It was February 9, 2008 that the Peter Angelos and the Baltimore Orioles finally did what all the pundits and fans knew they should have done for a few years.

They punted the season in favor of rebuilding them team.

At a time where the Yankees and Red Sox were doing all-out battle for the American League East, the Orioles had done their best in trying to hang with the big boys. However, the choices made on where to spend their money was for naught as Baltimore always seemed that one piece short of contending in baseball’s toughest division.

So on February 9^th, the Orioles made the decision to trade away their ace Erik Bedard, a lefty with a history of health issues, to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for five players. The Orioles would net the Mariners’ best outfield prospect in Adam Jones, a reliever in George Sherrill, and three pitching prospects in Tony Butler, Kameron Mickolio, and Chris Tillman. At the time, Tillman was thought to be the top prize in the trade. Sherrill of course would become Baltimore’s closer for the next two seasons and was actually a solid part of the deal. Butler and Mickolio busted almost as soon as they entered the Baltimore system.

However, Jones turned out to be the prize of the trade. Now, with the Orioles playing their best baseball in over a decade and sitting in first place as we move into June, Baltimore is about to reward Jones with what could be the richest deal in club history at six-years and rumored to be worth $85 million.

So there is little doubt that there is some early MVP talk swirling around Jones, currently ranking second in the American League with 14 home runs, 4^th in runs scored, and 4^th in OPS. Not too bad for a wiry outfielder that was known for his lack of power and high strike-out totals when he was acquired 4 years ago.

Still, there are those that haven’t bought into the Orioles success just yet, and Jones may have his naysayers as well. That is fueled by his still high strike-out to walk ratio 3.40/1, the BAbip (batting average on balls in play) of .319 closely mirroring his true average of .311, and his astronomically high home run per fly-ball percentage of 22.6%. The rumbling heard in the corners is that of those who feel that eventually luck will run out and Jones, and the Orioles with him, will come back down to Earth.

Regardless, at 26-years-old, the Orioles are smart to lock-up their star centerfielder and hope that the development over the last several seasons will continue into his prime. Their season, as well as their future, depends on pieces like Jones, Nick Markakis, Robert Andino, Matt Wieters, Jake Arrieta, and Brian Matusz all hitting their strides at the same time.

Otherwise, it will be just another start and stop for an organization that can wind their watch by it.