Ah hell, let's re-sign him

[incubus]

I remember Thorne saying that about Teixeira during the Yankee series. Never about Nick.

Yes, I heard that as well. I never heard the comment from Nick mentioned by Gary Thorne. Maybe the poster was mistaken.

[Aristotelian]

Out of Cruz, Markakis, and Hardy, I can't imagine we keep all three. fWAR has them ranked 1. Hardy (3.1 #41), 2. Cruz (2.5, #62), and just behind him 3. Markakis (2.4, #71). Very tough decision.

By the way, Nelson made a very nice play of his own in the 9th inning after the game was in hand. Is it me, or has Nelson's defense really improved this year? Maybe we caught him in some bad series when he was with the Rangers, but so far he has been pretty solid. Is it possible that good defense is contagious? UZR has him -0.8 this year vs -3.4 to -6.4 the last three years, but "Def" has him about the same.

[mdbdotcom]

I don't know. I think Hardy is more like a Mike Bordick. He takes good care of himself, he is extremely intelligent, he positions himself correctly all the time, he is the best tagger in the business. Skills like these do not decline as much as the athletic rangy shortstop guys. Will JJ go back to the 20-25 HR guy? Probably not. But a guy who makes all the plays, never makes an error, hits .270...for a three year deal I think he is our best option.

That's a good point. If Hardy follows a career path like Bordick's, he should be valuable offensively and defensively into his mid-30s.

[Morgan423]

Yes, I heard that as well. I never heard the comment from Nick mentioned by Gary Thorne. Maybe the poster was mistaken.

Thorne was 100% talking about Teixeira, not Nick Markakis. Don't mean to repeatedly beat the drum but it bothers me that Nick Markakis is being incorrectly attributed as the subject of that quote when Thorne was actually talking about that Skankee meathead.

[TheDirtyBird]

Sorry I don't know where to put this, but since this is a Markakis thread: Is this a joke MLB? Jeter didn't even play yesterday.... :angryfire: https://twitter.com/mlb/status/501730416022523905

I'm not sure how to post an image of the tweet, so this is the best I can do

[Can_of_corn]

Sorry I don't know where to put this, but since this is a Markakis thread: Is this a joke MLB? Jeter didn't even play yesterday.... :angryfire: https://twitter.com/mlb/status/501730416022523905

I'm not sure how to post an image of the tweet, so this is the best I can do

Capt Jetes is the Champion so his exploits are from a game prior to last nights game.

[Tony-OH]

I would rather mitigate the risk and keep him motivated with a one year extension. He's almost 31 and yeah, I think there is quite a bit of potential downside on an multi-year extension with his skills. If it was around 3/30 then yeah, I'd probably be in, but it won't be.

I'm starting to think that way myself. A motivated Markakis seems to be a productive Markakis. I'm not saying he hasn't been putting in a 100 percent over the years once the games starts, but there has been off season questions in the past. $17 million is a lot to pay the man and yes he's coming off one of his best all around games of his career, but I might be willing to give that a shot and see where he is at the end of next season.

[Redskins Rick]

I'm starting to think that way myself. A motivated Markakis seems to be a productive Markakis. I'm not saying he hasn't been putting in a 100 percent over the years once the games starts, but there has been off season questions in the past. $17 million is a lot to pay the man and yes he's coming off one of his best all around games of his career, but I might be willing to give that a shot and see where he is at the end of next season.

Just my opinion, I don't think $$$$ motivates Nick.

The man is a gamer and plays the game hard.

Through injury and surgeries, he wasn't at 100%

He said this off-season, he felt the strongest in a long time, and being healthy to do Brady's off-season workout is working for him as we can clearly see.

I agree, $17 million is a lot.

But, its nice to have this type of discussion, than last year, and when the contention was Nick sucked and its time to DFA him.

[weams]

On a side note, is there anybody more emotionless than Nick? Not a knock. Just saying. The guy never even cracks a smile. I'm fine with it, he does his job. Not needed to be a good clubhouse guy or anything.

Guy is just a robot.

He was pretty glib post game yesterday.

[Can_of_corn]

He was pretty glib post game yesterday.

Maybe he has been taking lessons.

The media in NY, LA and Bos expect a lot more out of players.

[weams]

Gotta love Norris giving Nick the props.

Bud broke the twitter news on Monica's passing. He is quite the tweeter.

[FlipCup]

Sorry I don't know where to put this, but since this is a Markakis thread: Is this a joke MLB? Jeter didn't even play yesterday.... :angryfire: https://twitter.com/mlb/status/501730416022523905

I'm not sure how to post an image of the tweet, so this is the best I can do

Next to the tweet you will see a symbol that says "...More". Select that and then Embedded Tweet. Copy and paste that into the forum.

Cheers!

[Ripken]

The pitching is fine. I'd take Miller back but it won't happen. Matusz can go. They may look for another lefty. Tweaks.

Five big bats expiring this season or next. Not sure I see much immediate help in the system; Walker, Alvarez, and...

Big decisions coming:

- I think Nick is here for several more seasons. I'd bet my Jeep on that.

- Give Davis another year and see what happens. Pray Walker is here sometime in 2015.

- Give Cruz the QO. I'd actually be happy to sign him for three more years if the money isn't crazy. If he goes it's a big hole in the lineup.

- Hardy is tough. I don't get the sense that DD wants him but who else is playing SS in 2015? Flash is the only real option and it's not a good one.

- Wieters... I'd trade him as soon as it appears he'll recover fully. I'm happy with all the Cs in the org. Get whatever you can; a MLB OF, prospects, etc.

[Tony-OH]

Just my opinion, I don't think $$$$ motivates Nick.

The man is a gamer and plays the game hard.

Through injury and surgeries, he wasn't at 100%

He said this off-season, he felt the strongest in a long time, and being healthy to do Brady's off-season workout is working for him as we can clearly see.

I agree, $17 million is a lot.

But, its nice to have this type of discussion, than last year, and when the contention was Nick sucked and its time to DFA him.

I honestly have no idea what motivates Markakis. I'm just saying that he seems to have good years going into contract years and that it might be a good idea to overpay him for one year than have him be an potential anchor like Roberts was in a 4-yr deal. Markakis' ability to get on play and play solid average defense gives him value, but he does have a skill set that suggests he'll slide as he goes past his prime (read: his next contract).

I don't want to pay Markakis $17 million next season, and if I could get him to sign a decent 3yr contract I might consider it, but I've just seen too many guys like him become a contractual anchor to teams because of sentimentality.

[WV O's]

I was thinking about this just yesterday. I say 3 maybe 4 years in the 8-9 million-a-year range. After last year, he owes us!! :-)

I truly believe if he doesn't get hurt in 2012, we would still be playing.