Orioles Notes: Jones, Catching, Arbitration Hearings

Here’s the latest out of Baltimore…

• Adam Jones discussed a wide variety of topics in a radio interview earlier this week on 105.7 The Fan’s Hot Stove Show (hat tip to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko for the partial transcript), including the evolving free agent market and how it might impact his own potential entry into the open market after his current deal with the Orioles expires after the 2018 season.  “Times have changed, the metrics and all that stuff. How they’re calculating all that stuff is really going into how they’re paying people and it’s crazy how it is,” Jones said, noting the recent trend towards short-term or even one-year deals for veteran talent.  “It’s weird for so many guys, big league and minor league level, there are so many guys who are out there, which is surprising. Obviously, there are still a few weeks left in spring training and there’s a lot of transactions coming, but it’s different.  It’s a different feeling seeing free agency and how slow it is.”
• Also from Kubatko, the O’s could be looking to sign another catcher to a minor league deal for Spring Training.  Austin Wynns suffered an ankle injury in Dominican Winter League play and may not be back in action until March, which could leave the Orioles without enough backstops to handle all of their spring pitchers.  Given the rather minor nature of both Wynns’ injury and the need behind the plate, Kubatko notes that this situation won’t open the door for a possible reunion between the Orioles and Matt Wieters.
• The Orioles’ victory over Caleb Joseph in an arbitration hearing earlier this week continues the team’s remarkable success with arbiters since Peter Angelos became majority owner, BaltimoreBaseball.com’s Dan Connolly writes.  With the result over Joseph, the O’s improved to 11-1 in their last 12 arbitration hearings, with the lone defeat coming back in 1995 when Ben McDonald scored a higher salary.  The Orioles have two more arb hearings scheduled this month with Kevin Gausman and Brad Brach.