A Few Questions About Some Former Orioles

[VaBird1]

5 hours ago, ChipTait said:

Jones finished the season with a .732 OPS, which ranked him 42nd amongst MLB outfielders.  Theoretically, there are 90 MLB outfield jobs available  He was also the unofficial “team captain.”  Adam will get a multi-year MLB contract, but I won’t bore you with my guess as to his compensation.

League avg in the AL was .733, NL was .721.  He can have a job if he wants one.

[Larry18]

I could see Adam ending up with the Giants, an aging team with a poor farm system and way too many long term commitments to no longer productive players.

 

As always my comments about the Giants are merely my opinion. Your results may vary. 

 

[wildbillhiccup]

1 hour ago, Larry18 said:

I could see Adam ending up with the Giants, an aging team with a poor farm system and way too many long term commitments to no longer productive players.

 

As always my comments about the Giants are merely my opinion. Your results may vary. 

 

Maybe last season, but I think they probably fulfilled their aging veteran fetish with the McCutchen trade last off season. I think Adam would most certainly be interested in playing for any of the California based teams though since he still spends his off seasons there. I guess it really depends on how much he values winning versus playing close to home. 

[wildbillhiccup]

11 hours ago, drjohnnyfeva said:

A more likely scenario is he and Kakes come together again in Atlanta as rotational backup guys allowing some of their younger guys more playing time.  There's nothing wrong with being a backup and rotational guy or a guy who can takeover in case of injury.  I'd have him in a situation like that.  He's not going overseas or to any lesser league.

I wouldn't say that's a realistic outcome at all. Jones will be a starting corner outfielder on some team, but it won't be the Braves. The only reason they're considering resigning Markakis is because he's familiar with the team and for his veteran leadership. They don't need another player like Jones to fill that role. 

[webbrick2010]

3 hours ago, VaBird1 said:

League avg in the AL was .733, NL was .721.  He can have a job if he wants one. 

That's fine except he can't play the OF anymore. Where did he rank defensively?

[wildbillhiccup]

17 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

That's fine except he can't play the OF anymore. Where did he rank defensively?

That's simply not true and you can't judge him by last year's defensive numbers because no team is going to play him in center field. I think Jones can at least be a league average defender in right or left field. Add to that solid, albeit no spectacular offensive numbers and veteran leadership and someone will sign him. 

[Redskins Rick]

7 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

That's simply not true and you can't judge him by last year's defensive numbers because no team is going to play him in center field. I think Jones can at least be a league average defender in right or left field. Add to that solid, albeit no spectacular offensive numbers and veteran leadership and someone will sign him. 

You cant use logic to dispute things with Web.

I agree with you.

I dont see a 4 year deal or big money, but somebody will likely take him on a 2 year COF deal.

[Frobby]

15 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

That's simply not true and you can't judge him by last year's defensive numbers because no team is going to play him in center field. I think Jones can at least be a league average defender in right or left field. Add to that solid, albeit no spectacular offensive numbers and veteran leadership and someone will sign him. 

I think it remains to be seen how good he’d be in a corner OF spot. Rtot, Rdrs and UZR all ranked him substantially below average in RF.   I’ll cut him some slack because he moved there 2/3 of the way through the season after playing CF exclusively for a decade.    But his foot speed is below average now and there’s no assurance that he’ll be average or better defensively in a corner spot based on the available evidence.  

[Ohfan67]

10 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think it remains to be seen how good he’d be in a corner OF spot. Rtot, Rdrs and UZR all ranked him substantially below average in RF.   I’ll cut him some slack because he moved there 2/3 of the way through the season after playing CF exclusively for a decade.    But his foot speed is below average now and there’s no assurance that he’ll be average or better defensively in a corner spot based on the available evidence.  

I think he needs to lose some weight and work hard on sprint speed in the offseason. I was struck by how big he has gotten in several of his postgame interviews. Not fat, but bigger. His rapid reduction in foot speed is a bit shocking. 

[wildbillhiccup]

14 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think it remains to be seen how good he’d be in a corner OF spot. Rtot, Rdrs and UZR all ranked him substantially below average in RF.   I’ll cut him some slack because he moved there 2/3 of the way through the season after playing CF exclusively for a decade.    But his foot speed is below average now and there’s no assurance that he’ll be average or better defensively in a corner spot based on the available evidence.  

How many games has he played in RF? 30ish? That's not enough of a sample size to evaluate anything. He'll be fine in RF or LF. Less ground to cover and he still has good instincts. 

[Redskins Rick]

4 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

How many games has he played in RF? 30ish? That's not enough of a sample size to evaluate anything. He'll be fine in RF or LF. Less ground to cover and he still has good instincts. 

He has to be better than Trumbo, Mancini or Cruz.

[Frobby]

7 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

He has to be better than Trumbo, Mancini or Cruz.

That’s not the test, though.   

[Matt Bennett]

2 hours ago, Ohfan67 said:I think he needs to lose some weight and work hard on sprint speed in the offseason. I was struck by how big he has gotten in several of his postgame interviews. Not fat, but bigger. His rapid reduction in foot speed is a bit shocking. 

I didn’t really notice this until looking back at 2012 highlights. He really has thickened up. 

We should all keep in mind that Jones produced a 0.2 WAR last season. Part of that low number is because he obviously isn’t a center fielder anymore. But teams will be cautious handing out multi-year deals to 33 year olds who have become noticeably slower and visually heavier than just a couple years ago. There was a drastic reduction in power in 2018. Just a slight batting average regression and that OBP will dip below .300. Which is significant for somebody who won’t add value on defense, on the basepaths, or in the power department. 

I’m actually for re-signing Jones to a 1 year deal with some kind of option for a 2nd. ALOT would have to go right in order for Jones to block our prospect’s path to playing time on a contract like that. None of Stewart, Diaz, McKenna, Hays deserve to start 2019 in the majors. The latter 3 didn’t hit well at all at Bowie and need to spend AT LEAST another year in the minors. Stewart may deserve a promotion mid-season should he perform well at Norfolk but Trumbo will be on the way out at that time and a spot will open up. 

Some constant might be valuable in the clubhouse in a year where the roster will be stripped of any veteran presence once again. The likes of Cobb, Cashner, Trumbo, Givens, Bleier, Villar, Beckham, could all be gone by September. 

[Ohfan67]

20 minutes ago, Matt Bennett said:

None of Stewart, Diaz, McKenna, Hays deserve to start 2019 in the majors.

Stewart looked very good in his limited audition with the Orioles. I think Jones' days as an Oriole are done. You could find much better defenders for the same or less money than Jones will get in '19. I think the Orioles will sign a fourth outfielder type and let Stewart and maybe even Hays try to win a position. 

[Frobby]

23 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

How many games has he played in RF? 30ish? That's not enough of a sample size to evaluate anything. He'll be fine in RF or LF. Less ground to cover and he still has good instincts. 

I think I was pretty clear that Jones should be cut some slack for his initial numbers in RF.    But there’s no affirmative evidence that he’ll be good out there based on the limited data available, so we’ll have to see.