Braves sniffing around on Markakis; Official 4 years 44 million.

[thethe]

Why should we assume Heyward is going to become a better hitter?

[UNCBlue012]

Source: OF Nick Markakis agrees to four-year deal with Atlanta Braves. Dollars unclear, but sides discussed a deal in neighborhood of $44M.

[atl717]

Saunders is a far better player and just got traded for crap.

[thethe]

Done deal per Jeff Passan - 4 years 44mil

LMAO

Sweet, we replaced RF at less than 50% of what Heyward is going to cost plus got two high ceiling pitchers under control for a combined 10 years.

Now lets see if we can re-sign Upton and we are close to being a good team in 2015.

[Heyward]

Why should we assume Heyward is going to become a better hitter?

Well, he is still young but his twitch in his swing is concerning, still stands way too far off the plate as well.

Maybe the Cards make him a better hitter though.

[The Chosen One]

Now I'm curious as to just what exactly Hart was sniffing before he was sniffing around Markakis.

[thewupk]

Lets see how his defense is when he has pitchers who are better at hitting their spots.

Because pitchers hitting their spots affects a players range.

[emk418]

Source: OF Nick Markakis agrees to four-year deal with Atlanta Braves. Dollars unclear, but sides discussed a deal in neighborhood of $44M.

Again, I think Markakis is a great fit for this team. We desperately need veteran leadership and he's very well respected throughout baseball. I'm interested to see the way the rest of the offseason plays out before fully judging Hart. If we're rebuilding signing Markakis doesn't make much sense. But if we make a few more moves to upgrade our lineup and rotation then I like it.

[Heyward]

WAR is stupid LOL

Anyways.......

Heyward hasn't even hit his prime, he's only going to get better. You're using Markakis when he was 26-27-28 and he was really good, so his career numbers are skewed. He's been awful the last 2 years and is only getting older. Again, he had a 680 OPS in 2013 and 700 in the second half of last year....he's a fine player for 2 years and 10-12 mil TOTAL not PER YEAR, anything over that is just dumb.

Have you seen some of the contracts being handed out?

2 years, 10-12 mil total, LOLZ.

Baseball economics are crazy right now, 10-11 mil per for Markakis is fine.

[BRule]

Why should we assume Heyward is going to become a better hitter?

He's been good to really good on O every year but 1.....it's not really a stretch with his talent. Oh and he's 25.....

[bravesnumberone]

Wait, so we can actually negotiate with guys?

I'm fine, not overly thrilled, with the signing. Should be a solid player for us. But I really hope we look at keeping one of Justin and Gattis, preferably Justin now.

[BRule]

Have you seen some of the contracts being handed out?

2 years, 10-12 mil total, LOLZ.

Baseball economics are crazy right now, 10-11 mil per for Markakis is fine.

LOLZ look at Markakis the last 2 years and his age LOLZ

[Hawk]

*clutches heart*

[CyYoung31]

Our front office has gone full retard.

[zbhargrove]

Markakis would be a very solid signing. We aren't going to ever be able to get a superstar in any sense unless you're living in a fairy tale.

"But, he's 31"... so? Tons of good players last well into their later 30s playing above average baseball. I know most people are scared because of Uggla, but they shouldn't be. Markakis is a much better athlete than Uggla was and he's a very different kind of player. Markakis is an on base/contact guy... Uggla could do two things... walk and homer. And then he couldn't homer anymore... completely black and white example.

"WAR"... who gives a crap about WAR? Its an awful statistic and puts way too much on defense. If you're going to sit here and tell me Jason Heyward was a better player than Markakis on offense, you are ridiculous. Yes Heywood has the potential to be a much better offensive player, but there were no signs he was progressing that way and he wasn't ever going to be on our team after next year anyways, no matter what you believe.

"Using injuries as an excuse for Markakis at the end of 2012 and 2013 is a weak argument"... Okay, but using injuries as an excuse for Heyward for a couple of years is completely valid? I swear, Heyward homers love double standards.

Out of all the limited, realistic options... Markakis is probably one of the most attractive and would be a good addition to the club depending on the rest of the off season. Miller, Jenkins, and Markakis with all the money saved and all the years of control is much more attractive than Heyward for 1 year... and if you can't see that, you cannot be reasoned with.

I loved Heyward too, but I'm not blinded by him... he's simply not near as valuable as some of you want to believe.

[tvsportscaster]

This is a great signing. The guy has been a good player for many years and outside of one year he's durable and like someone mention about half the cost of what Heyward would have been.

[The Chosen One]

We desperately need veteran leadership and he's very well respected throughout baseball.

That's why I wanted to sign Laird until he retires.

[Heyward]

Done deal per Jeff Passan - 4 years 44mil

LMAO

Good signing.

Cant wait to see the bitching.

[thewupk]

WAR is stupid.

Heyward gets most of his WAR because he's all-world on defense.

Markakis and Heyward are about the same offensively.

Defensively, obviously Heyward is better since he's all-world there.

But yall are acting like Markakis is terrible.

A career .360 OBP is pretty good.

Really? The last 3 years Heyward has a WRC+ of 116. Markakis is 104. How are they about the same?

[thethe]

Because pitchers hitting their spots affects a players range.

Yes because you can feel more comfortable with positioning and jumps off the ball. Not sure how that isn't a fact.