The Orioles announced that Adam Jones will retire as an Oriole on September 15. Presumably, he will sign a one-day contract and there will be some pre-game festivities, though those details have not yet been announced. Jones last played in the majors in 2019, heading to Japan for two years after that but didn’t sign anywhere last year. Now he will officially hang up his spikes with the organization where he spent the bulk of his career.
Jones, now 38, was selected by the Mariners with the 37th overall pick in the 2003 draft. He was initially used as a shortstop but moved to the outfield as a minor leaguer. He became a top 100 prospect and was able to get some brief major league time with the Mariners in 2006 and 2007, getting into 73 games over those two seasons. He didn’t quite establish himself at the big league level immediately, hitting .230/.267/.353 in that time.
Prior to the 2008 season, Jones was one of five players that the Mariners sent to the Orioles in the Erik Bedard trade, a move that would prove to be career-defining for Jones. The O’s were in a rough period at that time and were able to give Jones some regular playing time. He got into 132 games in 2008, hitting .270/.311/.400. That translated to a subpar wRC+ of 84, but he stole 10 bases and provided above-average center field defense, leading to a tally of 1.5 wins above replacement from FanGraphs.
2009 would be a breakout year for Jones, as he hit 19 home runs, more than doubling the nine he hit in the prior season. He hit .277/.335/.457 for a wRC+ of 103, getting selected to the All-Star team and winning a Gold Glove award in the process. Despite being limited to 119 games by an ankle sprain, he still matched his 1.5 fWAR tally from the year before.
He would become a staple of the outfield in Baltimore for years to come, continuing to produce in that all-around fashion with above-average offense, defense and speed. In May of 2012, he and the club agreed to a six-year, $85.5MM extension that ran through 2018, the largest contract in franchise history at that time.
That led to Jones playing 11 seasons with the Orioles from 2008 to 2018. He was remarkably consistent and reliable in that time, never playing less than 137 games in a season after the aforementioned 119 games in 2009. He played 1,613 games overall as an Oriole, hitting 263 home runs and stealing 90 bases. His .279/.319/.459 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 108 and he was worth 29.3 fWAR over those seasons.
With Jones in the outfield, the Orioles were able to emerge from a long period of mediocrity and become a perennial contender. After losing seasons in each campaign from 1998 to 2011, they went on to finish .500 or better five years in a row from 2012 to 2016. They made the playoffs three of those years, won the AL East division title in 2014 and made it to the ALCS that year.
But by the time his contract expired at the end of 2018, the O’s were back in a rebuilding period, one that they have just recently emerged from. Jones signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Diamondbacks for 2019 but his offense and defense declined to subpar levels. He then signed a two-year, $8MM deal with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He hit .250/.334/.390 in 159 games over those two years.
Although Jones didn’t begin his career with the Orioles, the largest and best part of his career was spent in Baltimore. He didn’t finish his playing time with the Orioles either but will now ceremonially conclude his career with the O’s in a few weeks, officially closing the books on his time as a player. Overall, he got into 1,823 major league games and tallied 1,939 hits, including 336 doubles, 29 triples and 282 home runs. He scored 963 runs, drove in 945 and stole 97 bases, made five All-Star teams and won four Gold Gloves. He also represented Team USA internationally, playing in the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classic tournaments. The latter of those two saw him make arguably the most famous catch in WBC history, robbing his Oriole teammate Manny Machado, who was representing the Dominican Republic.
We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Jones on a fine career and wish him the best in all his post-playing endeavors.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
The league has changed so much. His 270/311/400 slash was only good for a wrc + of 84?
I mean .711 ops, Tyler Stephenson has a similar wRC at .686. Runs are definitely down tho
Analytics devalues many good hitters in favor of guys that walk a lot.
That’s what wRC+ and wOBA tries to make up for. A walk is less valuable than a single. In the eyes of OBP, they’re the same, but wOBA values them differently. It also is a better determining factor for doubles, triples, and home runs. Is a double really worth twice as much as a single? Slugging pecentatge might tell you that, but wOBA will not.
I watch Juan Soto a lot and one thing I notice about him, is in key run scoring situations he mostly tries not to make an out(walk), not do real damage with the bat. He passes up numerous good pitches to hit, to get deep in the count. Give me a guy that wants to “do damage” with the bat, not pass the buck to the next guy and draw a walk. Soto’s analytics numbers makes him seem like the best player ever, but in my opinion he’s not nearly as good as Houston’s Kyle Tucker or even the Whitesox’s Luis Robert.
Analytics values players that get on base regardless of how they do it because not making an out leads to runs being scored. If you’ve ever seen what we baseball fans call a “rally” you’d understand the concept.
