How Will Adam Jones Be Remembered?

Adam Jones turns 31 on Monday. As he moves further from his prime; how will he be remembered in Baltimore once his time in an Orioles uniform finally comes to an end?

We acknowledge the obvious point that Jones is under contract through the 2018 season, and a lot can happen between now and then to alter existing perceptions.

Here we will review Jones’ time in Baltimore to-date, and project ahead.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

The CF was acquired from Seattle (along with Chris Tillman, George Sherrill, Kam Mickolio, and Tony Butler) for Erik Bedard on February 8th, 2008.

That deal can be seen as the catalyst of the O’s current run of success which has existed since ’12. However, the light didn’t immediately turn on for the O’s after that deal. Before that trade, Baltimore had finished under .500 every season from 1998 through 2007. After that deal, the Birds would finish under .500 again in the ’08, ’09, ’10, and ’11 seasons.

A lot of consistent losing for a young player to endure.

Jones was a 22 year old kid when he first put on the Orioles uniform. He had played in 73 games in ’06, and ’07 with the Mariners. ’08 with the O’s was the first time he was given the chance to play regularly at the Major League level.

During that ’08 season, he played in 132 games. His slash line was .270 / .311 / .400. Certainly promising for his age, and when combined with his defense (both his UZR/150 and DRS were positive).

The O’s finished 68-93 that year, last place in the AL East; 28.5 games behind Tampa Bay.
Dave Trembley was the O’s Manager.  His teammates at SS that year were Juan Castro, Alex Cintron, Freddie Bynum, Brandon Fahey, and Luis Hernandez.

In ’09, Jones would make the first of his current five All-Star game appearances. This was buoyed be a monstrous start to the year, which saw him end May with a .344 batting average, and a 1.005 OPS. The year did not end well for Jones though, as a ankle injury caused him to miss September. As compared to ’08, he finished with less games played overall (119 to 132). He did show improvement with his slugging (his ISO jumped from .130 to .180). His 6.9% BB% is the highest of his career to date. 2009 was the first of five consecutive seasons for Jones where the CF has a negative UZR/150 (his DRS in ’09 was positive). Despite the zone rating, he won his first Gold Glove.

The ’09 Orioles finished 64-98, again in the basement of the AL East, and 39 games behind New York. Current potential trade target Rich Hill had 13 starts for the O’s. Baltimore’s best starter on the year was Brad Bergesen.

Going into ’10, there were legitimate questions about Jones’ ability to stay available throughout a season. Jones began to answer those concerns by getting into 149 games. Jones led baseball with 12 assists.

Trembley was fired after 54 games. Interim Manager Juan Samuel replaced by Buck Showalter after 51 more. When Buck took over on August 3rd, the O’s were 32-73. When Showalter was introduced to the media, Jones stood watching in the back of the room. Jones was quoted about the hire and Buck’s introduction saying , “He said we’re going to play harder and smarter. Now we’ve got a guy we know who’s going to be here. Not an interim. He’s etched in stone.”

Baltimore went 34-23 to end the year, finishing the season 66-96 overall. They were last in the East and 30 games behind Tampa Bay.

’11 was Showalter’s first full year at the helm. Baltimore again failed to even win 70 games, finishing 69-96. The O’s did go 15-13 in September, with 5 of those wins coming against Boston though. The last of those wins on the final day of the season to eliminate the Red Sox from the post-season.

Jones was named the Most Valuable Oriole, as he reached the 20 homer plateau for the first time (finishing with 25). He also had 8 errors.

The man who had traded for Jones – Andy MacPhail – saw his tenure as O’s President of Baseball Operations end following the ’11 season. Dan Duquette became the O’s Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations that November.

In ’12 the O’s reached the post-season for the first time since 1997, the 93 wins being good for a Wild Card. Obviously this was the first time Jones had experienced a winning season as an Oriole. On May 25th, with Jones sporting a .947 OPS; the CF signed a 6 year $88.5M extension. At the press conference two days later, Jones said, “Everybody knows I’m not from Baltimore, but this is now my town.”

