Baltimore Orioles: Five potential landing spots for Adam Jones in 2019
By Nick Reid
As Baltimore Orioles CF Adam Jones gets ready to enter free agency, one has to wonder where he will end up signing. Here are a few potential landing spots.
It’s safe to say 2018 has been a tumultuous year for the Baltimore Orioles. After making the playoffs in 2012, 2014, and 2016, the O’s were hoping their even-year luck would continue. It didn’t. With a win percentage of .289, Baltimore is dead last in the MLB, and are suffering through the worst season in the Orioles’ 117-year history. Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays marked Baltimore’s 108th loss, setting a franchise record for most L’s taken in a single season — and there are still 10 games left on the schedule.
As the Orioles are a division rival to my favourite team, I haven’t felt too much pity watching them scuffle this year. However, I do have sympathy for Adam Jones, who’s spent 11 years as the face of the O’s and is in the midst of the most difficult year of his career. Not only has Jones lost a bunch of his longtime teammates — Manny Machado, Zach Britton, Jonathan Schoop and Kevin Gausman were all dealt in the span of a month — but he also faced heavy criticism for exercising his 10-5 rights in July, which blocked the Orioles from trading him to the Philadelphia Phillies at the deadline.
Unfortunately, things have only worsened as the O’s went 8-20 in August and Jones was moved from center field — where he’s solely played since arriving in Baltimore in 2008 — to right field to make way for rookie Cedric Mullins. He has hardly even played at all recently, and at this point Jones must be anxious to turn a new leaf as he’s set to become a free agent this winter for the first time in his career.
Although Jones decided to stay in Baltimore for the final year of his contract, there is no doubt he’ll be playing for a different team next season. Unfortunately for Jones, he’ll head into free agency coming off his worst season in a decade — he’s hitting .283 with just 15 home runs and 58 RBI — and at 33 years old it’s worth wondering how lucrative of a contract he’ll be able to fetch in a free agent market that was stingier than ever last offseason. However, Jones still swings an above-average bat and provides a highly desirable intangible in veteran leadership, therefore it won’t be long before he’s approached by potential suitors.
Continue reading as I highlight five potential landing spots for Adam Jones in 2019.