Nick Markakis signs 6-year, $66 million extension

Background
25-year-old RF Nick Markakis signed a 6 year, 66 million dollar contract; the Orioles buy out three years of free agency.

Stats

Year	Tm	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS+
2008	BAL	157	595	106	182	48	1	20	87	10	99	113	.306	.406	.491	134
3 Yr		465	1723	275	516	116	6	59	261	30	203	297	.299	.375	.476	121

GG's Take
An absolute steal for the Orioles. Markakis could have gone year-to-year, made reasonable money in arbitration, and sign an 8-year/160 million deal with the Yankees in the winter of 2011. I’m not sure why he didn’t go that route, but hey, I’m not complaining. To lock in Markakis for three prime years at below market rates is a fantastic investment; it is certain he will be worth far more than his 11 million annual salary from ages 28-31. Currently only Ichiro Suzuki is his equal among American League right fielders, by 2010 he will stand alone. Unless everyone is way off on the potential of Matt Wieters’ bat, and with Brian Roberts locked into the leadoff spot, he will also have the lineup protection he needs to flourish.

Speaking of Roberts: to properly assess the Markakis move, it needs to be evaluated in the context of the Brian Roberts extension. By locking up Markakis and Roberts, the Orioles now have their core players, a group that includes Adam Jones, Wieters, and hopefully some combination of Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman and Jake Arrieta, under team control for at least the next five years. The Orioles have attempted this sort of consolidation in the past. Under the Jim Beattie/Mike Flanagan regime the team signed its core players (Miguel Tejada, Erik Bedard, Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons) through 2009, thinking they would surely be competitive by now. Well, that didn’t quite work out, but it was the right idea, and the idea is equally good now. It’s not enough to acquire new farm talent each year if the older talent is filtering out at an equal rate - the key players must be allowed to stay together and gel. Especially with the Orioles in poor position to attract free agents, it was vital to lock in Markakis before he hit the open market, and they did.