Jones Bases Loaded Drop

[Prayin4Reign]

Can't believe people actually still think this effects anything. It's... disappointing, really.

Yeah....crazy stuff. I couldn't agree more. I don't even know where to begin. Someone on this board is going to start keeping track of Bubble Errors Above Replacement (BEAR) or Defensive Bubble Efficiency (DBE).

Adam Jones brings so much to this team on a nightly basis. Great offense, he's a leader in the clubhouse, etc. Some people have too much time on their hands.

[Dodobirds]

The bubble was about the size of a baseball when the ball got to his glove. With his head tilted back and the play already somewhat difficult having a pretty damn big bubble right near or in the line of site surely cant help.

This. Amen.

[jabba72]

Just watched the yankees's CF gardner take the exact same type of flyball one step onto the warning track in dead center. Gardner had his shoulders facing the infield, decreasing the chances of him flubbing the ball go way down. Jones almost had his back towards the infield waiting for the ball last night.

[tntoriole]

Just to throw some numbers out there, what do people think of this:

Jones Fielding Pct (errors)

2008 - 0.991 (3)

2009 - 0.986 (5)

2010 - 0.984 (7)

2011 - 0.980 (8)

2012 - 0.982 (8)

Meaningless trend, or sign of ever-slightly growing complacency? Also as a side note, he's been top 3 in the majors in errors by center fielders every year since 2009.

Now what I want to know is was Adam blowing bubbles at the same rate in 2008 as in 2010-2012 or has this rate gone up, perhaps due to an increased need to escape to the simpler days of childhood because of the increased chaotic life of a baseball star. Maybe Adam used a different brand of gum in 2008 and now uses a brand that pops a little louder than expected, thus causing him to be momentarily surprised. If we could somehow correlate the size, rate, consistency of bubble pops with Adam's error rates, then I think we might be on to something. lol.

[Mayor McCheese]

Can't believe people actually still think this effects anything. It's... disappointing, really.

Well just remember he has to set up that bubble as he's tracking the ball...Did that cause him to get a bad jump/read on the ball..who knows..

At this point who cares anymore...he accepted it and moved on...OH should too.

[Gurgi]

I dont think the Orioles management can say anything about the bubbles. Didnt we issue a bobblehead with Jones catching a ball blowing a bubble? I think we did. And that is just joining the stupidity.

[jabba72]

Another scary routine flyball to Jones as he casually drifted towards Left Center, and used the exact same positioning that he used last night. I was expecting the ball to pop out but it didnt. The very next flyball hit to him, Jones squared up properly and made it look routine.

[The Wedge]

I have to wonder if the "gum is to blame" obsession is some sort of psychological crutch for people who don't want to admit that our very gifted CF has a legitimate fielding problem? I mean, it's not super huge, it's not like he gets the yips about it, but he has historically shown a predication towards misplaying fly balls. And for the most part, to my recollection, the running theme of each of them (well, besides the GD bubble blowing) is his habit of wanting to make a slick running catch. He's misplayed balls in other ways (breaking the wrong way has come up, but sometimes they work in tandem when he does that) but he just seems to hate making it look mundane, and he loves "making it look easy." His tendency to only use his glove hand wouldn't be nearly as bad if he would use his speed to get under the ball and camp instead of trying to glide to everything.

My personal opinion is that Adam Jones is a good, slightly above average OF with natural ability and the potential for great plays, and also the potential to make more errors than someone of his stature should. Time will tell if he matures out of this, but right now the mouth on him (which I admittedly find hilarious) suggests a natural cockiness that belies the fact that he's gonna do what he wants out there.

[tntoriole]

I have to wonder if the "gum is to blame" obsession is some sort of psychological crutch for people who don't want to admit that our very gifted CF has a legitimate fielding problem? I mean, it's not super huge, it's not like he gets the yips about it, but he has historically shown a predication towards misplaying fly balls. And for the most part, to my recollection, the running theme of each of them (well, besides the GD bubble blowing) is his habit of wanting to make a slick running catch. He's misplayed balls in other ways (breaking the wrong way has come up, but sometimes they work in tandem when he does that) but he just seems to hate making it look mundane, and he loves "making it look easy." His tendency to only use his glove hand wouldn't be nearly as bad if he would use his speed to get under the ball and camp instead of trying to glide to everything.

My personal opinion is that Adam Jones is a good, slightly above average OF with natural ability and the potential for great plays, and also the potential to make more errors than someone of his stature should. Time will tell if he matures out of this, but right now the mouth on him (which I admittedly find hilarious) suggests a natural cockiness that belies the fact that he's gonna do what he wants out there.

No, I very much agree that Adam has some chronic problems with some of his fundamentals in playing center field. No "psychological crutch" exists for me regarding the gum. I do not regard it as "the blame"- it was just one small possible factor of many that caused the drop. But the gum is one tiny risk factor that is much, much easier to fix than any of the others.

[The Wedge]

No, I very much agree that Adam has some chronic problems with some of his fundamentals in playing center field. No "psychological crutch" exists for me regarding the gum. I do not regard it as "the blame"- it was just one small possible factor of many that caused the drop. But the gum is one tiny risk factor that is much, much easier to fix than any of the others.

Easier to fix probably because its the very last thing on the list of things he does wrong, and only exists as a fault in an anecdotal fashion.

[weams]

Jones not chewing bubble gum today. No bubbles. Just spitting some seeds. Wonder why?

I think he feels humbled from the loss and wanted to remove that as something to fixate on. And since he does not chew gum any longer, is this topic about done

[Ommaculate]

Jones not chewing bubble gum today. No bubbles. Just spitting some seeds. Wonder why?

I saw him chomping the gum at bat today, he still had the gum.

[The Wedge]

Jones not chewing bubble gum today. No bubbles. Just spitting some seeds. Wonder why?

...had his mouth been absolutely empty I'd be more interested. He's very capable of doing something very similar while chewing seeds.

But to answer your question, even if he didn't want to try and show some accountability in an obvious way, I'll bet you dollars to donuts Buck is the kind of manager who would hate the bubble thing just as much as some here, but more for "I'm tired of seeing the bubble every time there's a mistake" variety. Insult to injury fashion, not any real belief it's messing him up. Plus, it's the easiest thing to make him stop as a penalty. You can chew gum again when I see you stop trying to hot dog every other play out there, Jones. That sorta thing.

[The Wedge]

I saw him chomping the gum at bat today, he still had the gum.

Maybe he had gum during the top half, seeds during the bottom? Or just alternated in some other way.

[The Wedge]

Wow! 20 pages of Adam Jones bubble blowing and he goes to sunflower seeds today. Whatever the reason, it's kind of interesting.

20 pages? You need to set your posts per page higher, man!