ST. PETERSBURG -- Orioles center fielder Adam Jones plans to meet with principal owner Peter Angelos this winter, though the longtime Oriole -- a free agent after 2018 -- said he will not lobby for a contract extension.
"I'm not going to advocate for anything. I just don't think you can go to the owner and say, 'Mr. Angelos, I would like this.' Nah, that doesn't work," said Jones, who joins several Orioles, including Manny Machado and Zach Britton, as pending free agents after the 2018 season. "Everybody would do that if it worked that way. I think the thing is [that] they know I'm here throughout next year. There's nothing I can do about that part, but beyond that, it's up to them."
While he is in Baltimore, Jones hopes to win. And he's optimistic that ownership, along with executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter, will get the pieces needed to make the team competitive next season.
"I would not be an advocate to rebuild and all that stuff. I'm only getting older. I want to win. I think you throw all your cards out there next year and see what you've got," Jones said. "Obviously, the All-Star break, the Trade Deadline and the waiver deadline are all significant dates to know where you're at and where you stand, where you can either buy more or sell off and officially rebuild, but I don't think you can mention that word -- rebuild -- to Buck or Dan and [have] them be too happy."
Asked what went wrong in 2017, Jones declined to point fingers in any particular area, noting that the team's offense and defense didn't seem to sync at the same time. He hopes for more continuity next year and is also advocating more rest days. Jones, who hasn't played on the team's final two-city, five-game road trip, has been dealing with leg issues that, given the team's elimination from the postseason, he is trying to be smart about.
"I'm a firm believer that I don't have to play 162 games anymore. Cal Ripken [Jr.] did that stuff. I did it once as a center fielder. I don't necessarily regret it, but it wasn't the smartest decision," he said. "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.
"This offseason, hoping going into next Spring Training, [we can] formulate a good plan to keep the guys fresh. Not just me, but Manny, [Jonathan] Schoop and [Trey] Mancini and [Mark] Trumbo."