To the casual baseball fan, 10-and-5 Rights are little more than an annoyance that get in the way of otherwise stimulating trade content in July, but for players, this rarely-achieved benchmark represents a kind of hallowed ground. Ten years of MLB service time and five with the same organization provide players a full no-trade clause, a distinction that Adam Jones celebrated in Baltimore with a party thrown for him by his wife, writes The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli. After interviewing Jones about the process that brought him to Arizona, Ghiroli walks us through Jones’ mindset as he maneuvered a uniquely tumultuous calendar year for the Orioles’ long-time star.
Jones invoked his veto power to block a trade to Philadelphia last season, choosing stability and comfort in playing out his final contact in Baltimore where he played 11 seasons and accrued 31.6 rWAR. When a player like Jones rejects the opportunity to join a contender, many are quick to denounce the move as meddlesome, obstinance, or a signal of waning competitive drive. But players around the league supported Jones with texts of both congratulations and thanks. At season’s end, of course, Mike Elias took over the show in Baltimore and Jones heard nothing but crickets from Baltimore’s front office and ownership.
Jones’ saga is typical of the struggle facing veteran players these days (and Ghiroli’s piece is well worth a read). After being in-part vilified for invoking his well-earned right to stay in Baltimore, he received no interest as a free agent. Yet not even half a season later (now that he no longer controls his destiny), Jones could once again be in high-demand. This after receiving no interest as a free agent until a Steven Souza Jr. injury opened up playing time in right field for the Diamondbacks. His humbling offseason led to a resurgent season thus far for Jones, who brings a .279/.326/.488 line into play against the Nationals today.
At 33-years-old, Jones has the reputation of a player in decline largely because of a too-long stay in centerfield, but offensively he has remained much the same player he was in his prime. For his career, Jones carries a .278/.318/.458 line with 278 career home runs. He is not a superstar, but perhaps the poster boy for baseball’s undervalued middle class. Come the postseason, non-elites like Cody Ross, David Freese and Steve Pearce have often made the difference for championship clubs, and yet front offices around the league overlooked players like Jones and Hunter Pence – veteran clubhouse leaders whose on-field contributions in 2019 have so far outpaced the projections of their decline.
I miss Jones and Markakis
Shoutout Felix Pie
Let’s toss a Corey Patterson in there too so he can join Pie
Jay Payton, anyone?
Freddie Bynum was the GOAT.
Brandon fahey
Jay Gibbons?
I like Pie.
If you include pizza as a pie, it’s easily my favorite food.
If you’re only counting the dessert, still easily top-10. Dutch apple/ apple crumb is a really solid dessert in many occasions. Versatile, delicious, like a five-tool pastry
Or maybe just a tool!
According to cubs fans Bobby Hill and Felix Pie were sure fire HOF
Those cub fans are all dead now
according to cubs fans, their entire roster should be starting the all star game too
So do I
Me too
I’m torn who gets a statue first Colby Rasmus or Travis Snider?
Lunchbox Hero!
Adam is only hurting himself as teams will not sign him since they cannot trade him mid-season to get value back. Unfortunately he ultimately limits his earning potential by his use of the10-5 rule.
It says in the article he doesn’t have 10-5 rights anymore…
I think SSB read the article into thinking the invoking was current. Anyway good for Jones who most thought was washed up. Same for Pence who most others thought was another injury about to happen.
He doesn’t have 5 years of service with the teams he is signing with, and if teams are just signing him to trade him halfway through the season the issue is with that team and the stupidity of fans who think a player owes them, their franchise or a billionaire owner anything
Now that he isn’t in Baltimore, he no longer has 10/5 rights.
Doesn’t he have to be with the team 5 years for him to use the 10-5 rights?
$100 million in the bank i doubt he’s hurting.
He would have only retained his 10-5 rights if he resigned with the Os. Now, unless he stays in az for 4 more seasons, he is just another veterans
Another guy who’s in too much of a hurry too post something without reading the article.
Or just understanding basic rights ballplayers negotiated decades ago.
Jones no longer carries those rights.
Jones has always been a class act, hope he gets to stick around for a few more years.
If I were running a team, I’d look to sign Jones. I agree that he’s a class act and brings value, both offensively and defensively.
He would be a good presence to have on the current Orioles team.
He would be a good moral presence, yes, but he would block too many other possibilities.
Players are almost all retired by 40, just bite the bullet and make your millions in different cities for 10-15 years. So asinine. We are NEVER going back to 1-team players, get over it.
