Orioles Discussing Four-Year Deal With Nick Markakis (Signs w/ATL)

[CA-ORIOLE]

I'd be interested to see the numbers on Cal. He didn't have great range but they say he positioned himself very well and made up for it by doing that.

Markakis cheats out to RCF to close the gap and gives up the RF line. The numbers have said for a long time that Markakis is below average. Last year was actually a better year for him numbers wise. If his defense regresses to 2012-13 levels and his offense stays where it as, he's a 1 WAR player.

He does catch what he gets to. Nelson Cruz caught what he got to last year too.

This is spot on. I actually think this is far more exaggerated at OPACY than on the road and in the past the numbers have actually shown him to be worse at OPACY. I've said numerous times that this theory that he plays OPACY well/optimally is probably not true.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Wasn trying to compare the two. Cal didn't have the range of say Jeter. Doesn't mean Jeter was better. Nicks slow, but that doesn't mean he's a horrible fielder. Im not a sabermetrician, so those stats are meaningless to me. Sorry.

Mediocre is not "horrible". It's basically around average.

[Frobby]

I'd be interested to see the numbers on Cal. He didn't have great range but they say he positioned himself very well and made up for it by doing that.

Markakis cheats out to RCF to close the gap and gives up the RF line. The numbers have said for a long time that Markakis is below average. Last year was actually a better year for him numbers wise. If his defense regresses to 2012-13 levels and his offense stays where it as, he's a 1 WAR player.

He does catch what he gets to. Nelson Cruz caught what he got to last year too.

You are going to lose some credibility with me if you try to argue that Markakis and Cruz are equivalent in the outfield.

[Frobby]

This is spot on. I actually think this is far more exaggerated at OPACY than on the road and in the past the numbers have actually shown him to be worse at OPACY. I've said numerous times that this theory that he plays OPACY well/optimally is probably not true.

I think Nick plays where Wayne Kirby wants him to play.

[atomic]

No need to be sorry. I just think you're wrong. There's a pretty good chance we'd have a hole in the lineup without him. He's not a spectacular player, but he's someone we can depend on for good OBP, good defense and solid day in, day out production.

Baseball is not just a numbers game, there's more involved than just sabermetrics.

Sabermetrics is meaningful at times but I think the Defensive War people throw around for outfielders is pretty meaningless. It doesn't actually strongly co-relate to actual defensive abilities. Blindly using bad statistics makes people look like idiots. For example the meaningless FWar stat for pitchers. Totally useless stat but people on here will quote it like it is a fact that because pitcher A has a higher Fwar than another he is a better pitcher.

[Frobby]

Mediocre is not "horrible". It's basically around average.

Mediocre is one of those words that has a connotation worse than its denotation.

[MurphDogg]

Mediocre is one of those words that has a connotation worse than its denotation.

Yeah, the dictionary may say that average is a synonym but in actual usage it tends to mean barely adequate.

[DrungoHazewood]

Yeah, the dictionary may say that average is a synonym but in actual usage it tends to mean barely adequate.

Everyone thinks their team should be above-average, so above-average is just adequate. Average is poor. Below-average-but-above-replacement is incompetent. That's why almost all sports fans are always a little bitter, and beat their dogs over 82-win seasons.

[Mayor McCheese]

markakis and orioles are in serious talks, and there's optimism a 4-year deal could get done

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) November 13, 2014

[clapdiddy]

I'm not thrilled about a 4-year deal with Nick.

[fearthenoodle]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sources: Orioles and Nick Markakis have made significant progress on a four-year deal. Been talking about $10-12M a year. Should get done.</p>— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) <a href="

">November 13, 2014</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[fearthenoodle]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Word on Markakis: Bit more work for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Orioles?src=hash">#Orioles</a> to do to finish 4-yr deal, but significant progress toward finish line</p>— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) <a href="

">November 13, 2014</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[MDK02]

I like Nick, but I think we need an upgrade at the lead off hitter spot. Hopefully we can move him back in the lineup if he is signed.

[Dipper9]

I don't see what you see. I see a lot of balls falling in front and down the line that I thinkk other rightfielders would have gotten to or played better with better speed, especially at OPACY. I think most on here understand his lack of range offsets his strengths to a considerable degree. I do think he had a reasonably good year this year though. I will go with the stats and just I don't care about the GG.

I've never been one to bash Nick, because I don't think hes defensive metrics are all that bad (and some were probably due to injury etc,) as some portray them. That said I'm not buying into the he's a "Gold Glover" and "better than the metrics" stuff either.

As an example, I was watching the MLB vs Japan game last night. Puig ran down a ball but couldn't get a grip on it upon first try. Then he actually dropped it on second try. This it the type of thing that Nick never, EVER does. He may let the bloop singles fall in due to his lack of speed and range, but he never allows singles into anything more than singles.

[MurphDogg]

I'm not thrilled about a 4-year deal with Nick.

Few are. I consider myself one of the bigger Markakis defenders on this board and it looks like they are going to go beyond my ceiling of 4/$40/.