The Orioles recently benched Adam Jones for the entirety of a three-game series, and Eduardo A. Encina examines the awkward situation, writing that it’s becoming more apparent that the organization doesn’t have long-term plans for Jones. Encina notes that Jones “threw a wrench” into Baltimore’s plans when he vetoed a trade to the Phillies prior to the non-waiver trade deadline but opines that it’s nonetheless surprising to see the popular Jones sitting behind a cast of waiver claims and former Rule 5 picks (e.g. John Andreoli and Joey Rickard). Cedric Mullins is the only well-regarded prospect who’s been playing over Jones — the team did call up DJ Stewart earlier today — making Jones’ lack of playing time in his final weeks as an Oriole all the more curious. Jones’ benching did occur on the road, so perhaps the organization plans to give him more playing time for the team’s remaining home games, where fans can show their appreciation for the 11 seasons Jones has given them.
More from the division…
- Despite some questions in the Red Sox bullpen, the organization didn’t give much thought to calling up either Durbin Feltman or Travis Lakins in September, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. President of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski tells Bradford that despite a strong minor league showing for each right-hander, neither can be considered a clear upgrade over the relievers currently in the Boston ’pen. A promotion of Feltman would’ve been extraordinarily aggressive, as he was selected in the third round of this year’s draft, though he was labeled a potential fast-track candidate and did pitch brilliantly across multiple Class-A levels. Bradford adds that Lakins’ injury history likely kept the 24-year-old down this year, as the team was wary about subjecting his arm to another two months of innings after he had a stress fracture in his elbow in 2017.
- Yankees slugger Aaron Judge took on-field batting practice for the first time since fracturing his wrist yesterday and is slated to do so once again today, writes Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. There’s no set timeline for him to face live pitching, however, and an eventual return date is even less clear. Judge said he felt “great,” though a day prior he’d acknowledged that the pain in his still-fractured wrist ranked at about a “four” on a scale of 10. Hoch noted recently that skipper Aaron Boone had previously said Judge wouldn’t resume swinging until his wrist had fully healed, but the lengthier-than-expected absence for Judge looks to have altered those plans.
- Rays pitching prospect Jose Mujica will miss the 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The promising young righty, still just 22 years of age, reached Triple-A earlier this season but spent a bit more than two months on the DL this summer and hadn’t pitched since Aug. 22. He’s previously ranked among the organization’s top 30 farmhands, though not since the 2015-16 offseason, in Baseball America’s estimation. That said, Mujica posted a 3.03 ERA in 154 1/3 innings of Double-A ball last year (albeit with just 5.0 K/9) and turned in a stellar 2.70 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and 0.25 HR/9 in 36 2/3 innings of Triple-A work earlier this season. He’ll be just 24 years of age when he returns in 2020, so youth is still on his side as he looks to claim a spot in the team’s plans moving forward. It’s been a tough season for Rays farmhands, as the organization has seen Brent Honeywell, Anthony Banda and Jose De Leon as Tommy John victims in 2018.
Makes it seem like they won’t give him a qo bc he would take it
They were never going to anyway, he would have accepted it in a heartbeat
That’s what I’m saying.
Most people wouldn’t want to live in bmore but he doesn’t want to leave. Maybe it reminds him of the inner city of San Diego. That wasn’t exactly a great part of the city.
The Orioles FO should know better than to upset the face of their organization. Fans aren’t going to respond well to this.
It’s still best to do what’s best for the team, which is playing the young guys who could possibly be apart of the future
He had a chance to go compete for a title but all we heard was how great a citizen he was, he wanted to see his kids go to school, he bought Ripken’s place blah blah blah…oh well, enjoy the view from the dugout on a horrendous squad.
He earned every right to veto a trade. 10-5 rights are a thing for a reason. But on the other side, the O’s have every right to play the young guys over him.
I doubt we’d see too many charitable deductions on your tax return.
To be fair philly isn’t extremely far away. A bit further than Baltimore but it wasn’t like we were shipping him across the globe. He would’ve been Within an hour and 15 mins or so from his house. He’s probably about 35-40 from OPACY as it stands now. He has every right to veto but I think the orioles were considerate enough in attempting to ship him to Philly.