Trout says different
Trout is the exception, not the rule. How many other players in the history of the game have his resume to start their careers?
freeman says dif as well.
they will be rare , but they will still be there.
I wasn’t talking about the 0.0000001%, I was talking about the “valor” of playing with 1-team also is really stupid to begin with when you’re really talking about 5 or 6 years of a guys life. It’s not a cool thing to screw over your team who gave you the contract to begin with. They want “stability” but that’s whats not happening ever again.
And yeah, I fully expect Trout and Freeman to be traded in their career at some point. But the ones who do stick with one team over 10+ years will be counted on your fingers.
Players spending their whole career with one team hasn’t been common since free agency became a thing. I’d say it’s barely less common than it was 20 years ago. Right now, you have Trout, who’s on a contract that will take him late into his career with the Angels, and get him 10-5 rights, you have Freddie Freeman on the Braves, Ryan Braun on the Brewers, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina on the Cardinals (Wainwright May have been drafted by a different organization but his whole MLB career has been Cards) and other players are still signing long term extensions. But spending your entire career with one team has never been all that common since free agency.
Of course Jones started his career in Seattle so even if he stayed in Baltimore he would not be a one team guy. Also the Phillies were a borderline contender at best last year. I wonder if he would have gone to the Red Sox or Dodgers if they offered. I don’t think his exercising his rights makes him a bad player or teammate.
But he never played for Seattle, so he would’ve been a one team guy.
According to baseball reference he played for the Mariners in 2006 and 2007.
Clayton Kershaw has only been with the Dodgers for his entire 12-year career.
There is no indication Freeman will ever be traded. You’re going to be waiting a very long (life)time.
And it’s not just those two:
-Ryan Braun
-Kole Calhoun
-Yadier Molina
-Clayton Kershaw
-Kenley Jansen
-Buster Posey
-Madison Bumgarner
-Stephen Strasburg
-Alex Gordon
-Brett Gardner
All of these guys have been with their team more than 10 years or are in their tenth year. Julio Teheran and Matt Carpenter will join this list if they both remain with their teams next year. Nolan Arenado almost certain to be added to the list. Although early, Acuna technically locked in for 10 years with Atlanta on a team friendly contract himself.
And yes some of these guys will move on to other teams at some point for sure. Bumgarner probably within a few months for example, but sticking with one team for 10+ years isn’t that unheard of. An entire career? Sure that number will drop to even more rare, especially when they get to the final years and they want to keep playing. But 10 years with 1 team is very doable and honestly fairly likely as you start to see teams lock up younger guys earlier on in their careers I think.
Mike Elias took over the show in Baltimore and Jones heard nothing but crickets from Baltimore’s front office and ownership.
Well I certainly don’t miss him!! I am not sure if anyone else does either. Quite frankly he was terrible in the OF last season no matter if it was CF or RF
I’m sure a lot of folks miss him. He was a leader in the club house – if you think Dwight Smith Jr playing on the warning track for every hitter,or even Stevie or Trey are better defensive OFers than an admittedly declining AJ, I’m at a lost as to how to respond
soulds like your in the minority there then
Jones is a very respectable ball player all around! I love watching him play here in Phoenix for the diamondbacks. He always gives it his all
He has 0.5 bWAR over his last 209 games, he’s not even close to being “the poster boy for baseball’s undervalued middle class” – his career is straight up over. There’s well over 100 OFers in the minors who can come up, be bad defensively and hit 20 homers with terrible OBP right now. He’s replacement level that you have to pay way more than the minimum for.
Unfortunately you’re probably right here. I was always a little befuddled by the confusion amongst writers as to why he wasn’t signed earlier. He’s a big name whose counting numbers and solid ops suggest he should still be fairly valuable. However, a combination of fielding metrics that fell off of the table and an offensive approach that was always limited, even at his best, leaves Jones as a flawed bat with no position. Probably not enough there to dh, not nearly enough there to play the outfield. Where does he fit? If he keeps his ops above .800, he’ll keep proponents in his corner, but who knows how long that will last with his anemic walk rates.
completely untrue. he’s continued to be an above-average hitter, and despite not being a viable CF anymore, he’s not as terrible in the field as metrics say he is.
Completely untrue? I’d love some evidence of my lack of truth! He’s a marginally above-average hitter this season, largely due to a hot start to the season (.724 ops since the end of April). However he’s teetered around the league-average range the last few seasons (103 ops+ since 2016). I can accept that perhaps the fielding metrics are overly harsh, but such uniform agreement in his regression in the outfield can’t be a total mistake. Here you have an aging, league-average (or slightly above) bat with extremely low obp skills and below-average defensive value at best. I don’t know what’s to love here.
