Jones wants say in offseason, plans to meet with Angelos

[TonySoprano]

I have no problem with Jones meeting with the brass. He should know to wear his shinguards when meeting with ownership.

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[Larry18]

Or at least let your son talk with him.

Yes. I think it's time for John and Lou to be seen more in leadership roles.

[mdbdotcom]

I wonder with which Angelos he would meet.

[24fps]

If you are paying somebody $13M a year to do a job, you probably should spend some time to hear their concerns.

OTOH if you are an employee who desires an audience with his boss - someone who is busy and very successful and furthermore is the only one in a position to give you what you want, then perhaps you shouldn't create an environment where getting your request granted could be viewed as successful blackmail. By not taking care of this out of the public eye, AJ severely compromised his chances of success.

[e16bball]

Some of the reactions here are way over-the-top.

First of all, it isn't like Adam came out and unilaterally called a press conference or issued a written statement or posted a series of tweets to get this out in front of the public. He almost certainly was responding to questions about his feelings about the upcoming offseason, which he knows as well as any of us is absolutely critical to the Orioles future. There's certainly no reason to believe this was a calculated move to "go public" with these sentiments.

And beyond that, what he actually said isn't particularly major. Make sure to parse between the actual words Adam said and the interpretation/spin of the writer and the posters who've commented on it. Here are Adam's actual statements:

• "I want this team, from Day One of spring training, to not just talk about competing like everybody else --- all 30 teams do that at the beginning of it --- but actually have the team to be able to go out on the field and get the job done.''
• "It's going to be a different offseason because a lot of the core is now in situations where they can do things differently. I want to make sure that, hopefully, I can persuade or say anything to keep this team intact, and if (that's not possible), go get guys who have similar attributes and pedigrees."
  
• "I think after the season, I'll let things die down a little, get away from the game and then go have a meeting --- talk to Peter, go talk to Buck, go talk to Dan and see what direction we're going next year."
  
• "As you get older, you want to win. I may want to play until I'm 40, but every day you get older, so you want to win and win and win. You see why Torii (Hunter) is still playing. You want to win."

So, to sum up Adam's general position:

1. He wants to win

2. He wants us to put a good team on the field

3. He would like to see us keep the core of this team together

4. However, if we can't keep that core together, he wants us to try to get players with similar talents/accomplishments

...what on earth is the big deal with any of that? There's no suggestion that he's going to try to hijack personnel power. There's no mention of him dictating terms to the FO. There's no grandstanding for big bucks to be laid out or for certain players/positions to be addressed to Adam's satisfaction. In fact, it's clear that he wants to meet with Buck, Dan, and Peter because he recognizes they're the ones who call the shots. His words are not only respectful of their authority and decisionmaking power but actually almost deferential.

And I don't see anything wrong with the idea that he would want to meet with the FO higher-ups to discuss the direction of the team. He's the highest-paid player, the longest-tenured player, the public "face" of the organization, and most importantly the unquestioned leader of the clubhouse.

There's absolutely no doubt that the players were disappointed to see popular, productive teammates like Markakis, Cruz, and Miller walk in FA last season --- I think there's probably also no doubt that some of that disappointment and frustration festered as they watched each of those guys have good seasons elsewhere while their replacements here struggled. If that affected the atmosphere, mood, and confidence of the players in the clubhouse, it's unquestionably relevant to the FO's decisionmaking. For example, could some of that clubhouse hangover from the disappointing offseason have contributed to the team's record underperforming its run differential/Pythag this season after having pretty consistently overachieved in past seasons?

This offseason could have a similar or even greater impact on the roster and on the clubhouse. Why wouldn't you want the guy who functions as the "voice" of the other players to be heard --- before you've made your final decisions?

