Andrew Stetka: Adam Jones' heart is in the right place

When I read last week that Adam Jones wanted to meet with Peter Angelos, Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter during the offseason to discuss the team's plans for re-signing players and making trades, I honestly thought it was an old link. It was the same story last offseason when Jones wanted to discuss the team's mindset following an American League East crown. Now that the dream of a repeat has gone out the window, have any of the plans changed?

Jones doesn't want to see a mass exodus like the team endured last year. The departures of Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Andrew Miller are pointed to most by fans and experts alike as the main reasons the Orioles haven't been as successful this year as last. Jones knows this as well, so he's putting it out there to the Baltimore Sun that he wants a say on things. But even Jones knows that there are limits to what the Orioles can or will do. He realizes that they are a mid-market team and won't spend the money that the Yankees or Dodgers do on players. Jones also recognizes that it takes two to tango. Some players won't want to come to Baltimore for a variety of reasons. Jones has a desire to keep this team mostly intact, but it's a desire that will be mostly ignored.

This is something that has to be clear to the All-Star centerfielder, is it not? I feel as if the majority of the fanbase knows that Matt Wieters, Wei-Yin Chen and Chris Davis are just this year's version of Markakis, Cruz and Miller. Perhaps there's a slim chance the O's bring one of those players back, but Jones has to know the percentages. The Orioles don't spend top dollar on players, something that all three of the "big" pending free agents are going to garner. I haven't been able to find any reasonable Orioles fan who believes any of the three will be back in orange and black next season.

I respect Jones for speaking out and wanting something to change. I can't understand anyone who wouldn't enjoy seeing a player step up and take some responsibility for what's going on with his team. There's something about Jones that makes it especially heartfelt. He's a guy that has proven to be the true leader of this team during his tenure. While other players like Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis played large leadership roles during their time in Baltimore, Jones has taken it to a different level. He's the only player that would collect the ear of management, even if his words fall on deaf ears.

There's just something about Jones' desire to have his voice heard that makes me chuckle to myself. As I said, the respect for Jones' efforts is there, but I find it comical that anyone believes they can change the mind of management. That's something the franchise hasn't seen in years. Not since the mid-90s has the team gone out and spent on free agents, and it backfired when they did it then. It even appeared to have backfired when they did it a few years ago with Ubaldo Jimenez. About 80 percent of the Orioles fanbase realizes how silly it is to dream of the Orioles going out and signing players like David Price or Yoenis Cespedes this offseason. That thought is about as farfetched as the idea of bringing back all of the team's current pending free agents.

Jones isn't offering any kind of threat or ultimatum to the team. In fact, he indicated to The Sun that he'd be open to tacking on years at the end of his current deal in order to stay in Baltimore for the rest of his career. That's not a surprise, as he's made Baltimore a home. He might be a San Diego boy at heart, but he's embraced Baltimore. Now it's time to see if Baltimore embraces some pieces to put around him in an effort to bring No. 10 a championship.

Andrew Stetka blogs about the Orioles for Eutaw Street Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AStetka. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.