'PEN IS MIGHTIER

 

The Marlins believe they've bolstered their bullpen with the addition of veteran Todd Jones, a fledgling journalist who writes weekly newspaper columns with a true insider's perspective.

 

BY CLARK SPENCER

 

cspencer@herald.com

 

JUPITER - Todd Jones is the only person on earth who can answer this question with some authority: ``What's tougher, striking out Barry Bonds or writing a baseball column on deadline?''

 

His reply, much to the delight of guffawing sports writers who have gathered around his locker at the Marlins' spring training facility: ``Sometimes making the deadline. I've had good luck against Barry.''

 

In the ''us-and-them'' inner world of baseball writers and players, the new member of the Marlins bullpen bridges the hyphens. Need an important out in the eighth? Jones can do that. Need a written opinion from a player's perspective on the steroids issue? He's up to that, too.

 

Jones pounds strikes and strikes computer keys with near-equal tenacity as both a veteran reliever and a weekly columnist for The Sporting News and hometown Birmingham (Ala.) News.

 

'I guess I'm what you call `syndicated,' '' Jones said in mock derision. ``I don't know if you guys are threatened by that, or whatever. . . .''

 

Hhmmph. Well, maybe just a tiny bit.

 

In the scribe-eat-scribe enclave of baseball journalism, Jones scooped everyone when he signed with the Marlins in December. Readers in Birmingham, of all places, read about it first when Jones mentioned it in his weekly column for the newspaper.

 

''That's one of the perks of being a player,'' he said.

 

Just don't expect any salacious tell-all pieces from Jones when he pitches this season for the Marlins. Jones said he abides by the unwritten rule among players and coaches of ''what happens in the clubhouse remains in the clubhouse.'' In other words, Jones will gladly opine on the subject of steroids but won't name names the way Jose Canseco has in his new book.

 

''I don't dodge an issue,'' Jones said. ``I just don't drop names because you can get your point across without crucifying a guy. I'll try to be vague enough not to get in trouble, but specific enough not to sell out another guy.''

 

SAVES SPECIALIST

 

The Marlins aren't interested one iota in Jones the writer. They got him to get outs as a set-up reliever and provide insurance if Guillermo Mota doesn't cut it in his inaugural stint as a full-time closer. Jones led the American League with 42 saves in 2000 as a member of the Detroit Tigers and is among the handful of new relievers the Marlins signed to bolster the bullpen. One of the others is Antonio Alfonseca, who, as a Marlin in 2000, led the National League in saves with 45.

 

The difference is Alfonseca is no wordsmith, at least to anyone's knowledge.

 

Jones said he started out writing a baseball column for the Anniston (Ala.) Star and moved on to the Birmingham News and Sporting News. He said he takes his laptop computer with him wherever he goes, including road trips, and writes his column on team flights and in his hotel room.

 

''It helps with the media, to be honest with you,'' Jones said of his dual role as reliever and writer. ``I know what it's like to have a deadline. I know the media is just doing their job. It's nothing personal what they are asking you. They're just trying to get a quote so they can go home. I get a little credit, I think, from you guys because I write a little bit and there's that connection. It doesn't mean you won't hammer me, but at least I can relate to what you do.''

 

Jones said there has been some initial trepidation among his teammates once they find out he's a moonlighting baseball writer. But once they figure out he's not out to expose their personal lives -- good or bad -- the uneasiness disappears.

 

''[Ken Griffey Jr.] was apprehensive for a while until he got to know me,'' Jones said. 'He was just giving me a hard time, like, `You better not print that.' ''

 

BRANCHING OUT

 

Jones doesn't think of himself as the second coming of Hemingway, is a hunt-and-peck typist, and admits his grammar won't earn him a place in the who's-who lexicon of prose stylists. And he has dabbled as a writer in other sports other than baseball. The Sporting News assigned him to cover the Orange Bowl last month ``from the perspective of a big college football fan who wins the sweepstakes and gets to cover the game from the sidelines.''

 

''I'm your basic dumb jock that gets a podium once a week and can write whatever I want,'' said Jones, who attended, but did not graduate from, Jacksonville State. 'I e-mail the raw stuff to [editors], and they just clean it up. They just undangle my participles and stuff like that. I don't have to capitalize everything. I just have to put in the periods. When I'm talking about two teams and I say `they,' they're like, 'Which they did you mean?' They help me with structure.''

 

Jones, 36, said he plans on writing a book when his baseball career is over.

 

''I'm going to write a book whether it gets printed or not, mostly for my kids,'' Jones said. ``It'll just be a chronological perspective of an average Joe passing through the game.''

hahahhaha its called Pen Is Mightier. thats awesome.

i like the pun. its clever. thats great. having jones will add some security to the bullpen, if Mota doesnt come through. ive been worrying about that because Ive seen Mota on his bad days. Jones has led the American League with 42 saves in 2000. Hope he still has something in him. Pretty cool.