[TINSTAAPP]

I like Adam and I love the fact that he's doing this but he has to realize he is a baseball player. He's not a NBA superstar with the power to change the direction of an organization. He really has no leverage. I can remember only one star baseball player who had 3+ years remaining on his contract, was stuck in a losing situation, demanded a trade and got one. Everybody knows who that player is, A-Rod with the Rangers in 2003. Adam is no A-Rod. Unfortunately for him, he's at the mercy of the team. They can do whatever they want and he can't do anything.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bradysburns]

They'd probably have to spend over $200 million on two contracts this offseason to keep the team intact. What concerns me about Adam's well-meaning desire to meet with the brass is: They're NOT going to do what he's suggesting, or anything even close, most likely.

So if he's going in to voice his opinions, with no expectations - fine. But if he goes in demanding we sign $100 million player(s) left and right... and then we don't do that (which we won't)... and he's left disappointed and feeling "unheard"... then 2016 could get even uglier than it's already shaping up to be.

[MemorialStadKid]

I'm befuddled as to how you consider Wright (5.45 ERA in 8 games) to be a bright spot, but not Wei-Yin Chen, Adam Jones, Caleb Joseph, Britton, O'Day, Brach, and any number of other players who have actually had good years in 2015. If you think the 5 players you mentioned are "all we got right now," you haven't been paying attention.

I guess I wasn't clear enough - that's my fault - I'm jumping into the OH in between a scripting assignment.

I'm looking at November 2015 like this - we will lose:

Chen

Wieters

Parra

We MIGHT lose:

Davis

I hope we don't lose:

Darren O'Day.

If those guys are gone, we've got a decent group in Jones, Machado, Gausman and Wright (who I think will blossom into a strong pitcher). JJ is good on defense, but his bat vanished (hopefully his back heals up over the offseason).

But we still need, RF, at least 1 TOR SP, LF, 1B and 1 solid relief lefty other than Matusz.

That's what I meant.

MSK

[Nevermore]

Some of the reactions here are way over-the-top.

First of all, it isn't like Adam came out and unilaterally called a press conference or issued a written statement or posted a series of tweets to get this out in front of the public. He almost certainly was responding to questions about his feelings about the upcoming offseason, which he knows as well as any of us is absolutely critical to the Orioles future. There's certainly no reason to believe this was a calculated move to "go public" with these sentiments.

And beyond that, what he actually said isn't particularly major. Make sure to parse between the actual words Adam said and the interpretation/spin of the writer and the posters who've commented on it. Here are Adam's actual statements:

• "I want this team, from Day One of spring training, to not just talk about competing like everybody else --- all 30 teams do that at the beginning of it --- but actually have the team to be able to go out on the field and get the job done.''
• "It's going to be a different offseason because a lot of the core is now in situations where they can do things differently. I want to make sure that, hopefully, I can persuade or say anything to keep this team intact, and if (that's not possible), go get guys who have similar attributes and pedigrees."
• "I think after the season, I'll let things die down a little, get away from the game and then go have a meeting --- talk to Peter, go talk to Buck, go talk to Dan and see what direction we're going next year."
• "As you get older, you want to win. I may want to play until I'm 40, but every day you get older, so you want to win and win and win. You see why Torii (Hunter) is still playing. You want to win."

So, to sum up Adam's general position:

1. He wants to win

2. He wants us to put a good team on the field

3. He would like to see us keep the core of this team together

4. However, if we can't keep that core together, he wants us to try to get players with similar talents/accomplishments

...what on earth is the big deal with any of that? There's no suggestion that he's going to try to hijack personnel power. There's no mention of him dictating terms to the FO. There's no grandstanding for big bucks to be laid out or for certain players/positions to be addressed to Adam's satisfaction. In fact, it's clear that he wants to meet with Buck, Dan, and Peter because he recognizes they're the ones who call the shots. His words are not only respectful of their authority and decisionmaking power but actually almost deferential.

And I don't see anything wrong with the idea that he would want to meet with the FO higher-ups to discuss the direction of the team. He's the highest-paid player, the longest-tenured player, the public "face" of the organization, and most importantly the unquestioned leader of the clubhouse.

