What does Nick's departure say to the other players who we may want to retain?

[CA-ORIOLE]

I think there was a good chance.

I'd have guessed about 10% but apparently the Orioles thought there was more risk than I did.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I would guess 40%. I have no reason to believe your number is wrong. There is a lot of gut feel in this one for me.

Fair enough.

[boller4president]

I doubt it. By the time a agent accepts or declines a QO he's had time to go around to other teams and get a good idea of what the players market value is.

Also as a GM if you are going to offer 4/40 why not offer the QO? Nick is always going to accept term over the QO anyways. This is why I don't think that offer was real and why it appears Dan badly misjudged the market for Nicks services.

[weams]

I doubt it. By the time a agent accepts or declines a QO he's had time to go around to other teams and get a good idea of what the players market value is.

Also as a GM if you are going to offer 4/40 why not offer the QO? Nick is always going to accept term over the QO anyways. This is why I don't think that offer was real and why it appears Dan badly misjudged the market for Nicks services.

Oh really? Teams talk with agents about other teams players? Wow. There oughta be a law. Oh yeah. There is.

[Camden_yardbird]

I think contentment or discontent with Markakis leaving among players still on the Orioles will have a lot more to do with who is added to the team rather than disappointment in him leaving. Well as far as on the field matters. And it's not like Orioles didn't "take care" of Markakis, they did that with the first contract.

[weams]

Nick got the number #22

[21xxxv]

If it wasn't all about the money before (and maybe it was), it certainly is now. It's every man for himself next winter when Wieters, Davis, Chen, Norris and O'Day all hit the market. And I'm not holding my breath expecting Manny Machado to sign here long term unless we break the bank to make that happen.

Something ended yesterday. That doesn't mean the Orioles can't continue to be a very good team, but things are going to be different.

The Orioles, and the Oriole fans were terrific to Nick. He was overpaid from on his previous contract and with his offensive numbers declining, you don't overpay, especially on a four year deal on declining productivity . If that's looked at poorly, so be it.

[ledzepp8]

Sure. Why wouldn't he have?

The players don't have to be told it is a business, they know it is. It is the fans that need to be told, repeatedly.

Exactly. No one held a gun to Hardy's head and made him extend. If he thought he could get more elsewhere, wanted to try, or didn't want to stay in Baltimore, he could have became a FA.

I find it hard to believe that Nick would leave over $4 million dollars, so I'm more inclined to believe that there was no 4 year offer from the Orioles (which I'm fine with). We as fans can't sit and talk crap about some of our players in terms of their production and value and then get upset when our GM sees them the same way.

[weams]

Exactly. No one held a gun to Hardy's head and made him extend. If he thought he could get more elsewhere, wanted to try, or didn't want to stay in Baltimore, he could have became a FA.

I find it hard to believe that Nick would leave over $4 million dollars, so I'm more inclined to believe that there was no 4 year offer from the Orioles (which I'm fine with). We as fans can't sit and talk crap about some of our players in terms of their production and value and then get upset when our GM sees them the same way.

Heck. Why not. Their fanbase is already talking crap on him.

[ledzepp8]

Was he? Sure he was the last couple of years but was he overpaid over the length of the contract?

I kind of get tired of the Nick was overpaid argument. It's a little overstated. Was he overpaid? Sure. But it's not some drastic, team crippling overpayment. He was wroth $46.6 million over his contract and the Orioles paid him more or less $68 million. Yea they overpaid but they also got $52.8 million worth of production for league minimum. That's how the system is set up and I would venture to say that the vast majority of extensions or FA signings end up being overpayments.

[Nevermore]

Thank you, Weams, you make my point. There was NO risk in extending a QO to Nick. And yet now he's gone and we have nothing in return. How does that stack up unless DD underestimated Nick's value?

Now I am seeing a possible conspiracy theory. It seems to have gone like this.

1) Os management decides not to extend a QO to Nick because they are afraid that he might accept it and then they would be stuck with Nick for at least one season.

2) Os management decides further that what they will do, to show their "loyalty" to Nick is to make offers in such ways that Nick will likely reject them, and then Nick can get a nice offer from elsewhere that he will be glad to accept.

3) Braves management extends a 4 year offer while Os management goes back on their own 4 year deal, offering only 3 years. Then, when they see it as inevitable that Nick will accept an offer by Braves management, they finally offer a 4 year deal that they know that Braves management will outbid them on.

4) Nick goes to Braves. Os management doesn't have to deal with getting Nick back. And they are more or less happy at the end.

[SteveO]

The only risk of extending a QO offer to Nick would have been in the relationship between him and the team. What I mean here is that Nick would have felt that the team was bending him over the barrel and limiting his market.

The fact they did not QO him is indicative to me that they really did intend to retain him. I also think the fact the O's did not extend a QO was calculated and smart but it did backfire. The O's knew about Nicks neck issues, they probably felt it was unlikely that anyone would give him 4yrs with that out there. They also prob felt that if Nick wanted to stay and its likely he did, there was not anyone ou there would go so much higher on a 3 year deal that the O's would and could not retain him. As it turned out, Atlanta kinda screwed the pooch by being willing to give him the 4th year and in essence called DD bluff. It happens. DD was trying to get back a player he would have like to retain on his terms, he set the deck but luck was not completely on his side.

[tntoriole]

Now I am seeing a possible conspiracy theory. It seems to have gone like this.

1) Os management decides not to extend a QO to Nick because they are afraid that he might accept it and then they would be stuck with Nick for at least one season.

2) Os management decides further that what they will do, to show their "loyalty" to Nick is to make offers in such ways that Nick will likely reject them, and then Nick can get a nice offer from elsewhere that he will be glad to accept.

3) Braves management extends a 4 year offer while Os management goes back on their own 4 year deal, offering only 3 years. Then, when they see it as inevitable that Nick will accept an offer by Braves management, they finally offer a 4 year deal that they know that Braves management will outbid them on.

4) Nick goes to Braves. Os management doesn't have to deal with getting Nick back. And they are more or less happy at the end.

Not a conspiracy. DD simply evaluated Nick's value to be less than the Braves and Nick judged it to be. But, at the same time, DD was not going to get into a bidding war with another team over Nick. DD's evaluation also likely had to agree with many posters here that Nick's production over the next four years will be relatively easy to replace at much less expense, so i do not think DD laid awake at night worrying that he was going to lose Nick Markakis.

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[weams]

http://brittghiroli.mlblogs.com/2014/12/05/markakis-on-leaving-the-orioles-his-neck-and-his-new-team/

[Nevermore]

Not a conspiracy. DD simply evaluated Nick's value to be less than the Braves and Nick judged it to be. But, at the same time, DD was not going to get into a bidding war with another team over Nick. DD's evaluation also likely had to agree with many posters here that Nick's production over the next four years will be relatively easy to replace at much less expense, so i do not think DD laid awake at night worrying that he was going to lose Nick Markakis.

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I also doubt that DD is missing very many nights over Nick's departure, nor from fans squawking about it. According to Peter Schmuck of the Sun, DD is a man of few sentiments.

At first, I believed that DD's lack of a QO to Nick was a sign that a contract with Nick was imminent. Now I tend to believe that DD decided not to give Nick a QO because he was afraid that Nick would actually accept it, and DD didn't want to be stuck with Nick for at least another year under those terms.