He hurt them by not waiving his 10/5 rights. That doesn’t make him the “face” of the team. It makes him self-centered. Good luck to whoever is dumb enough to sign him, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up staying with the O’s due to lack of interest.
Red Sox!!!
Using the rights you earn doesn’t make you self centered. The Orioles had the option of offering him a bonus in exchange for the trade. They declined. Also, they’re the ones that gave him the lengthy contract in the first place. I’d argue they’re the self centered ones.
I’m sure his family had more to do with the decision than him, or equally.
Bingo. He earned the right to say no and the O’s could have traded him before it vested. They knew he could say no in 2018 when the contract was agreed upon.
The labor movement gave you the right to a 40 hour work week. But by your reasoning, one would be selfish not to work 50 when asked.
I agree that players have every right to invoke the 10/5 rights they earned, but the logic to your comment is off. Only way that comp makes sense is that you’re equating playoffs to overtime. If he did go to the Phillies and they didn’t make the playoffs, there’d be no difference in the work asked of him.
It would actually cost him money by having to maintain two houses.
In 2009, he was an All Star and won a Gold Glove as a 23 year old. In 2010, he received a raise of only $30,000. Were the Orioles selfish for not paying him more money before he was in arbitration? No, they were playing by the rules of the system. Just like Adam Jones is now.
Yeah prioritizing his family over the business that he works for that would drop him in a heartbeat if they could stop paying him. What a selfish POS. I bet the only offer a team makes to him this winter is an offer to slap him in his disrespectful mouth
He’ll likely get multiple offers if he doesn’t over price himself. The real issue is whether or not the relationship with the O’s is broken as has been reported. If family is that strong and neither Baltimore nor Washington make him an offer, he could retire. While another contract that we fans look at with envy would be nice, he probably has enough money saved to last multiple lifetimes.
He earned those rights. Every right to use them. We have every right to bench him also. Either way he collects the check he’s owed. I don’t think they’ll be a huge market for him this offseason. Before the benching I would’ve thought there was a decent chance we’d get him back because I don’t think he’ll garner much interest. Not to the level of contract I believe he thinks he’ll be getting. I can’t really see a justification for anything more than a 2/20 or a 3/24 at this point. He’s going to have to be a corner outfielder and he doesn’t draw any walks. He’s a good guy to have around a young team but I can’t see anyone paying anymore than that without regretting it.
With that being said, the more questionable decision for Jones was the fact that he just bought a 3.5Mm house in Baltimore in his contract year. He had to know that this was a distinct possibility. I guess buying cal Ripken’s house is a once in a lifetime opportunity though.
It’s a gorgeous home in a beautiful part of Baltimore County. Horse country. Gorgeous. It’ll easily sell.
You don’t make money on a house you bought 6 months ago. The only person that does is the broker. Losing a couple hundred thousand isn’t a big deal for Jones but it isn’t a good investment nonetheless.
Ok orioles, you gave him the contract. Don’t talk crap about him “throwing a wrench into your plans” when you added the no trade clause to his contract, and coming into this season probably didn’t even care as you thought you would be contending.
He had 10 and 5 rights. They didn’t give him a no trade clause.
Ok? Point is they knew what they were getting into.
10 and 5 rights come from the CBA, which the Orioles (like all teams) signed off on. They quite literally gave him a no trade clause.
They DID give him the NTC. They offered him a contract that lasted past his 10th year and did not trade him before that time. It was not a surprise to anyone that the NTC would come to pass.
Judge pain – 4 now but what will happen when he plays. They should go slow. They need him but not hurt. Remember the shoulder – kkkkk
chuck, they are all rushing him, including himself. He will never heal properly and what happens if he gets hit again?
Why are people mad when either the team or the player exercise their contractural rights? Baltimore could have traded him before those rights vested, but they chose to hang on. It’s not his duty to uproot himself and his family to save the team money, or for them to trade him for another chip. Nor is it the O’s responsibility to offer him anything, much less a QO, this offseason. If Baltimore is punishing him for not playing ball (figuratively) it doesn’t say much of them as an organization. Maybe they should have approached him earlier, found a way to ease him out? This result can’t be good for anyone.