Jones became an All-Star for the 2nd time, the beginning of a 4 year run  of consecutive AS selections through ’15. He appeared in every game that season, and had 30+ (32) homers for the first time. The playoffs were rough for Jones (2 for 26), but without his quality September (.886 OPS in 119 ab’s) the O’s might not have reached the post-season to begin with. For the 2nd straight year, he was named the Most Valuable Oriole. He also won his 2nd Gold Glove.

In ’13, the O’s finished over .500 for the second straight year, finishing 3rd in the AL East with 85 wins. Jones’ personal numbers were very similar to the previous year. He finished with over 30 homers (33, a career high) for the second straight year. He knocked in 100 for the first time.His fWAR of 4.2 was nearly identical to his 4.3 mark the year prior. A 3rd All Star game, a 3rd Gold Glove, a 1st Silver Slugger Award. Another 160 games, and he was also part of the US National Team in the ’13 World Baseball Classic.

The 2014 Birds won their first Division Title since ’97, and Jones got to the Playoffs for the second time his career. After five consecutive seasons of negative defensive numbers, the metrics turned positive. In an interview with BSL, Ben Jedlovec of Baseball Info Solutions attributed the improvement to a change in Jones’ positioning. His ’14 BB dropped to 2.8%. After an OPS over .800 the previous two years, he finished at .780. In the Playoffs he was 6 for 27. Jones claimed his 4th All-Star game appearance, and his 4th Gold Glove. Helped by his improved defensive metrics, he posted a 5.5 fWAR for the year. That is currently the best current mark of his career.

Coming off a 96 win season, which included the Division title and appearing in the ALCS; 2015 was disappointing for the O’s. On the positive side, with 81 wins, the Baltimore finished with a non-losing record for the fourth straight year. One reason for the team slide, was that Jones played his fewest amount of games (139) in a season since ’09. For the second straight year, his defensive numbers were positive, but his OPS was under .800. Jones did make the All-Star game for the 5th time.

Off the-field, Jones was honored with Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award given annually to the player “who inspires others through his on-field performances and contributions to his community.”

As stated in the linked MASN article above:

The five-time All-Star has immersed himself in the community since coming to Baltimore, his involvement extending to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore, the YMCA of Central Maryland, the Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities (RBI) program, the Cool Kids Foundation, the Jackie Robinson Foundation and OriolesREACH. Jones also serves as a member of the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT) Board of Directors. Earlier this year, Jones co-hosted a clinic for inner-city youth in West Baltimore following the riots.

Here in 2016 to-date, Jones has the second highest BB% (6.6%) of his career. His .328 wOBA is below his career average (.338). His ISO is right at his career levels. He’s on-pace to reach 30 homers for the third time in his career. Unlike during ’14 and ’15, his UZR/150 is again negative, in-fact at (-10.2) it’s is currently lower than it’s been for any full-season in his career. His DRS is also negative. After Saturday’s loss in Toronto, Baltimore has lost 5 games in a row. Despite that, the O’s are still 13 games over .500 and would be in the Playoffs as a Wild Card as of today. Baltimore is well positioned to reach the post-season for the 3rd time in five years. Jones’ struggled to start the year (.625 OPS in April, .668 OPS in May). He rebounded in June with a big month (.982 OPS), but has been below average (.700 OPS) again here in July. For the year, his OPS is .765, which would be a third straight season under the .800 mark. His play over the next two months will have significant impact on the O’s performance as a whole.

Quick Hits:

• Jones is 6th all-time in Orioles homers with 215 (Palmeiro is 5th with 223, B. Robinson is 4th with 268).
• From 2009-2014, Jones batting average was between .277 and .287 every season.
• Jones’ OPS annually during 2009-2015 was .792, .767, .785, .839, .811, .780, .782.
• Since 2008, he’s had 7 months with at-least 75 ab’s and an OPS under .640.
• Since 2008, he’s had 8 months with at-least 75 ab’s and an OPS over .900.
• His fWAR for his career is 26.5. During the 2013-15 period (the 3 initial years after the extension); the average fWAR per season was 4.43.
• Jones is scheduled to make $16M in ’17, and $17M in ’18.

