Jones named Orioles' Heart & Hustle winner

BALTIMORE -- When you think of Adam Jones, you think of the Orioles. And the 32-year-old has never had his veteran leadership and grit tested more than a tumultuous 2018 season that has the O's in last place and starting a rebuild.
It would be easy to let his effort slide. But that wouldn't be Jones' style.
"Richly deserved," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said, after being informed that Jones is the O's Heart and Hustle Award winner. "Hard to do what Adam does.
"I know that Adam's not worried about getting participation awards. He's not getting a ribbon for being on the team. He wants to win. This has been tough on him. He may not wear it on his sleeve, but it's been tough on him."
Jones, a pending free agent, has 10-and-5 rights and would need to approve any potential trade this season. There's been rumored interest by the Indians, but nothing close enough to warrant asking Jones for permission yet.
The longtime Oriole, acquired in a 2008 trade from Seattle, entered Tuesday's game batting .277 with 10 homers and a team-leading 37 RBIs.

Even if the O's were able to trade Jones and shed some salary the last two months of the season, there's still a lot of optimism that he will be re-signed this winter.
"I think when the smoke clears from a lot of the [trade] stuff that's going on, we'll be able to look at these things more down the road," said Showalter, whose contract is also up at the end of the year. "I think Dan [Duquette] and his group upstairs are really about, 'OK, let's get the best players possible for this guy or that guy,' And when it all clears, [you can] kind of see where you are."