It's refreshing for a young player to want to take a leadership role. Maybe this is indicative of a high level of commitment to the O's.

AJ is a beast...

Not 100% sold on AdamJones yet. He had one good half last year at the plate. Second half he stunk it up. Defense is good, but not sure yet about his hitting.

But he is still pleny young to keep getting better, Only two seasons, so he is far from his total potential

I still think he can be great, but I am not ready to pronounce him King Jones.

There use to be a wayne impostor. Now there's even someone trying to be me, and all I'm doing is honoring the dude. Cant get funnier than that. There's actually an impostor of the impostor who's honoring the original.

Anyway:

It is absolutely amazing to see even the positive posters being negative towards AJ. Hey guys!!! This is one of Andy's crown jewels. This is one of the TOP pieces of his grand Plan.

When you dis AJ, you're spitting all over good ole Andy. Now you don't wanna be doing that now, do ya?

Sorry wayne, I actually had to defend AM for you. Just this one time though. Promise!

As i said in my response to your article. It's great to finally have someone(anyone) want to take charge and hold players responsible. And if the vets, including poor little"B-Rob" get their feelings hurt too damn bad.

i love what mr. jones wants to do. great to have a vocal guy step up like that. more power to you adam!

What, no Koji update today?

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: He'll throw again tomorrow. I'll see what I can do.

My reccomendation to Adam Jones would be for him to keep his mouth shut and put a full productive year in on the field before he tries to take over as a field general. His defensive play is lackadaisical at times, and he lacks discipline at the plate. Once he becomes a leader on the field he will be able to garner the respect he that goes with the leadership mantle. He is not even close yet.

Pete i know your job down there in spring training is to report on the orioles. I have watched your blog the last 4 days and it seems like you have fallen in love with Mr jones as you so fondly call him. He better produce on this team before he can be any leader on this club.I admit that the personalities on this team don't lend for roberts or nick to take over that role, but seriiously how does Mr jones deserve that role after being nothing but average since he has been here. I am trying my best tostay calm but it's very hard when its very clear that he his your pet project for the spring.

.............................................................................................
Pete's reply: I haven't fallen in love with anyone. Our relationship is completely platonic.

It's refreshing for a young player to want to take a leadership role. Maybe this is indicative of a high level of commitment to the O's.

Posted by: Guru76
~~~~~~~~~

Or maybe he has no more commitment than a Markakis or a Riimold but is more outgoing and is more naturally suited to be a leader??

Anon honors wayne...

you need to a life (wayne)

no one cares about your love affair with your ego!!

I admit that the personalities on this team don't lend for roberts or nick to take over that role, but seriiously how does Mr jones deserve that role after being nothing but average since he has been here. I am trying my best tostay calm but it's very hard when its very clear that he his your pet project for the spring.

Posted by: blancione
~~~~~~~~

You admit there is a personality driven vacuum so why do you object to Jones filling it? It has nothing to do with "deserving" it. He is the one to stand up and take on the role. So you see how he wears that hat and you see how the team accepts it. You cant just go to guys like Markakis and force him to be the leader, it has to come naturally. If it comes naturally to Jones, so be it. And Peter is hardly the first or only guy to suggest that Adam has leadership potential or that he seems to relish that mantle. So why do you assume it is a pet project that Peter is forcing as opposed to straight reporting of what he sees, since others have in the past commented on the same situation? Further, you might think about Peter's job as blogger/columnist. If he has a choice between writing about milquetoast personalities or a guy who is exuberant and free with quotes and full of personality . . . which one would be your favorite to interact with and write about? Once you get past the dry reporting of facts to personality pieces, it helps if the subject has a personality.

Lucky i won't totally disagree with everything you said, however in order to be a team leader you need to have accomplished something and not just be lip service. Adam jones regardless of what ever anybody say's hasn't reach that point yet. When a team goes 12 years without winning people have a tendency to over rate there on players just to give them something positive to cheer for. Adam Jones has a very long way to go yet my friend.

Lucky Horseshoe has been gone for a while but he still thinks he knows it all

Lucky Horshoe, it may be that Adam Jones does possess some of the qualities that go into making him a field leader. I have not been around him and Pete has so I will respect the opinion of a senior journalist who has fraternized with hundreds of professional baseball palyers in his career. I just think it is a high risk scenario for a young player who has flaws to overcome in his own game to also try to take the team attitiude on his back. I would raher see him quietly lead by example and one day become another Frank Robinson. If he struggles and also gets on his teammates it could be percieved a arrogance not leadership. I played and coached enough baseball to watch players with a very high opinion of themselves create a lot of tension on the team by openly criticizing teammates while they themselves did not produce in the clutch.

