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

This was a move that had to be made. Not sure what people are expecting. But Markakis is a good hitter and gets on base at a good clip.
 
I've always liked Markakis, and while I don't care for this deal, at least we didn't get another OBP sinkhole.

If we could somehow add Derek Norris, I would really like our lineup.

Markakis
Norris
Freeman
Gattis

That's a pretty decent 1-4.
 
Neyer crucifies the deal: http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a...kis-free-agent-contract-braves-orioles-120314

The Atlanta Braves are going to be puking their guts up in a few years. That's what happens after you give them $44 million and they buy 2400 Nick Markakis plate appearances.

Sounds familiar.

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Yep. I can see it.
 
Neyer crucifies the deal: http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a...kis-free-agent-contract-braves-orioles-120314

The Atlanta Braves are going to be puking their guts up in a few years. That's what happens after you give them $44 million and they buy 2400 Nick Markakis plate appearances.

This speaks to the problem with the old guys in charge of the Braves. They don't understand value and how much it costs. Markakis isn't worth the money he'll get but a guy like Heyward making 25 mill a year is well worth it and more. Until they can fully grasp this concept the Atlanta Braves are not going to amount to much.
 
I think this is a bad deal that's likely to look really ugly within a year or two. We might get a normal Nick Markakis season out of him in 2015, but that's nothing terribly impressive, and I suspect that by mid-2016 we'll be looking at another Uggla situation, if not quite as awful.

What's really frightening here is that it seems apparent the front office thinks Markakis and Heyward have approximately the same on-field value. They're probably high-fiving themselves because they think they just replaced Heyward with someone every bit as good AND added Miller and Jenkins on top of that.

I was a defender of Schuerholz during his GM tenure here, but he always did seem to have an issue understanding aging curves and decline dynamics. And he always did have an Ahab-esque willingness to relentlessly pursue players over the course of years. I can't shake the idea that this signing is almost as much about loving Markakis in the draft years ago as it was what he's actually accomplished since.

I think it's more about starting the process of changing the makeup of the team. Seriously. Instead of an athletic, toolsy player with marginal leadership skills, you get a skilled baseball player who's good in the clubhouse. And perhaps more importantly, makes contact with the baseball.

You don't flip the whole team into gritty skilled ball players, because then you have a Towers problem. But you need some guys like this.
 
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