I was wrong about Davis

[DrungoHazewood]

From a purely logical, dollars and cents perspective, there is no doubt that Nick Markakis is replaceable at his current salary. There is nothing in your post that is wrong.

And yet, at the same time, I don't see Nick being traded, nor do I want him to be. For me, Nick is a huge symbol. At a time when our farm system was screwing up year after year, along came Nick, unaffected, exuding professionalism and steady play from the day he arrived in the majors. He's been steady as a metronome. When Nick is at bat, you just always feel he is going to make the pitcher earn whatever he gets. In the field, you always feel he will make the right play, and sometimes the outstanding play. He's always calm, never looking overanxious or panicked. Is he perfect? By no means. But for me, he represents steadiness, perseverance, patience, and ultimately, success. And I think he represents those things to his teammates, as well.

There may come a day when Nick Markakis will no longer be an Oriole. For me, that will be a sad, sad day.

Markakis and Roberts, even if they don't live up to their contracts, are players you're glad the organization took on a little risk on and signed long-term. You never have to worry about them putting forth the effort and setting examples.

[Can_of_corn]

Markakis contract is too expensive next year. Sentiment aside, he wouldn't bring back that much of value. Plus his injury issues make him very questionable.Youd get much more trading Britton, Davis, either JJ, or Gonzalez.

Injury issues? How are broken hands injury issues? You want to talk injury issues? Tell me, do you think Britton is healthy right now?

[DrungoHazewood]

Markakis contract is too expensive next year. Sentiment aside, he wouldn't bring back that much of value. Plus his injury issues make him very questionable.Youd get much more trading Britton, Davis, either JJ, or Gonzalez.

Injury issues? How are broken hands injury issues? You want to talk injury issues? Tell me, do you think Britton is healthy right now?

You're not likely to get back a cost-controlled impact player for any combination of current Orioles outside of the untouchables (Machado and Bundy). Every player mentioned in Gordo's post has question marks and issues.

[LookinUp]

I was in the bleachers on Tuesday. I definitely picked the wrong game to go to, but Davis's speed was REALLY impressive to me. I'd take him in a race over Markakis any day. His assist at third was an absolute laser too. His arm is legit.

I don't love his routes and I think he drifts a little too much, but Markakis does that too. All in all, I'd bet Davis has better range but would get to somewhat fewer balls than Markakis due to worse routes. I also think his arm is at least as good as Nick's is currently (as opposed to when Nick was younger and had a legit cannon).

I was very pleasantly surprised by what I saw of Davis.

[OFFNY]

Markakis contract is too expensive next year. Sentiment aside, he wouldn't bring back that much of value. Plus his injury issues make him very questionable.Youd get much more trading Britton, Davis, either JJ, or Gonzalez.

Injury issues? How are broken hands injury issues? You want to talk injury issues? Tell me, do you think Britton is healthy right now?

Exactly. Taking a C.C. Sabathia fastball off of one's hand (and subsequently having it broken) does not classify a player as having "injury issues."

This (the 2012 season) was the first time in Markakis' career that he has missed any real time/games due to injury.

Here are his games played for the 5 previous seasons:

2007: 161

2008: 157 (out of 161 games. The Orioles had one game rained out, and not made up.)

2009: 161

2010: 160

2011: 160

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/markani01.shtml

O

[wildcard]

Markakis in 246 PA as a leadoff hitter had a 335/390/489/879. If he can do that for a full year next year he will have earned his salary.

I would not trade that possibility.

[Tony-OH]

Markakis in 246 PA as a leadoff hitter had a 335/390/489/879. If he can do that for a full year next year he will have earned his salary.

I would not trade that possibility.

Markakis' work at leadoff is the number one reason I'm not worried about moving him next off season. This team needs to add OBP. not subtract from it.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I was in the bleachers on Tuesday. I definitely picked the wrong game to go to, but Davis's speed was REALLY impressive to me. I'd take him in a race over Markakis any day. His assist at third was an absolute laser too. His arm is legit.

I don't love his routes and I think he drifts a little too much, but Markakis does that too. All in all, I'd bet Davis has better range but would get to somewhat fewer balls than Markakis due to worse routes. I also think his arm is at least as good as Nick's is currently (as opposed to when Nick was younger and had a legit cannon).

