Dan talking "offers and physicals" with a RF target

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, wildcard said:

No the solution is to give him more days off and Adam said that late last year.

Adam says lots of things.

 

[TonySoprano]

2 hours ago, weams said:

 

Heyman shilling for Boras...as usual.

[tntoriole]

16 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

So, you’re denying the metrics and what most people acknowledge by watching him? Buck’s opinion aside....I don’t have a reasonable expectation Jones improves on defense at this stage of his career.

Not denying anything.  I like Hays, though he is unproven in the major leagues. He could certainly end up being in centerfield at some point.  But Buck, of course, has to manage actual people, not metrics.  Do you think he is wrong to not insist on just moving Jones to right and playing Hays in center because the metrics may say that is what he should do?  Or maybe Buck has a better understanding of metrics than I do.  I do not.  Because this team has more problems without getting into an unnecessary and aggravated contest of wills with Adam Jones.  If Buck feels differently and convinces Jones that he wants to play right, then it becomes a different equation.   I would just as soon play Hays in right, not sign another outfielder and try to find somebody to pitch. 

[wildcard]

Jones appeared in 147 games and batted .285/.322/.466 with 28 doubles, 26 home runs and 73 RBIs. He’s 32 years old and his body could use more rest if he’s willing to take it.

“I mean, that’s 100 percent right,” he said. “It’s not easy, though. There’s days when you come in and, ‘I’m a little banged up. Can I get a day?’ But then you show up at the park and there’s an adrenaline rush and you’re just like, ‘I want to play.’ I still get that. At six o’clock, I still want to play. The body doesn’t necessarily feel that way.

“It’s a mindset. I’m a firm believer that I don’t have to play 162 games anymore. Cal Ripken did that stuff. I did it once as a center fielder. I don’t necessarily regret it, but it wasn’t the smartest decision. Everybody on our team, we post up. That’s the style that we play with. It’s the style that Buck has implemented in us is to show up and play, but we need days off. We need more blows. Once it starts to get hot, June days, we need a blow. We don’t need a rest the first 50 games of the season. We’re riding the adrenaline because of the new season and all that.

“There’s times when we’re dragging tails and we need a day off. Everybody wants to go into data. It’s proven data that when people get a day off, the next four or five days they generally have pretty good games. It’s not easy and you want to get guys off here and off there. Sometimes, the schedule doesn’t necessarily permit it. The pitching doesn’t necessarily permit it. You want to have certain lineups for certain guys. I’m glad that’s not my job.

“Going forward for myself, a day off here and there. No DH days this year. I’m being mature about it. But it’s a matter of keeping them fresh, keeping the horses fresh, keeping them in the stable. This offseason, hoping going into next spring training, formulate a good plan to keep the guys fresh. Not just me, but Manny, Schoop and Mancini and (Mark) Trumbo. Trumbo gets to DH a lot.”

Jones doesn’t consider 2017 to be the biggest grind of his career.

“I think 2012 was a toll in its own, especially that September,” he said. “We were fighting for that second wild card spot and I didn’t take any days off that whole year, so I think after that year I was exhausted physically and mentally. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned how to adapt to the physical and mental part of it. I’m drained. I think each year you just drain yourself. And I think when you drain you’re sticking your nose into the mud and seeing what this game presents.

“Every day I come out trying to win and do something trying to help my team win. Am I going to get the hit that day? I don’t know. Am I going to make a play that day? I don’t know, but I’m going to try to do something to help my team win. That’s what I try to tell young players throughout the game. You can go 0-for-4, but you hit the cutoff man, you threw behind the right runner, you did the small things to win. That’s where I’m at right now.

“We need to rest. Playing 162 is great. I see all the tweets when I don’t play. Fans, ‘I traveled this far, and you didn’t play.’ But, I need to take care of my body most important, and at the end of the day who’s going to take care of it besides myself? I don’t need to have doctors do it.”

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2017/09/adam-jones-on-his-season-his-future-and-the-clubs-needs.html

 

•  

[Can_of_corn]

Yea, sure.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Of course if the team is out of it early I think more days off will happen.

