It's time for Adam Jones to start playing deeper in the outfield.

Interim manager Juan Samuel along with outfield coach John Shelby met with the center fielder and requested he focus more on defense, especially moving back to cut off extra-base hits flying over his head.

"[We're] not singling him out -- it's a team," Samuel told the Baltimore Sun . "Those are the things we can control, those mistakes and we just need to concentrate and maybe have him play a little bit deeper."

The key here is that the organization has to request Jones make the move -- they can't tell him.

Why? Because players have control these days.

As ESPN 's Tim Kurkjian relayed while talking about how difficult it is to be a manager these days:

This spring, the Orioles told center fielder Adam Jones that he needed to play a little deeper, that too many balls had gone over his head in 2009.

Jones' response: "I'll think about it."

I'll think about it? If he said that to Ralph Houk 30 years ago, Jones would've been headed to the minor leagues that day. To Jones' credit, he did try it out but didn't feel comfortable with the move. However, it seems clear that playing so shallow is harming the team. There's something to be said for playing out of your element and uncomfortably, but Jones needs to at least try it for a sustained period of time.

The talk came after Jones allowed two baserunners to go first-to-third without a determined effort to keep the runner from advancing.

"We're trying to get him to charge the ball and not assume that guys are not going to take the extra base on him," Samuel said. "We're trying to have him get behind fly balls and not assume that guys aren't going to tag up. We also made him aware that 'hey, we can go into a slump at home plate, but we cannot afford to go in a slump on defense.'"

-- Evan Brunell

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