Braves offered Jurrjens, Prado, and a prospect for Jones

Earlier this month, there was some speculation that the Braves had offered Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado to the Orioles for Adam Jones. If the O's were dangling Jones in a potential trade, that's hardly the type of package they should be seeking. Anyway, it seemed like just a rumor, or at least just an offer to gauge how highly the O's valued Jones.

But buried at the bottom of his latest piece, The Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly casually adds this note:

Adam Jones is the team’s best trade chip. But unless the Orioles get a front-line pitcher in return, I don’t see them dealing Jones. The Atlanta Braves made a run this month, offering second baseman-outfielder Martin Prado, starter Jair Jurrjens and, eventually, a pitching prospect, and the Orioles didn’t bite. So that tells you just how much they value their center fielder.

Connolly doesn't mention which pitching prospect was offered, but unless it was one of the Braves' top guys, I don't think it changes much. Jones has his flaws and isn't nearly as good as many O's fans believe, but he certainly has room to improve. And if the O's eventually do trade Jones, the package of players they receive for him needs to center around young players with lots of upside, not an (almost) 26-year-old pitcher with injury concerns and a 28-year-old infielder/left-fielder who may have peaked a couple seasons ago. There has to be a team out there that values him more than that.