Peter,
i support Jonesy in taking the role, but the coffee incident with Hill sounds lame on AJ's part--a red flag. It was during ST--give it a break.
A leader needs to know when to shut up, too.

Personally, i would rather see Weiters step up to leadership. Comments?

All you people sitting with your computer...probably never played a sport a day in your life...never been around professional athletes. Let these kids play. Now yes he has faults and yes, he's not Barry Bonds yet...but he's young.

See since most of you dummies never played a sport a day in your life you need to realize... young players can come into an organization and bring winning ways... these young guys are sick of losing...and want to win...want to be a factor.. I applaud the fact he wants to lead. He's got the goods..he needs to back them up with his play....

Guru, you just made my point from a previous thread. People post serious arguments and then you come on and call them dummies and insult their athletic backgrounds You made a serious miscalculation about my athletic experience, particularly baseball, and several others who posted here. You and your multiple screen names are a cancer on this blog and you need to stick to your teenage facebook postings. It doesn't fit in here.

Tony you are 100% right with your post. These young kids that come on here and tell people that they never played a sport in there life couldn't hold my jock when it came to playing sports. They all think they know everything .

guru used to post under the name bill

blancione I used to post a lot but my job changed and I was on the road a lot until just recently. When I got back on the blog I didn't recognize the landscape. You and Shamrock were the only names I knew. I used to enjoy the days when you would give pete heartburn bot you two kept it respectful. I didn't even get on last weekend the because the rhetoric and hate was just awful. I hope we can get some of the gang back again that I used to talk to. we never called each other names no matter how heated the discussions got. I even got into it with Wayne a couple years ago but we both came away with a better appreciation of each other. I see he is gone too. Maybe if we keep talking baseball these young kids will go back to facebook and leave us alone.

Nice post tony,

They won't go away and it is too bad. Before wayne went away, he practically begged for Pete to change the way people signed in, making it tougher for impostors, but to no avail.

Jason started the nonsense when he tried to make a point that people were using different names. The only problem is, he made it much worse than it ever was. Even when people used to use different names, it was ok because it was still good banter, mostly about baseball.

The blog has been ruined now, and I can't see it coming back until the losers go somewhere else.

When you think about it tony, how unbelievably pathetic it is that people sit on these blogs with the simple minded intent on ruining the blog.

Too bad!

biancione

"how does Mr jones deserve that role after being nothing but average since he has been here."

You're off on your stats again. An average hitter last year in the AL hit about 264 with a 425 sl%. Jones hit 277 with a 457 sl%. Keep at it though. One of these days you're going to get something right.

Well me and Wayne would never act like this...were only about baseball.

but if you all want to act like that its cool if thats who you are!

Your fault Pete!

You're listening to colleagues who tell you that the blog will straighten itself out. Well it's not working.

Your loyal peeps are gone. Gil's gone, not brooks is gone, wayne is gone, Chris is gone, and so many other have stayed away as well.

By not tweaking your blog entry, you have allowed one or two pieces of slime to take over. They have zero to offer accept to come on pretending to be someone else.

Too bad Pete - You use to have a great blog!

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: I'm sorry, but the software does not allow me to set up a screening program to keep people out who make up new screen names. Isn't just about every screen name here made up? I don't like this at all, but there's no way I can stop someone from calling himself "Wayne" if he or she wants to, and I certainly don't have time to sit here all day and check the e-mail addresses to make sure the first person who used a certain name is the only one who can use it. I suspect it will correct itself unless this has become the homepage for morons who think it's entertaining to argue incessantly over who is the real Wayne or Jason or whoever. I agree that it was better when everyone was bantering about baseball and showing some restraint as far as the personal stuff, but it was the original angry people who started this ball rolling downhill.

Lucky i won't totally disagree with everything you said, however in order to be a team leader you need to have accomplished something and not just be lip service. Adam jones regardless of what ever anybody say's hasn't reach that point yet. When a team goes 12 years without winning people have a tendency to over rate there on players just to give them something positive to cheer for. Adam Jones has a very long way to go yet my friend.
Posted by: blancione
~~~~~~~~~~~

First, please do not mistake civillity for friendship. Your need to resort to threats of physical violence and inability to live up to your word are packed away, not forgotten.

A team needs a leader. Perhaps it is not ideal to have a young unproven star in the making be that leader. Perhaps he will be ineffective in the role. Perhaps it will stifle his progress as Tony suggests. But I repeat, this team has a leadership vacuum so I say forget about what might be the "perfect" leadership scenario. Just be happy that someone is willing to step up and try. Also to Tony's point, asking an exuberant kid like Jones to be a quiet leader by example is as much a case of asking the leopard to change his spots as it would be to ask Markakis to be a vocal rah rah type of leader. They dont have to meet some preconceived mold or fan's concept of the ideal way to be a leader, they just have to be effective and that is difficult if not impossible to predict. Millar didnt fit the mold of a leader, more of a class clown but he was effective as a leader on both a world series team and to a less obvious effect, a last place team.

Lucky Horseshoe has been gone for a while but he still thinks he knows it all
Posted by: SHAMROCK
~~~~~~~~~

