The Philadelphia Phillies wanted to acquire outfielder Adam Jones from the Baltimore Orioles, who have offloaded their most talented players all month as they careen toward one of the worst records in modern baseball history.
But Jones said, “No thank you.”
Jones exercised full no-trade rights granted to him by the collective bargaining agreement for being a 10-year MLB veteran with at least five years on his current team, called the “10-and-5 rights.”
In doing so, he vetoed a trade that would have sent him to a much more competitive team. The Phillies (59-48) lead the NL East by half a game.
But after the Orioles’ game Tuesday night — a 6-3 loss to the Yankees that pushed them to 32-75 — Jones told reporters he didn’t have to explain himself.
Jones on why he didn’t approve trade: “When players walked out years ago and walked the picket lines and did all that stuff, they did all that for reasons like right now. I earned this and it’s my decision. I don’t have to explain it to nobody. It’s my decision. Thank you.”
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) August 1, 2018
During spring training, Jones made clear it was important for him to win a World Series at some point in his career, even saying, “This is my career, this is not the fans’ career. This is my career, so I’m going to make the best decision for myself and going forward I want to win.”
That seemed to portend that he would not be an Oriole much longer, but times have changed. Jones even bought Cal Ripken Jr.’s mansion in Reisterstown, Maryland, in May.
The Orioles traded away superstar infielder Manny Machado, former All-Star second baseman Jonathan Schoop and pitchers Zach Britton, Brad Brach, Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day between the All-Star Game and the non-waiver trade deadline.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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