I was very pleasantly surprised by what I saw of Davis.

Yeah, I'd say I'm impressed with his OF defense. He seems to have natural instincts out there along with surprising athletic ability. I'm actually thinking Davis is better than Nick in RF at this point. I'm not sure if Nick's speed has really declined that badly or not. Davis isn't as sure handed and he's less experienced, but I'm not sure if he has any other disadvantages from what I've seen so far. I'd also have to think Davis' arm is stronger (but perhaps less acurate at this point). Maybe Nick should DH. Remember a couple people earlier in the year saying that Davis couldn't hit if he was playing in the OF?

[DrungoHazewood]

Markakis' work at leadoff is the number one reason I'm not worried about moving him next off season. This team needs to add OBP. not subtract from it.

Markakis is basically the only guy on the team who'll not only take a walk, but also can make contact with most of what he swings at. Everyone else is either high K/high walk (Reynolds, maybe Weiters) or high K/low walk (almost everyone else). Definitely need more guys who can recognize a bad pitch and take it.

[CSB Jack]

He won it last year but his range was visibly diminished this season.

That has been my observation as well. Many times I thought Nick did not get to, or make an effort to get to, balls that I thought he had reached in prior years.

I think it is time for Nick to spend an offseason working.

You mean instead of recovering from surgery? I hope he can and will work on getting some of his speed back this winter.

As for the topic of the OP, I'd still rather have Markakis in right field regardless of what the metrics say based on my own observation from previous years. But Davis is certainly not an embarrassment in the outfield and with more playing time I believe he can become more than adequate. He certainly has the arm for it. As for his offense, he may not be a "premium" hitter but 28 HR and 78 RBI to this point of the season is nothing to sneeze at.

[Can_of_corn]

That has been my observation as well. Many times I thought Nick did not get to, or make an effort to get to, balls that I thought he had reached in prior years.

You mean instead of recovering from surgery? I hope he can and will work on getting some of his speed back this winter.

As for the topic of the OP, I'd still rather have Markakis in right field regardless of what the metrics say based on my own observation from previous years. But Davis is certainly not an embarrassment in the outfield and with more playing time I believe he can become more than adequate. He certainly has the arm for it. As for his offense, he may not be a "premium" hitter but 28 HR and 78 RBI to this point of the season is nothing to sneeze at.

No, I mean instead of spending as much time as possible in a deer blind.

[CSB Jack]

No, I mean instead of spending as much time as possible in a deer blind.

Well, a man's gotta keep his family fed.

[DrungoHazewood]

No, I mean instead of spending as much time as possible in a deer blind.

Is there anything but anecdotal evidence that Markakis has the offseason habits of a MLBer from 1948?

[Can_of_corn]

Mostly anecdotal but there isn't likely to be a bunch of stories done on a mlb player deer hunting during the offseason. I did see that he went up to Canada to hunt Bear one year.

I will say I know more about the offseason workout habits of: Jones, Bedard, Bundy, Britton, Arrieta, Wieters, Roberts, Reynolds, Reimold, Matusz, Hunter and Tillman.

[Frobby]

He won it last year but his range was visibly diminished this season.

I think it is time for Nick to spend an offseason working.

You mean instead of recovering from surgery? I hope he can and will work on getting some of his speed back this winter.

No, I mean instead of spending as much time as possible in a deer blind.

I think it is pretty clear that Nick's loss of range this year was due to the fact that he had abdominal surgery this winter, after first waiting several months to wait for what he thought was a bone bruise to heal. He wasn't in a position to do any real workouts either before or after his surgery, and it cost him some speed.

As to what Nick did in previous offseasons, it has always bothered me that, because Nick has mentioned many times that he likes to spend time hunting, people assume that means he doesn't work out much in the winter. The truth is, we really don't know what he normally does by way of winter conditioning. Hunting and working out are not mutually exclusive activities.

For this winter, however, I do think Nick needs to focus on some speed training. Now that Brady has an official role with the team, I hope he will work with Nick to develop a good program for the offseason. Those explosiveness drills he did with the pitchers last winter would be good for Nick.