Longtime major league outfielder Adam Jones’ time in the bigs may have just drawn to a close. Jones announced on Twitter that he’s signing with Japan’s Orix Buffaloes. He inked a two-year, $8MM contract with a club option for 2022, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The deal could max out at $15.5MM if Jones’ option is exercised and the CAA Sports client earns the $2MM in incentives that are part of the pact.
The fact that Jones is heading to Japan now means he’ll avoid a protracted stay on the open market. As a free agent last offseason, the 34-year-old Jones was a victim of a league that has become more and more averse to signing aging players to guaranteed contracts. Jones went without a deal for several months, finally inking a $3MM pact with the Diamondbacks.
Even though Jones jumped out to a great start in Arizona, his numbers and his playing time declined as the year progressed. He wound up turning in a .260/.313/.414 line (good for a below-average wRC+ of 87) with 16 home runs in 528 plate appearances. In the field, the former defensive standout earned negative marks for the fourth straight year (minus-4 DRS, minus-2.2 UZR).
Despite his subpar numbers, Jones’ lauded leadership skills were surely valued in Arizona. Major league teams could have considered signing him to act as a mentor to their younger players in 2020. However, he would have had to settle for either a low-paying big league contract or a minors agreement. As a result, Jones made the decision to head to Nippon Professional Baseball for a much larger payday.
If this is the last we’ve seen of Jones in the majors, he’ll be remembered as a standout with the Orioles for a significant portion of his career. Jones was the 37th overall pick of the Mariners in 2003, but they ultimately traded him to the Orioles in 2008 in a swap that blew up in Seattle’s face and couldn’t have worked out much better for Baltimore. Jones debuted as an Oriole in 2008, the beginning of an eminently successful 11-season run in which the former center fielder batted .279/.319/.459 with 263 home runs, 90 steals and 29.5 fWAR, earned five All-Star nods and won four Gold Gloves.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Was never going to get that kind of money in MLB. Good on him.
Good luck Jonesy in Japan!!
Love you Adam. Best of luck on this part of your professional journey.
Interesting he didn’t have a market develop in MLB after his productive season last year in ARI. Best of luck to him in Japan.
His season wasn’t all that productive, and he also is a defensive liability. Nobody was going to give him close to what Orix gave him. I do wish him well though.
Yet he couldn’t go to Philly for 2 months
Lol
My thought exactly!
Does anyone want to go to Philly on purpose? ;)
Hey the Fresh Prince bailed on Philly and how’d that work out for him? Blowing up and apprehending aliens across 2 different franchises, saving the world
Hey the Fresh Prince bailed on Philly and how’d that work out for him? Blowing up and apprehending aliens across 2 different franchises, saving the world.
Crickets….
Could you repeat that one more time I didn’t get it.
He could have. He just didn’t want to.
Anyone in their right mind would rather go to Japan than Philly lol
Sounds like someone is still butt hurt
Sounds like someone likes to antagonize others for the hell of it. Nobody is butthurt over a below average player turning down a trade to their favorite team.
Great player, I wanted him to stay in the majors. However, he received a good contract. Good luck in Japan.
Playing in the House That Ichiro Built
Not the same house or the same team. Wrong stadium, wrong team. Ichiro played for the Orix Blue Wave in a stadium in Kobe, Not the Orix Buffaloes, which plays in Osaka. Got Orix right…..Close enough.
Jones’ last game in Baltimore was actually touching, especially the applause he was getting from the umpires as he took the field. Not a bad RH bat, but he wasn’t going to get that contract in the US. Best of luck to him…always liked him.
All-time great Oriole. Statistically perhaps not but his meaning for the franchise historically is very strong.
That’s because he doesn’t see himself as a fourth OFder. That’s the reason that he turned down the Phillies deal. I believe that he still views himself as an everyday player. Jones is selfish so why not go to Japan and get treated like a King?
If he believes that and did something about it then what’s the problem? Gets paid and gets what he wants: an everyday role.
No, he rejected Philly because he wanted to finish his tenure and not uproot his family for a two month stint. He gained further stability by signing a 2 (possibly 3) year deal instead of another 1 year deal or minor league deal. Keep pushing your narrative, though.
Up-root his family from Baltimore to philly? Really he wouldn’t have had to uproot them at all. He rejected the trade from Baltimore to Philly because he could, simple as that.
No reason for him, at this point in is career, to be a fourth outfielder (save for personal/family reasons). Hey sad fact of this very modern era in baseball is that we don’t get to see guys like this play just a bit longer.
Jones is a noted community servant and philanthropist. Hardly accurate to call him selfish.
That has nothing to do with playing baseball.
It’s not selfish to want to play everyday. If your bench players don’t want to play every day, release them.
You got to go where they pay you. Good luck to Jones.
Thought Orix was The Blue Wave
They changed their name back in 2004. Have you been living under a rock?