There's absolutely no doubt that the players were disappointed to see popular, productive teammates like Markakis, Cruz, and Miller walk in FA last season --- I think there's probably also no doubt that some of that disappointment and frustration festered as they watched each of those guys have good seasons elsewhere while their replacements here struggled. If that affected the atmosphere, mood, and confidence of the players in the clubhouse, it's unquestionably relevant to the FO's decisionmaking. For example, could some of that clubhouse hangover from the disappointing offseason have contributed to the team's record underperforming its run differential/Pythag this season after having pretty consistently overachieved in past seasons?

This offseason could have a similar or even greater impact on the roster and on the clubhouse. Why wouldn't you want the guy who functions as the "voice" of the other players to be heard --- before you've made your final decisions?

I absolutely agree. I couldn't have said it better. Adam not only represents the voice of the others on his team, he represents the voice of those fans (such as myself) who were sorely disappointed with the FO's non-action this past offseason and the effect that it had on this year's performance.

[weams]

I absolutely agree. I couldn't have said it better. Adam not only represents the voice of the others on his team, he represents the voice of those fans (such as myself) who were sorely disappointed with the FO's non-action this past offseason and the effect that it had on this year's performance.

I appreciate that he knows who to talk to about the reason that last off season was as it was. The guy who set the payroll limit.

[Nevermore]

They'd probably have to spend over $200 million on two contracts this offseason to keep the team intact. What concerns me about Adam's well-meaning desire to meet with the brass is: They're NOT going to do what he's suggesting, or anything even close, most likely.

So if he's going in to voice his opinions, with no expectations - fine. But if he goes in demanding we sign $100 million player(s) left and right... and then we don't do that (which we won't)... and he's left disappointed and feeling "unheard"... then 2016 could get even uglier than it's already shaping up to be.

Then maybe the FO needs to listen and do things differently. I'm not saying that the FO should sign every single $100 million player available. But the FO cannot do like last year and do very little other than sign a bunch of cheap players and then end up DFAing most of them, ending up with a bunch of dead money that the team needed to spend -- money that could have been used to sign one or two quality players such as Nelson Cruz.

[Nevermore]

I appreciate that he knows who to talk to about the reason that last off season was as it was. The guy who set the payroll limit.

Did PA actually set a payroll limit as cheap as it was last year? Was it PA who decided that Nelson Cruz was too expensive? My understanding is that DD made a baseball-based decision to not resign Nelson Cruz because of his age.

[weams]

Then maybe the FO needs to listen and do things differently. I'm not saying that the FO should sign every single $100 million player available. But the FO cannot do like last year and do very little other than sign a bunch of cheap players and then end up DFAing most of them, ending up with a bunch of dead money that the team needed to spend -- money that could have been used to sign one or two quality players such as Nelson Cruz.

Nine million in dead money. Most other teams have much more than that. Nine million out of a 120 million dollar payroll. The real deal was that the team chose not to tie up 105 million on those two players.

[Nevermore]

Let me say that I was at Tuesday night's game. And as I was riding the Light Rail home with one of my fan acquaintences: he told me that, if the FO fails to resign Chris Davis, there will be a fan rebellion as no one has seen before. I don't know about a "rebellion" but we may go back to the days when OPACY's attendance was very sparse, as it was before the past few years.

Myself, I have mixed feelings about resigning CD. There are some valid reasons to let him go and sign someone else who can truly take his place on the field. But I'm afraid that the FO will let CD walk and do very little, if anything, to replace him. As a fan, I'd really like to see CD return.

[Nevermore]

Nine million in dead money. Most other teams have much more than that. Nine million out of a 120 million dollar payroll. The real deal was that the team chose not to tie up 105 million on those two players.

Most teams didn't have the needs that the Orioles had. And we can see the results of the FO's deciding not to "tie up" their money. The Orioles and their fans will likely spend the Post Season watching the games on TV.