Tracking Ex Oriole Thread

[Can_of_corn]

Dayum. I was really hoping he'd go the whole year without a HR.

So did my friend the Braves fan. At this point why not? Zero makes a lot better story then six.

[TonySoprano]

Markakis just hit his 1st home run of the year. A 2 run shot in the 1st inning off Brandon Beachy.

Only 404 PAs / 355 ABs since his last one on Sept. 25, 2014

[CA-ORIOLE]

So did my friend the Braves fan. At this point why not? Zero makes a lot better story then six.

Absolutely. It would have been an amazing story.

Edited July 21, 2015 by CA-ORIOLE

[Frobby]

I now expect him to hit 15-20 in the second half.

[OFFNY]

Markakis just hit his 1st home run of the year. A 2-run shot in the 1st inning off Brandon Beachy.

And only 2 days later, he hit his 1st triple of the season:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=350721115

[Frobby]

A bargain at the price!

All this talk of Markakis reminds me, I have to go look at Fangraphs' worst five contracts.

Well, I doubt Nick would be on any such list. According to fangraphs, after 94 games he's been worth $10.8 mm this year. At that rate he'll be worth about $18 mm for the season, as compared to his $11 mm salary. We can all debate whether he'll be worth it three years from now, but he's had a pretty solid season in 2015, despite the lack of homers.

I was neutral on whether the O's should have matched the Braves' offer, but for 2015, I would rather have had Nick out there, playing every day, getting on base, and having good at bats on a regular basis, than have watched the corner OF merry-go-round we've had. I'm not talking about money or the four-year contract, just what I would have preferred to see in 2015. And of course, I was and am a huge fan of Nick's, so I'm biased, but I think the team misses his consistency and steady approach.

[weams]

Well, I doubt Nick would be on any such list. According to fangraphs, after 94 games he's been worth $10.8 mm this year. At that rate he'll be worth about $18 mm for the season, as compared to his $11 mm salary. We can all debate whether he'll be worth it three years from now, but he's had a pretty solid season in 2015, despite the lack of homers.

I was neutral on whether the O's should have matched the Braves' offer, but for 2015, I would rather have had Nick out there, playing every day, getting on base, and having good at bats on a regular basis, than have watched the corner OF merry-go-round we've had. I'm not talking about money or the four-year contract, just what I would have preferred to see in 2015. And of course, I was and am a huge fan of Nick's, so I'm biased, but I think the team misses his consistency and steady approach.

I think we can all agree that he would have been a help. This season.

[DrungoHazewood]

I think we can all agree that he would have been a help. This season.

Random aside... people often lament the effect free agency has had on baseball, with the departure of favorites like Nick over money and long-term commitments. What do you think it would take for the owners to buy free agency out of the next CBA? Guaranteeing the players 60% of league revenues? Setting a salary floor of $75M with no ceiling? Minimum salary of $5M? There has to be some carrot large enough to reinstate the reserve clause.

[weams]

Random aside... people often lament the effect free agency has had on baseball, with the departure of favorites like Nick over money and long-term commitments. What do you think it would take for the owners to buy free agency out of the next CBA? Guaranteeing the players 60% of league revenues? Setting a salary floor of $75M with no ceiling? Minimum salary of $5M? There has to be some carrot large enough to reinstate the reserve clause.

You would think that nothing short of full partnership would suffice. Players as Co-Owners. That.

[Frobby]

I think we can all agree that he would have been a help. This season.

I'm quite sure that not everybody agrees. But hey, why have a discussion board if everyone is just going to agree on things?

As to the future, I think it could go either way. On the one hand, Nick is having a high-BABIP season, and in a lower-BABIP season he might not be very valuable. On the other hand, it's possible that after a normal off-season where he is able to work out and do strength conditioning, some of his power will return (I mean to 2014-type levels, not some big leap). Let's put it this way: the way free agent salaries are increasing, Nick appears to have a decent head start on being worth $44 mm over 4 years, depending on how he ages at 32-34 (which in my opinion isn't that old).

[weams]

I'm quite sure that not everybody agrees. But hey, why have a discussion board if everyone is just going to agree on things?

As to the future, I think it could go either way. On the one hand, Nick is having a high-BABIP season, and in a lower-BABIP season he might not be very valuable. On the other hand, it's possible that after a normal off-season where he is able to work out and do strength conditioning, some of his power will return (I mean to 2014-type levels, not some big leap). Let's put it this way: the way free agent salaries are increasing, Nick appears to have a decent head start on being worth $44 mm over 4 years, depending on how he ages at 32-34 (which in my opinion isn't that old).

Probably a true statement. The Orioles model of course requires that everyone out-perform their contracts for the team to thrive. Earning a large contract makes it just less of an albatross.

[Frobby]

Probably a true statement. The Orioles model of course requires that everyone out-perform their contracts for the team to thrive. Earning a large contract makes it just less of an albatross.

Agreed. It is becoming a bigger issue because we have fewer young, cheap, good players now than we did a few years ago.

[DrungoHazewood]

Probably a true statement. The Orioles model of course requires that everyone out-perform their contracts for the team to thrive. Earning a large contract makes it just less of an albatross.

Of course that helps, but it's not a requirement. The Orioles model requires that most of the value in the team come from pre-free agency players. But not all, or they would never have signed Ubaldo. I seriously doubt that Duquette thought that Ubaldo was going to be a huge $/win value.

[Can_of_corn]

Well, I doubt Nick would be on any such list. According to fangraphs, after 94 games he's been worth $10.8 mm this year. At that rate he'll be worth about $18 mm for the season, as compared to his $11 mm salary. We can all debate whether he'll be worth it three years from now, but he's had a pretty solid season in 2015, despite the lack of homers.

I was neutral on whether the O's should have matched the Braves' offer, but for 2015, I would rather have had Nick out there, playing every day, getting on base, and having good at bats on a regular basis, than have watched the corner OF merry-go-round we've had. I'm not talking about money or the four-year contract, just what I would have preferred to see in 2015. And of course, I was and am a huge fan of Nick's, so I'm biased, but I think the team misses his consistency and steady approach.

Didn't say I thought he would be.

Just that I was reminded that the list came out.

[Frobby]

Markakis just hit his 1st home run of the year. A 2 run shot in the 1st inning off Brandon Beachy.

Not a cheapie, either. 412 feet to dead center.