[theobird]

I would love to hear Adam Jones talk about how he would feel if the team aquired an elite defensive CFer and he was asked to move over to RF. I have a feeling he would be ok with it. Right now I think he thinks he is the best CFer on the roster, and he might be right about that. It would be very interesting to me to hear directly from Adam how he would feel about that.

[Il BuonO]

20 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

Not denying anything.  I like Hays, though he is unproven in the major leagues. He could certainly end up being in centerfield at some point.  But Buck, of course, has to manage actual people, not metrics.  Do you think he is wrong to not insist on just moving Jones to right and playing Hays in center because the metrics may say that is what he should do?  Or maybe Buck has a better understanding of metrics than I do.  I do not.  Because this team has more problems without getting into an unnecessary and aggravated contest of wills with Adam Jones.  If Buck feels differently and convinces Jones that he wants to play right, then it becomes a different equation.  

No, I said by simply watching his play there also. And I’d argue Buck coddles his veterans as opposed to managing them. I think he’s a fine manager, but he has a blind spot when it comes to vets.

[Il BuonO]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

To tell you the truth I don't remember but I than watch him play well when he is not hurt and I have seem him grind  it out when he is hurt.  The injuries hurt his range and the stats don't have a  note saying he was injured at the time.

Meh, he shouldn’t play injured. Also, I was encouraged when he decided to play deeper last year, seeing the positive result Fowler had making the same move, but it didn’t help like I thought it would.

[Il BuonO]

35 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Yea, sure.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Of course if the team is out of it early I think more days off will happen.

Like he said, it’s been instilled that they “post up”.

[tntoriole]

55 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

No, I said by simply watching his play there also. And I’d argue Buck coddles his veterans as opposed to managing them. I think he’s a fine manager, but he has a blind spot when it comes to vets.

What you call “blind spot”, Buck would likely call a relationship.  There is a zone somewhere between just plugging in stats and totally ignoring them.  Good managers find that balance each season in creating a team out of a bunch of metrics.  I do value experience only up to a point but, yes,  have less confidence for better results in 2018 by turning over the key leadership position in the outfield to someone who has all of  8 games in centerfield in the majors and 60 at bats while moving Adam to a position he has played a total of 6 games when he was 21.  But that is just me.  

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Mostly because he plays injured.

Mostly because he has below average speed for a CF at this stage of his career.   

[wildcard]

25 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Mostly because he has below average speed for a CF at this stage of his career.   

Should be interesting to watch Adam and Mullins in ST.  Mullins speed is rated at 60.

[theobird]

Mullins made a great impression on Buck last year during spring training. My loftiest dream is that Cedrick will knock down the door this spring training. Mullins can play CF at a high level. An outfield of Hays, Mullins and Jones left to right is very exciting to me. It does not appear that the Orioles will be able to get the better pitchers available into an Orioles uniform. imo, that means a premium needs to be placed on defense. That outfield will help the pitching staff, and so will not having Castillo behind the plate. And yes, I said that before last season so go ahead and look it up.

 Obviously, this team will still need to produce offensively. But I think the offense would be just fine with that alignment. Find a way to move Trumbo and put Mancini at DH. They should trade Manny, but it does not look like that will happen. Manny, Beckham, Schoop, Mancini, Jones, Hays and Davis is plenty of power. Having some speed in the lineup will help, imo.

[Babypowder]

20 hours ago, theobird said:

It just makes too much sense to me. I am a big Jones fan, I love the guy. But at this stage of his career, imo he is a prototype RFer. I think he would rank among the games best RFer's on day one. Cannon arm, excellent range for RF. Less stress on his body. Could keep our team leader around for several more years and be a very productive member of the team in RF.

I assume you mean defensively? He would be very average offensively in RF. He projects for a 105 wRC+ in 2018. That would have been 13th out of 24 qualified RFers in 2017.

Also, while I expect he would be a solid defensive right fielder, I don't expect it is a foregone conclusion he would be among the best. Adam's slowed down quite a bit. His 27.4 ft/second sprint speed is right at the average for right fielders (27.3).

[Babypowder]

16 hours ago, Frobby said:

Mostly because he has below average speed for a CF at this stage of his career.   

Below average is being kind. His Statcast sprint speed was the slowest among center fielders with enough innings to qualify in 2017.