Baltimore Orioles New Advisor 'Signed Off' on Team's Biggest Offseason Move

The Baltimore Orioles made some big headlines this week when it was announced by the team they were bringing back a franchise legend and former fan favorite in a new role.

As first reported by Roch Kubatko of MASN, five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner Adam Jones was hired by the Orioles as a special advisor to the general manager and a 'community ambassador' along with serving as guest instructor during spring training and an overall resource for the baseball operations department.

Jones himself expressed his excitement on his social media page upon the announcement and stated he wants to be used as a resource for the team he loved so much.

According to a post from Jake Rill from MLB.com, Jones was being used a resource long before being officially brought back into the organization.

General Manager Mike Elias revealed that Jones 'signed off' on what has been arguably the team's biggest acquisition this offseason so far in Japanese legend Tomoyuki Sugano, signing the right-hander to a one-year deal worth $13 million.

Jones, who played two seasons at the end of his career in 2020 and 2021 with the Orix Buffaloes of the NPB in Japan, faced off against Sugano several times and told Elias that he has the right stuff to pitch in Major League Baseball before Baltimore handed over the hefty deal.

Given Sugano is 35 years old already, he likely won't come over to America for an incredibly lengthy MLB career, but he absolutely has the capability to help the Orioles tremendously in 2025.

A bonafide legend in Japan, Sugano arrives to Baltimore coming off one of the most decorated careers in the history of the NPB. Winning two Sawamura Awards (Cy Young equivalent) and two Central League MVP awards along with a career 2.45 ERA in over 1,800 innings, Sugano has carved up batters for a long time in one of the most competitive leagues on the planet.

He will not necessarily come over and immediately be an ace, but at the very least Sugano is going to be a nice piece in the starting rotation for Baltimore and capable of giving the team a lot of good innings.

The fact Sugano has Jones' stamp of approval as well only serves as an added bonus.

Clearly, Jones is not being brought into the organization in name only and will be a factor in actual baseball decisions.

Time will tell how that strategy works out and whether or not Jones eventually takes on a bigger role.