June 4: Jones cleared waivers and was released. He is now a free agent.
June 3: The Orioles announced they’ve placed infielder Jahmai Jones on unconditional release waivers. The 29 other clubs will have an opportunity to put in a claim. If he passes through unclaimed, he’ll be a free agent.
This was the likely outcome once the O’s designated Jones for assignment over the weekend. The 24-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery last week and will miss the remainder of the season. By rule, injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. When the O’s designated Jones for assignment, they committed to either trading him or releasing him.
Jones suffered the injury while on optional assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He could’ve been placed on the minor league injured list but would’ve continued to occupy a spot on the 40-man roster for the rest of the season. Baltimore could’ve recalled him and placed him on the MLB 60-day IL to free a 40-man roster spot, but doing so would’ve required paying him at the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum salary for the rest of the year.
Rather than do so, Baltimore will run the risk of losing Jones on waivers or via free agency. It’s not out of the question another team places a claim and is willing to pay Jones the big league minimum — the Giants snagged Luis González from the White Sox last summer in a similar circumstance, for instance — but it’s also possible he simply clears waivers. In that event, the O’s could try to re-sign Jones on a minor league deal, but he’d be free to explore similar arrangements with other teams.
The Orioles acquired Jones over the 2020-21 offseason in the deal that sent starter Alex Cobb to the Angels. The former second-round pick and well-regarded prospect hit .149/.208/.194 over 26 big league games last year. He’d had a .212/.339/.343 line through 118 plate appearances with Norfolk prior to the injury.
This is all very confusing.
is it?
Right..thought it was explained well in this article. Comes down to money! Which I guess in the end, we all should have known it was about.
Agreed – a previous article said this was a move to take him off the 40-man, now this explanation is different.
Hey Perry bring him home.
Probably worth taking the risk of losing this guy and saving a few dollars. He’s a long shot at best.
I remember when he played CF for the IE 66ers. A star in the making, then the Angels switched him to 2B as a possible quicker route up the ladder and his game went to crap.
Because he’s absolutely terrible in the outfield. No instincts at all – good player though. Expect him to sign after he’s healthy.
They do have him in somewhat of a tight spot though, presumably. Given his injury, he would benefit from the best medical recovery / rehabilitation treatment available. If he chooses to explore FA, there is no guarantee he receives that & could be left on his own to seek rehab/recovery. If he remains unclaimed and then elects to go back to the O’s, as painful as that is, he is guaranteed to receive said treatment at the team’s expense.
Why not put him on the IL until healthy and try him again? He’s only 24…
Despite the hype surrounding his prospect status, he’s never really put up particularly impressive numbers in the minors. He just might not be that good.
I remember Jones was hyped up pretty good when he was in the Angels’ system. Kinda the same with Adell, though I think Adell has a bit more potential. Still waiting for it to materialize enough to play well in the majors.
It’s all about him occupying a 40-man roster spot. The only way for the team to put that spot to better use is to either DFA Jones or recall him to Baltimore and immediately place him on the 60-day IL. However that recall to the Majors would have required the team to pay him full salary as a Major Leaguer through the remainder of the season before they would then need to reactivate him and decide if they want to keep him around then.
Even if they put him on the ML 60 day, that would only free that roster spot up during the season. He would come off the DL after the season and once again occupy that roster spot. Would leave another exposed to the Rule 5.
Last year, outside of the big 4 (Rushman, Rodriguez, Hall and Henderson) he was also a local sports show hot topic. A lot of buzz from both on air personalities and fans alike. This year. Crickets. Not sure why. So I’m not surprised at this. My gut says, the organization sees the Cuban 2nd baseman (Prieto sp?) as the real deal; so someone like Jahmai is expendable? Maybe?
Yea he’s probably viewed as 4th best 2nd base prospect in the org at this point behind Prieto, Vavra and Norby so I think he’s probably just been passed as more talent has come into the org and they are fine to let him walk if that’s what happens.