Amen
This is all much ado about nothing. Sure Jones (understandably) exercised his rights; sure the O’s FO was (understandably) annoyed. Both sides have moved on from it and acted professionally since. The team wants to evaluate its up and coming talent, which is perfectly reasonable, even if it means Jones isn’t playing. That said, he’s beloved in Baltimore and exceedingly respected by Buck—he’ll play throughout the homestand.
It would have been terrible to be playing in Philly-such a huge problem as the distance away from home would have been terrible.
Oh, it’s only a couple of hours? Huh?
Well that’s a lot for being away. Oh, the season is only 4 more weeks.
Yes-but they could have extended the season by making the playoffs. Oh, not interested in playing for a winner?
Still it would have been really bad. Oh, even the Orioles go on the road half the time anyway.
How about, “hey hunny and the kids. I have a chance to contribute to a winning team. That’s something I have not done in a really long time. Maybe this is the last chance as I may not attract a winning club when I become a free agent.
It might inject some energy and my play might improve knowing that it’s my chance to be with a winning group of guys. It could be contagious.”
Nah. He’s getting paid anyway. It’s better to stay with a loser. It’s pure laziness. Good luck to the team that wastes its resources signing this guy. He’s been good enough to frustrate real fans because he’s never achieved his true potential.
What a hot take. I love when fans come strong like this. How you would react if your job moved a half hour further from your house? I worked in an office one time that relocated 10 minutes down the road and half the office lost their minds.
It’s double the commute time both ways. He has a very easy drive in to Baltimore from his home now. In all likelihood he’d have rented a place in philly for the next couple of months had he agreed to it. I’m sure he doesn’t want to drive an hour and 15-30 minutes at ten o’clock at night after a game. Even on a home stand do you really want to drive a 3 hour round trip? I probably wouldn’t. It was the closest place for him to go and It was a short term assignment but you can’t fault him for saying no. It doesn’t have anything to do with him being lazy. If I told you you had to double your commute to work to make the same amount of money, would you jump right up?
Thanks for the valuable insight, Mike.
It was wrong to start a college reliever that throws 96-99 plus has a Good slider and no issues with control at short season A ball after being drafted. Probably should have started at High A even instead of “regular” A so could have finished up at AA, then began at AA next year and probably gone to AAA midway next season.
I think Feltman will be given every chance to make the Red Sox out of spring training next year.
The only reason he wasnt playing was because his knees were acting up and they were playing away on hard turf. Buck gave him a break, hes back starting tonight.
So what was Judge facing? Dead pitching?
Refsnyder ?
As an O’s fan I have absolutely no problem at all with him exercising his 10-5 rights. He has literally earned them and had valid reasons as a human being for not wanting to be traded. God forbid a guy want to not disrupt his family for a few months or want to spend some more time with his friends and fans from over the past 11 seasons. If he cost us an user prospect I’d be upset possibly but the guy wasn’t gonna get us more than fringe talent and it’s frankly refreshing to see him want to be an O and want to be here for the duration of his contract. He’s a class act and he’ll be missed.
My guess is less and less players will be receiving 10/5 rights as front offices trade players right before they receive their rights. It’s already happened with Longoria. Add that to the list of annoyances the players have going into the next CBA, the owners armed with smart front offices continue to work over the players under the current contract.
Link points to A’s catcher Jose Mujica, not Rays’ pitcher Jose Mujica.
O’s
Classless & Clueless
“Yankees slugger Aaron Judge took on-field batting practice for the first time since fracturing his wrist yesterday…”
Oh no, he broke his wrist again yesterday?
Oh…syntax, Steve, syntax.
During the awful 13 years without playoffs, this awesome community player stayed. He signed a below market long term contract to give this team one star. Everyone was running away from the organization and he stayed. Then Duquette treats him like dirt then asks him to do him a favor. B.S. This guy means so much to the Orioles and the community and sometimes you need to keep a guy to reward him for his faith.
He signed that extension in 2012 in the middle of a season when the Orioles won 93 games and made the playoffs. Who says it was a below market contract. He wouldn’t have hit free agency until after the 2013 season. Not to say there is any issue with him using his 10 and 5 rights this season.