Ted,(posted 8263 days ago)I think that the answer to your question is in the fact that changing development is used to increase the quality of your negative while changing print filtration is used to increase the quality of your print. Printing with a higher contrast filter does not help you retain (or gain) any detail that was lost due to the processing of your negative. Having said that, I have heard/read that modern films do not respond to altered development as strongly as films in the past did. This may be why you do not see much difference until you make large changes.
As far as what Adams would have done: He always described negative as the score and the print as the performance. I don't think that he would have been satisfied by not developing the best score he could and then letting the orchestra make up for the short comings.