Personally, I want my lesser players to get on base, aka walk, but for me the real run producers(Superstars)of MLB need to swing the bat in those situations, not walk to bring up a lesser hitter to finish the job.
@mlb Soto has more RBIs than Robert, just about same amount of hits, and far less strikeouts.
So when he does swing the bat he’s doing just as much for his team. He just got on base an extra 78 times by walking opposed to Robert. The notion that he simply passes up good pitches to hit is foolish, he is driving up pitch counts and wearing down pitchers. Yes there is value there and has been long before analytics were a thing. And statistically it appears Soto is doing just as much “damage” swinging.
So basically it seems you just want to blindly complain of analytics when you don’t even realize one of the players you mention has worse traditional stats.
League average obp that year was in the .330s. Was slightly above average in BA, bur below average in slugging. Very good year for hitters in 2008.
I always enjoyed watching him play and I don’t anyone will ever forget that catch he made against Machado. Best of luck to him and his family in the next chapter. Which, if I’m not mistaken, has already started as a regular on Foul Territory.
It’s News only in the fact that most thought A-Jones had retired years ago. And just when I finally got over the crushing disappointment of that trade, you had to bring it up again…
I saw Jones the first year he came up with the Mariners. He had a star quality and sense of fun about him like Griffey Jr. Was floored when they traded him in the package for Bedard. Worst M’s trade ever.
No, that would still be Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek for Heathcliff Slocumb
Yeah…you got me there.
AJ’s “Adam Jones Podcast” by the Baltimore Banner is worth a listen. Wish him all the best and it was so great to see him as Captain Splash this summer in his return to Camden. Gunnar and Adley should deliver AJ some pies in mid Sept.
1 day contract with one more PA.
Congrats, Bmore is waiting with open arms.
I sure remember Adam Jones, from the ‘good old days’.
The Mariners had just come off that heady year of 2001, with brand-new Ichiro, Edgar, Buhner, the whole ball of wax, and the excitement was intoxicating.
All that slowed down after the Bedard fiasco.
We are a bit more controlled now in our emotions, and yet the possibilities this year could not be higher.. Go figure. Really rolling now.’
Go Mariners!
I appreciate these official retirements. I find unofficial retirements so confusing, don’t you?
In a lot of cases, the retirement announcement is long after no one offered a contact, which actually is why they say they are now “retired.”
I know. I was just being a smart-a@@ and trying to be funny, which doesn’t always work out for me.
Congrats on a fine and fun career, Adam! Will always smile at the Petco robbery of Manny, top shelf fun!
Nice career, Captain America. You will always be remembered as a hero of the 2017 WBC.
A solid player for many years. Even though he says he wasn’t treated well in Boston there are many Red Sox fans who respected and enjoyed watching him play against the Sox
Yeah I really admired Adam Jones competitive nature from a far. I wouldn’t of minded him being fitted for the pinstripes back in the day. It’s too bad the Orioles weren’t winning when he was playing, like they are now. It’s seem’s like he was definitely well respected by many.
Jones played on an Orioles team that won the most games of any AL team over a 5 or 6 year period.
The Orioles were contenders from ’12-’16 during the prime of his career. They were even in the wild card race through most of ’17 until they fizzled out in September.
I remember the trade that brought in Bedard who could be inconsistently good. Not sure what the deal was with him, you know we didn’t come out on that deal.
Jones and Chris Tillman came over from that trade Andy McPhail pulled off. Andy does not get nearly enough credit for his contributions leading up to that crazy 5 year run of success between 2012-16.
A solid player, a class act and a Baltimore fan favorite! It’s about time Adam and the Orioles organization are finally reunited. A tribute to Adam is way overdue.
Next to be honored for the Orioles should be Adam’s teammate for years, Nick Marsalis!
Are you reading this Angelos family?!?
Any relation to Wynton?
Personally, i would honor Nick Markakis first. Then maybe this Marsalis guy..
Noooooo I refuse to accept this!!!!!
I will only accept it, if he becomes Captain Spalsh on the weekends to help Mr Splash
I swear I remember seeing him play in San Bernardino when Seattle had them in their organization.
That will go down in mariner history as one of the worst trades. Basically Seattle gotta flaming bag with dog Doo in it.
Don’t even bring up Jason Varitek
One of the greatest Orioles of all time, he will assuredly find his way into the O’s HOF and sooner rather than later.
Still looks fairly serviceable. All the best in his retirement.
Really nice to see him retire an Oriole.
