Indians Keeping a Close Eye on Orioles CF Adam Jones as Trade Deadline Gets Closer

The Indians clearly need an outfielder, and one player who might come in handy as a short-term rental is that of Baltimore Orioles CF Adam Jones.

Jones is hitting .277 with 10 homers and 38 runs batted in for the Orioles, he’s played in 96 games with 393 at-bats for the last place O’s, who moved closer Zach Britton to the Yankees in a fire sale on Tuesday night.

Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports that the Indians are one of two teams very much in the running for Jones, with the other being the Philadelphia Phillies.

Jones, who turns 33 on Aug. 1, already has had an extraordinary career, including four Gold Glove Awards, three postseason appearances with the Orioles and a 2017 World Baseball Classic gold medal as the unofficial captain of Team USA. But he has yet to appear in a World Series game, reaching as far as the 2014 American League Championship Series.

Jones remains a league-average hitter by adjusted OPS. That level of production would bring much-needed improvement to the Indians, who rank 28th in the Majors with a .571 OPS in center field this year. And although defensive metrics rate Jones as a below-average center fielder this season, his performance should improve with better pre-pitch positioning on a more analytically inclined team.

Right now the Indians center field spot is mostly going between Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis, and Greg Allen has also played a number of games in center this season.

The team will continue to look closely at Jones, and there’s also been rumblings that the team is interested in Billy Hamilton, the speedster from the Cincinnati Reds.