Cut him some slack. 1) He knew they were the Blue Wave at one point, and 2) not everyone can follow Japanese baseball too closely. I do what I can, but it took me over 20 years to realize “Ham Fighters” wasn’t the team name. And let me tell you, that was a sad, sad day…
They changed their name to the Buffaloes when they merged with Kintetsu.
Good fact, and thanks, but how do you know this?
For a player with his career, it’s disappointing his MLB career will end in Japan instead of here. If it was about the money for him, is it really worth it? If it was about no interest from MLB teams, shame on all 30 teams because so many teams could use him in their OF instead of some of the guys they’ll be trotting out there.
Braves already have their quota of aging outfielders that are only batting average and mediocre to bad defense.
That is just a silly argument. Has it crossed your mind that perhaps he is interested in playing in Japan and wants to enjoy the experience? He’ll get paid more than we was likely to be paid in the US and will get to play everyday. What is disappointing about that?
I think you’re overvaluing what Jones is capable of at this point in his career. He’s been declining both offensively and defensively for years, and nobody is bending over backwards for an OPS+ of 87. I can say pretty confidently that he wasn’t going to get a better offer than what Orix gave him, so he was smart to take it.
Unfortunately these are probably the cold hard facts—especially in this era.
1. His MLB will not end in Japan, it will end in MLB ie in the US.
2. He will get to play every day, perhaps in CF even. And he is someone who likes playing baseball so…
3. $8m.
He won’t play everyday in CF in Japan. Maybe a rare occasion he’ll see some time there.
Maybe he doesn’t care about the perception of how his career ending? Maybe he wants to continuing playing every day and performing at a high level, so he felt a league change was the best option? Maybe he thought it was an interesting life move? Maybe he wanted more money, but I don’t think that’s his main motive at this point. You can question and dislike his decision, but it’s his decision and he’s obviously pleased with it or he would have waited a lot longer than December 10th to sign.
He’ll get there and then realize it was $8MM yen
Lol
Or 8 million sushis (sushiiee?)
Lol. Only 73,000 dollars. Just looked it up cause I was curious
Well then it’s probably wise to remove the dollar sign from before the number.
This is awesome. Wonder how the Japanese fan base is taking it? Excited or not as much? Still a big name player that can produce. Good luck Adam
I’m sure they’ll enjoy his presence; and frankly going to Japan sounds terrific. Great culture.
Very solid MLB career; it’s a shame that it didn’t end with the O’s. It was nice though that he was able to play against Danny Jansen in late 2018 (back in 2004 when Jones was in the minors with the Mariners’ Wisconsin affiliate, Jansen’s family hosted him for the season).
neat story. i agree on the O’s part, even not being a fan. I guess I’m the only person on Philly who respects the man and his exploits.
Nice of you to say. There was talk of a reunion last year but I don’t think the front office feels like looking backward anymore. Perhaps there is a coaching or consulting position with the Orioles in his future. He’s very loved by our fan base.
yeah i think he gets too little credit from those on this site. the ammount of flak i got on the article over the summer was crazy. i know i dont have the firsthand experience with him that O’s fans have, but i can tell there’s a lot to like.
From what I know about him as a Jays fan who has seen him a lot over the years (of course not as much as you) I think he’ll be a very good coach, perhaps manager, one day. Seems like a really stand up guy who would have a knack for coaching. Also it’s clear that he would’ve loved to stay on with the O’s last season and that his feeling towards the fan base and city is mutual.
Correct re mutual affinity between Jones and O’s fans. On the whole were simply grateful for what he brought to Baltimore and the O’s.
Lots of respect for Adam. He gets to keep playing the game he loves and experience an entirely new, fascinating culture. Good for him.
About as well said as it could be.
should be an interesting story to follow. hope he returns to the states after to retire, but who knows, some guys can go on forever in Japan.
hmm also saw something from a Japanese site saying something about the Olympics in conection with Jones. i know Brandon Dickson was with Orix through last year, but not sure if he was eligible because he was a free agent, or players on NPB rosters are exempt from the 40 man rule. if so this is huge for team USA.
Hope he does good in Japan. Will be a huge star there
Were buffalo a native species of Japan?
You got me curious, had to Google it. More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are kept in Asia, including both river and swamp types. … In Japan, water buffalo is domestic animal throughout the Ryukyuan islands or Okinawa prefecture.
Kudos to his agent for getting him that kind of money, at his age, in this climate.
when the Orioles were trying to trade him at the deadline to get something for him he invoked his 10 and 5 rights due to his “family” and now he’s off to Japan for 2 yrs
Huh, kinda surprising. Seemed like he could help out plenty of major league teams.
On a minor league deal, sure.
He’s had a pretty good career, it will be interesting to see how he does over in Japan.
Jones’ Stat line with the O’s was .279. / .319 / .459. I saw what was posted and immediately knew that the numbers were wrong. The OBP and Slugging got swapped around.
I’ll have to pick a new favorite MLB player. Sad