The Adam Jones Degenerative Hip Rumor

UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 9:09am: John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer calls Charles’ report "completely unsubstantiated."

FROM 1-29-08 at 10:40pm:

This story got lost in the shuffle today.  Let’s take a look at what we know about the Adam Jones degenerative hip rumor.

• The rumor originated with Stan Charles, publisher of a Baltimore sports weekly called Press Box.  Charles appeared on the Mark Viviano Show on ESPN 1300 Tuesday afternoon. 
• Unfortunately I did not hear exactly what Charles said – the show may be up for download on Wednesday.  But the gist of Charles’ rumor based on emailers who listened is that the Orioles believe Jones has a degenerative hip condition.  They are trying to use this leverage to get more players for Erik Bedard.  The Orioles saw firsthand how quickly a degenerative hip killed Albert Belle’s career.
• Roch Kubatko of the Baltimore Sun: All I can say about the topic is that the Orioles became concerned with something related to Jones, and the fact that they wanted to bring him in for a physical before alerting Bedard’s agent that a trade agreement was reached should send off signals. But we’ve heard nothing up to this point about his hip.  Kubatko implied that Charles was in dangerous territory with his claim.