Adam Jones Explains Why He Vetoed a Phillies Trade to Stay With the Orioles

The long-time Orioles outfielder discussed his decision to stay in Baltimore

Five-time All-Star Adam Jones elected to exercise his no-trade clause after the Orioles came to a deal to ship Jones to Philadelphia, using his 10-5 rights.

Those rights are given to all players with 10 or more years of MLB experience, and five-plus with their current team. After being in Baltimore for the past 12 seasons, Jones chose to stay home and not play for a contender like Philadelphia in August and September.

"It's my decision, it's my life," Jones told the media following Baltimore's loss to the Yankees on Tuesday night. "I'm not going around telling other people and dictating other people's lives. What do they do that to us? So, no one's going to tell me what do do. I earned every single bit of it. People before me fought vigorously to get rights like this, and I can invoke them.  

Baltimore sports the worst record in MLB with two months remaining in the season, sitting at 32-75. Jones – who will be a free agent this offseason – is hitting .286 on the year with 11 homers and 44 RBI.