34), BJ Upton (35), Vernon Wells (36), Josh Hamilton (37) and Adam Dunn (42).

So, it was getting a little thin at the position, and we draft six outfielders and play three, of course. And one of the others often serves as the DH.

I wanted an outfielder. And I looked at my list and had a flash of inspiration/madness.

And I prefaced my announcement with something rather like this: “I know this guy is gonna suck, and I’m going to hate him with every fiber of my being, but he could hit 40 homers … so I will take Andruw Jones.”

Some background.

When the Dodgers gave ‘Druw that two-year, $36.2 million contract last December, I blogged (on a previous site) that they had made a significant error.

To wit:

I would rather have Torii Hunter than Andruw Jones. I would rather have Aaron Rowand than Andruw Jones.

And I certainly wouldn’t give $36.2 million to Jones for two seasons. Not after reports out of Atlanta that Jones is gaining weight, slowing down and living off his reputation as a top center fielder. And not after noting he batted .222 last season, with a .311 on-base percentage — a number so low it would embarrass Juan “The Outmaker” Pierre.

The Dodgers also are giving a $4 million-a-year raise to a guy who just had the worst season of his career.

But I can’t get too agitated at Dodgers GM Ned Colletti because he didn’t commit the two biggest sins he can commit during the offseason.

He didn’t sign Jones for too long … and he didn’t have to give up any good young talent for Jones, a free agent.

(Which reminds me, the Atlanta Braves, who know Jones best, didn’t even bother with trying to sign him. Hmmm.)

Worst case, Jones is Colletti’s second CF bust in two seasons. He signed Pierre to a five-year, $45 million contract last fall, and Juan just isn’t worth that sort of money.

[Snip]

It really is far, far harder, and requires way more courage and discipline, to do nothing … than to go out and do something “just because” … which is what Andruw Jones looks like. A “just because” kind of move that fans will pay for, one way or another.

If Jones bounces back to be the guy who hit 51 homers in 2005, Ned is a genius.

If he is the guy who hit .222 with 26 homers in 154 games last year … Ned has massively overspent for a center fielder in consecutive Novembers. Maybe he can try to make it three straight, next year.

Jones also has is gaining a rep as a guy who is a bit of a dog (even in his contract year, 2007), and Dodgers fans will not find that appealing.

Yeah, I wrote that, in December. And there I was spending the 54th pick on a guy who just saw his homer total dive by 50 percent and his weight go up about 50 pounds. Yeah, I took him. I just had a hunch he was gonna do something. More of a moment of madness, yes.

So here we are, nine games into the season, and Andruw is 4-for-39 (.129) with one double, one RBI, three walks, 10 strikeouts and an OBP of .206. And that’s my No. 1 outfielder. (Luckily, my other OFs are decent, so far — Rios, Burrell, JD Drew, Melky Cabrera and the struggling Gary Sheffield.)

My SBL colleagues mocked me, when I made the ‘Druw pick. They hooted. They laughed. And I shrugged and said, “He’s gonna make a comeback.” Which is something I don’t actually believe 23 hours a day, 364 days of the year.

It was that one moment in time, that one day of the year … of the draft, unfortunately … that I thought the porky 30-something with a bloated contract was still an elite player.

Ha!

Whom should I have drafted, instead? Oh, any of two dozen guys. Such as Nick Swisher, Chris Young, Hunter Pence, Eric Byrnes, Corey Hart, Brad Hawpe — and Torii Hunter and Aaron Roward, the guys I wrote in December I’d rather have than Jones.

Ack.

One part of my draft preamble remains unaffected: I can loathe under-achieving Andruw to my heart’s content all season. That’s fun, in a twisted way, as any fantasy manager can tell you.