Once again, the move is to clear a roster spot for Nomar Garciaparra, who was activated today. The Las Vegas 51s begin a 13-game trip tonight, and Andruw is expected to join them on it at some point. I asked both Joe Torre and Ned Colletti, separately, whether they now believe it was a mistake to activate Jones on July 4 (at Jones’ request, in response to Juan Pierre going on the DL), instead of letting him stay on his rehab through the All-Star break, as originally planned. These were their answers:

Joe: “It could have been. I think we have that opportunity now to have him go out there and play and have enough at-bats where he could have gotten comfortable. We were in a weakened position with Juan going down. (Jones) texted me that day, and I kind of caved in. He and I went back and forth, and I kept saying, `Are you sure you’re ready to do this, that and the other?’ And I talked to (minor-league hitting coach) Jeff (Pentland), and he liked what he was seeing as far as how (Jones) was swinging the bat. We probably should have, in hindsight, left him there a little longer.”

Ned: “You never want to dampen somebody’s enthusiasm to try to help the club. This was (Jones’) idea. He rushed back and wanted to help the club. In hindsight, yeah, you wish we could have taken the proper amount of time and gotten him healed. But it’s tough for me to be critical of a guy who wants to help the club.”