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Reporting from Fanfest, 2014


Frobby

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Markakis signed before his first arbitration. He was three years from free agency and not making a boatload of money. Chris Davis has already agreed to a deal covering his 2nd year of arb and is making over $10 million. Big difference.

So? Nick took a deal that was based on his best season. The deal was agreed to a day before Nick's first arb hearing. Davis being in 2nd arb doesn't change the fact it was Davis' best season.

Davis and the O's probably could have signed a deal pre-Arb this year and depending on what the Boras situation is, it might have been the difference between a deal this year or not.

O's agreed to pay him $10m so the O's assessed his value in $10m - $15m range. So it's not like the numbers are far apart. Davis won't top $15m next year's arb. So this was the year to sign the deal statistically for Davis cause the future numbers are unknown.

The guy to sign early is Manny. He's still far enough away from arbitration and free agency that they might be able to convince him to tack on a few years if they're willing to pay for them. Once he hits arbitration, it will be game over and he'll be a FA at 26.

Machado won't sign early unless the O's pay alot upfront and on the back end. So it's wishful thinking the O's sign him early without dropping $100m plus on him.

One other thing on Davis: he might be the nicest, quietest, most humble guy in the world, but he hired Scott Boras to optimize his earnings, not to spread the love. There are agents with "nice guy" reputations. He didn't choose one of them. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words.

Yes, he has Boras as his agent. But clients leave agencies all the time. If Davis wants to stay in Baltimore and Boras prevents that, Boras will be out. So it does come down to Davis. Davis has a career because of the O's. So I think that weighs on his opinion on staying or not.

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I can't remember the exact quote from Roch last week. Something like Nick likes to grow it out till Fanfest just to see the reactions.

Shock and awe. :P

Nick, Nick, Nick. I remember his first fanfest (not sure the year). He did the forum while wearing a hat pulled down near his eyes and a female fan asked him to take it off. Reluctantly he did and he showed a new bump on his forehead. When asked how he got it. He said he was playing Gameboy while leaving the hotel and he ran into the glass entrance door. I thought, "Great, he's our new outfielder? Who knew?

Anyone else remember this?

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Wait a second here. I haven't heard of many Greek-American terrorists out there? How is this "racial profiling?"

Now, if you want to say he was "stereotyping" the way a terrorist looks, well, I have to say, the first thing I thought of when I saw Nick yesterday was "he looks like a terrorist." That's not "racial profiling" it simply stating an opinion. Hell, I've been interrogated at airports before because as my friends say, "you probably looked like a terrorist."

I'm all for political correctness, but let's not get exaggerated.

Good grief lighten up Francis. This is not a good look for Nick. He looks much more likely to be a guy on a wanted poster in the post office than a MLB player. Saying that should not offend anyone other than him and if I were Nick I wouldn't give a crap. I would be ok with being a rich guy playing a game and if anyone ever said anything about the way I look I would look at my hot wife and say, "whatever". Saying he looks like a terrorist is not saying anything about his race. He looks like a guy that has lived the last several months in the woods or in a cave that someone threw a ridiculous headband on. Just because many terrorist live in caves does not make that racial.

I get that you don't understand why people would find this offensive. I don't believe you are purposely being hurtful. Trust me, many do. Unfortunately, not enough white people do.:(

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I get that you don't understand why people would find this offensive. I don't believe you are purposely being hurtful. Trust me' date=' many do. Unfortunately, not enough white people do.:([/quote']

Last time I checked, Nick is also white. Unless you don't consider Greek-American "white", in which case I am not white either, I am Italian American!

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I was washing my hands and he came out and washed his hands. I just nodded when we made eye contact. Some other dude tried to get his autograph and Kevin said "Dude! Not in the bathroom" and then walked out. "Dude" said "what a jerk".

That is all.

The crazy thing is how long it took for this story to break!

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