I am somewhat creeped out by your admission that you missed me. I have not been gone, merely at a loss to find anything in the recent comments to this blog that moved me to comment. I hardly think I know everything but comparing my posts with yours, I am certain that I could be forgiven if I HAD come to that conclusion.

Lucky-

That wasn't me. I write things that make sense and don't start middle school crap with people on the blog. I barely read anything people wrote above.

And why is blancione on here anyway? I thought he was on vigil outside of PA's Farm in Sparks to support an end to Dave Trembly or something. did he get an aircard for his laptop?

lucky,

shamrock would never post under false names. I swear to it. No way. No how.

people accuse me of being shamrock too because i defend him all the time, but its just cause i understand where hes coming from. im not him. i just borrowed his comp a couple of times and people run with it

I like the way "they" wrote "lucky" differently.

1 capitalized it and 1 did it differently. they also used different punctuation. nice touch to make it look authentic.its my opinion that tony and shamrock are the same person trying to appear as different posters. i think lucky horseshoe also recognizes this and is understandably irritated

dont worry LH, your plight is recognized by the av blog reader. carry on my friend

Unfortunately it has become necessary to just respond to the post and not infer anything of the poster Thus far, I think to the best of my knowledge I am responsible for everything posted above my name but I suppose with this exchange that will now end. Oh well. I am trying to respond to each post without carrying any personal animus beyond. It is unfortunate that this blog has descended to its current state but I suppose eventually the Sun and/or Peter will defend its asset in whatever manner it sees fit. Presumably they will need to hold posts until approved or start blocking IP addresses which is a shame but I guess we all see the need for doing so.

FIRE MACPHAIL

Hey gang,

To much energy is being wasted by writing about who is this and who should not be writing that. The only thing I will say is whoever starts calling other people names...well just stop doing it...everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that is what makes a blog fun to read.

With that said, I think is is great that Jones wants to take on a leadership role and I wouldn't want to squash those fellings in him, but I do agree with others that he needs to play a full season without injury and still prove himself some that he can be a consistent force in the field and the plate. That is leadership by example right there.

Lucky,

The 10:10 post was not mine and someone posted several other pieces of tripe on another thread under my name. I think you are correct that eventually the "Sun" will figure out a way to block IP addresses or the remaining few people who want to talk baseball will also go away.

To your points about Jones personality not fitting a quiet leader, again, I don't know what kind of a personality he has, so I will defer to Pete. He doesn't appear that fiery or outgoing from the stands, so maybe it is something he does that is not for fan viewing and I am OK with that. Not every leader has to be a Larry Bowa or a Billy Martin ready to fight his teammates at the drop of the hat, so your theory is as good as anybody's. You are right about a leadership vaccuum on the team and if Jones can get them all to play harder I am all for it.

It's good that someone wants to take on a leadership role in the O's clubhouse. We've lacked that for a very long time. Hopefully AJ's confidence will rub off on the other players - particularly in August and September when so many players have seemingly packed it in. The AL East is not for the timid or weak - the players must believe that they can compete with the best. AJ believes that. AJ had a fair to good year last year but he is no where near his prime. I think he will eventually be a .300 BA/25 hr/100+ rbi guy to go along with many more Gold Gloves.

With all that being said, AJ must lead by his performance on the field, otherwise any influence in the clubhouse that has will quickly dissipate.

I am officially upgrading my 2010 prediction to 75 wins.

It is not so much that Adam Jones is declaring himself a leader. It is that some player is willing to put himself out there.

Jones, the player, still needs to tap into his enormous potential. That is not necessarily a given. Putting more on one's own plate can be anything -- beneficial, distracting or a complete non-factor. Jones, the player, is still somewhat an unknown despite some surrounding evidence.

However, Jones, the leader, could be up to the task. That would be an improvement. Okay, it's only a one-game improvement in my prediction but there is the other side of the coin.

Jones may not be looked upon by others as their lightning rod. Then what?

In my experience, someone else then stands up and becomes the de facto leader. That can even be a surprise.

The fact this team with all of its unknowns has someone who wants to be a leader -- rather than hired to be one like Kevin Millar, which wasn't that bad on a bad team -- is a genuine step forward.

It is an intangible that can have tangible results.