Adam’s contributions to the game goes well beyond the diamond. He is also a supportive member of the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT), the charitable organization that supports baseball people in need. I know this first hand because BAT was so generous supporting my grandson’s family during two open heart surgeries, including just last month in San Diego. Thanks BAT and Adam and best of luck in a well-deserved retirement.
A great story , one I always remember, thought I’d share. Says a lot about Mr Jones and his upbringing. The man he is now.
baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-jone…
Unfortunately, the website does not open up for users here in Germany (and probably other EU countries either). Could you/someone please summarize what was described in that article? Thank you very much in advance!
Gruß,
BSHH
Here is another version. Not as detailed. mlb.com/news/danny-jansen-and-adam-jones-reunite-i…
That’s a really nice story indeed. Thank you very much for making it available to me!
Gruß,
BSHH
My pleasure
Who??? Mike JONES!
This was one of the worst trades in Mariners history, We sent a no doubt star to be and one of the hottest closers (at that time) for a dude that was damaged goods (at best).. Yet another example of why Bill BavASSi shouldn’t even be allowed to watch a Little League game from the parking lot!
Nice career. Hope to see the Orioles retire his # someday.
He was a player that had tools. Fun to watch in his prime. Congrats and all the best for the future.
At the trade deadline in 2018 he refused a trade to the Phillies to “maintain his stock” going into free agency. It was his right. It also shows he is not “Mr Oriole”. Maybe the Orioles can name a street after him: “One Way.”
That’s ridiculous. He earned the right to make that decision. The team controls for so long that you can’t fault players for making decisions that benefit them when they finally have the control.
10 & 5 rights are a hard-earned and rare accomplishment for a player. To call him selfish for exercising it is just simply off-base.
Adam and the team didn’t see eye-to-eye for a few years there but, by all accounts, he was always great and gracious to the fans regardless. He was the team’s candidate for the Clemente award several times if I remember correctly.
Really, really unsure where you’re coming from with this negative outlook on him for exercising his 10 & 5 rights. It just doesn’t match with the facts of his reputation on and off the field.
As a fellow retired union person, he earned his right to make that decision. You are being harsh!
Yes he earned the right. He exercised that right instead of helping the Orioles get a prospect and instead of being gracious. And instead of going to a playoff contender. He always played for team Jones.
Dude, what? As I said, he was a multiple time Clemente award nominee and was well-known for his charitable efforts in and around the city while he was a player.
Why are you boiling this all down for one decision to exercise his 10 and 5 rights? The D-backs ended up 2 games over 500 in 2018 and were out of the race within a few weeks after the trade deadline. What sort of prospect do you think they were going to give up for a rental of Adam Jones having a down year?
I don’t mind an outside perspective or two, but this just seems mean-spirited and in no way consistent with the facts as they were at the time in question.
Thank you for your cogent response/disagreement.
Hall of Fame BABY!!!!
Jonesy is forever an Oriole
I have been attending baseball games since April 22,1962.I have never come close to getting a baseball.
Until a 2018 game in Baltimore.
I think that it was Adam Jones who was tossing baseballs into the stands after the inning ended.I was in the short right field stands.
I always had good hands in high school and legion ball at shortstop.
He tossed it right to me,maybe 80 feet away.
I fumbled it and lost it.
But I owe thanks to Adam Jones for giving me a chance.
Have a great retirement PacMan.
Just short of 2000 hits. Good job. Welcome to the hall of very good!
This is such self-indulgent crap, coming back to retire, so you can have a big send-off because you feel forgotten! He hasn’t played in MLB for 4 years and even then he was trash for the last couple seasons he played.
His numbers only look good today because the avg fastball 5 years ago was 2 mph slower thsn today. If he played in today’s game he’d have been the Odubel Herrera of the 2010s.
What’s next Chris Hoiles going to come back to announce his retirement, heck even Matt Wieters played in the majors only three years ago and that feels like forever ago!
Orioles probably felt they had to!give him a “day.” He probably wants a cushy special adviser job (paid of course since the $96 million he got from the Orioles was not enough).
My god dude, this baseballteam guy is on some seriously undue Adam Jones hate. Was a fan favorite player, super well respected around the league, and still has charitable efforts going in Baltimore. Baseballteam would have you believe he’s that dude Parkman from the Major Leagues movie though. What gives?
criticism does not equal hate.
Your post is three paragraphs of self-indulgent crap.
@Thank
You still have some crap to wipe off your lips there after that dump of a post.
Scram.
Probably my favorite non-Yankee player besides Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria. Congrats on a great career, Adam
He had a good career but not great less them 2000 hits no world series trips ah the Don Materly ofvthe Baltimore ohs
Nice we’ve had mentions of Nick Marsalis and Don Materly. Don’t know how I missed those guys watching ball for so long.