I don’t know how others will remember Jones. For me, his place in O’s history is secure. He’s not going to end up in Cooperstown, but he will clearly be part of the Orioles Hall-of-Fame (and would be even if the standards were higher than they have been).

He’s not the elite of the elite, but he’s been a consistent All-Star caliber talent for a long time.

He was here at the end of the worst era in franchise history, and has been part of the most consistent winning for the O’s in decades.

Being part of that losing, and helping to change things around has to be hugely satisfying for him. More so if the O’s can finish the journey from the team that was annually cellar bound, to winning the franchise’s 4th World Championship.

Between the lines, I’ve always taken his defensive metrics with a grain of salt. When the numbers were poor, I thought it didn’t represent him accurately. When they were strong in ’14, and ’15, I thought they were a bit inflated. To me, he’s generally been better than the numbers, and not as good as the accolades. He’s always had a strong arm. Earlier in his career, he infuriated me at times by not hitting the cut-off, and allowing runners to advance. I think he’s definitely got better in that regard.

After 5,000 plus ab’s in an O’s uniform, pretty much every O’s fan has it ingrained in their minds of what is coming when he gets behind in the count. He doesn’t give away ab’s on purpose. He struggles with pitch recognition with secondaries. Nobody knows that better than him. Due to that, I think he hunts fastballs earlier in counts. That’s where he is comfortable.

In some sense, it’s generally worked for him. For the most part, he’s put up similar offensive numbers throughout his career. Maybe not as good as some wanted, but you can’t argue that he hasn’t been successful.

Heck, with his BB% at this second highest level of his career this year, I’ve wondered at-times if he has been too patient for him this season. Meaning players are individuals, with their own talents and positives and negatives. Asking him to be more selective, might be taking away from what he does best.

He’s regularly played a lot of games. He doesn’t seem to be the type to get too high, or too low. When he or the team is struggling, he doesn’t hide from the media. Winning is all that appears to drive him as a player.

He’s a good base-runner, even though he’s never been an effective base-stealer. He runs well 1st to 3rd. He goes into the bag hard at 2nd. He’s also the slowest ‘fast guy’ I ever recall. It astounds me how many balls we’ve seen over the last two years that should be bang/bang at 1st, that we’ve seen him out by more than a step. It’s not a matter of him not hustling in-my-opinion. It might be a matter of him being a bit slow out of the box, or just an indication of his declining athleticism.

Off the field, I probably differ from most in that I don’t need to hear players speak. Typically I’m just not interested in anything they have to say, and if they are quoted, I’d like them to effectively be Crash Davis in Bull Durham, and just be generic when they talk.

I recognize I’m in the minority there. Most people prefer personality. Jones provides that. To his credit, even when he does, it’s always about ‘we’, and not about ‘I’.

Despite me just saying that I’m not typically interested in hearing from players, Jones should be commended for his comments after the unrest in Baltimore last year. That was the definition of leadership, and a prime example of why he won the aforementioned Miller Award.

What I’m really going to remember Jones most for is that he committed to Baltimore. When he signed his extension in ’12, he was was not yet 27 years old. Right in his prime, he could have decided to go anywhere. He decided to stay in Charm City.

You can argue that was a pretty profound moment for the franchise. Two months into their best season since ’97, their then best player made clear Baltimore was where he wanted to be. That had to have had a positive impact in the locker-room.

That is partly supposition on my part.

What is known is that the O’s have consistently won since then.

Coincidence?

What is also known is that Jones has at-least two more years in this City.

Two more years to move-up in the O’s record books.
Additional time to create some additional lasting memories.

You want to critique him for his limitations on the field? That’s fair.

Still, if you’ve spent all this time mostly judging him for not being the player you wanted him to be, and not enjoying him for the player he is; that’s on you.

Happy 31st Adam!  Thank-you for what you’ve provided this City on and off the field.

Here’s to hoping some additional memories await!