Philly should get him to replace Cutch
Why? He already spurned them last year, I doubt they’d waste the time pursuing him again.
maybe jarod dyson
he doesnt have 10-5 rights anymore
It’s tough to argue that Hunter Pence is an undervalued middle class player when his decline/penchant for IL trips dating back to 2015 defied even the rose colored glasses of the SF wine and cheese crowd. More power to him for his resurrection in TEX, but even the OF-starved Giants wisely took a pass last winter.
I tend to find Jones’ persona growingly annoying as he ages. I also find these loops in contracts to be even more annoying and extremely tedious and boring for fans. Baseball is a looooooong season and trades make it so much more exciting, especially for non contending teams attempting to give their fan base some positive notions.
owners agreed to players earning no trade rights though the 10-5, there’s no “loophole” and there not screwing the team over by exercising their rights that the owners agreed to
Ok, these lame portions of contracts that lack excitement to the fanbase by restricting trade movement for comfortability*. How’s that Tharrieo
Adam Jones a dying breed – plays the game for the right reasons – loves to compete and win. A contending team would be smart to get him.
classic Adam Jones haters out in full form as usual. You gotta wonder how well the guy has to hit to be considered league-average. he could OPS 1.100 and become a solid defender again and people would still want more.
Hey, man, some people (like myself) are throwing evidence at you so we can understand why you don’t seem to agree! I’d love your side of the argument, but you have to give it.
well his .281/.313/.419 line last year was probably his worst since his first BAL season, but he still hit for a fair bit of power, and more than the average player’s share of doubles. of anyone thinks the “average player” hits for that average, (and to a lesser extent that SLG) theyre kidding themselves.
Always like Adam Jones, he is a class act on field and the community.
He was a jerk in person the few times I met him (paid events).
While it is true that there are fewer players spending entire careers with the same team now than there were years ago, the fundamental difference is not the lack of movement but that players now have more control over whether they will move while in earlier days, ownership could move anyone, anytime for anything.
Look at the Hall of Fame and check how many great players were traded or sold in the early 20th century and before free agency. Babe Ruth, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Pete Alexander, Jackie Robinson (he retired rather than play for another team), Rogers Hornsby, Lefty Grove, Jimmy Foxx just to name a few. Others were dealt away near the end of their careers, perhaps as a favor to them, but still at the sole discretion of ownership. They include Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson and more.
In fact, it is usually the players who demand no trade clauses, not management. It is the players who prefer the security-and maybe identification-of staying put. The most notorious case of a trade of fan favorites I remember is the 1960 deal between Detroit and Cleveland that sent beloved Harvey Kuenn from Detroit to Cleveland for equally cherished Rocky Colavito.
The year before, Kuenn had won the batting title while Colavito led the league in home runs and total bases. Each had played multiple years in his city, was in his mid-late 20s and were considered a face of the franchise. Fans in both cities were outraged.
Perhaps today fans would be more analytical about such a deal, although there was serious grumbling when the Rays dealt Longoria, but to criticize players for using their right to nix a trade seems to me short-sighted and misguided.
Orioles are such a sad organization this guy was a life time oriole and didn’t regress to the point of not resigning him for 3 mil
Couldn’t agree more. A veteran presence is needed. C. Davis could have been cut to make space. C. Davis is a boat anchor to the lineup, he’s done.
DBacks are still in the wild card race. Not sure why everyone is assuming they’d trade him. If the deadline was tomorrow, they’d be buyers.
Jones is more upper middle class more than middle class. He’s been better than most other starting outfielders for most of his career, and, even with the lack of plate discipline, he’s sure as hell better than hype guys like Jason Heyward and Wil Myers.
Adam Jones would be an obstacle to playing time for the younger Orioles. Dwight Smith, Mancini, Santander, DJ Stewart, and soon Austin Hayes are all corner outfielders who need playing time when they are ready. In addition, there is a logjam at 1b/DH with Davis, Mancini, Nunez and perhaps Trumbo. Jones would take at bats away from the younger Orioles and yet not really add too much offensively to a last place team, Adam’s career path has worked out best for him and the Birds.
I don’t recall Jones ever being “vilified” for invoking his no-trade clause. The reason I don’t recall it is because it never happened. Adam Jones is a class act, was a great Oriole. He earned the right to decide how he wanted to leave the club.
How much of an obstacle would he have been on a 1 year deal this year I mean who would he be blocking this year Keon Broxton. It’s a wasted year and they could have traded him in July and still played younger talent towards end of year which is what they will probably do anyways