re: The ATL Thread: Offseason Edition

Jason Heyward is only going to decline at the plate, too much going on with his stance...bookmark this if you want

I will honestly be shocked, even in St Louis

One thing not talked about yet, and don't underestimate the value of this, is Markakis hits lefties pretty damn well. Career .288 hitter and hit .280 last year (compared to career .291 against righties and .274 last year).

Will be a HUGE step up from Heyward and his .169 average against LHP last year.

From other thread

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A lot of rumors state that this signing and the Mariners trade of Michael Saunders will lead to a Upton for Walker trade.....

If that happens, then I will be ecstatic with this signing. Walker is a top prospect, and has electric stuff, and would be a huge addition to the rotation, and the Markakis signing wont sting as much.

If this deal is independent of everything else, then this is a horrible deal. The plus is the fact that Markakis doesnt strike out, and gets on base better than anyone that we have, but the bad is that he is already 31, and has been slightly trending downward the past few years with the bat. He will also be coming to the NL for the first time in his career, and changing parks to Turner Field will not help his already mediocre power numbers. Defensively, he is solid, but not great, especially with his age. The advanced stats say that he is a slightly below average fielder, but if you look at his and Adam Jones advanced defensive stats, you will see that both are vastly superior defenders away from Camden Yards. That should mean he should be solid, but not great in the field his first couple of years, before age gets to him.

He is not a season changer either way. He wont significantly help or hurt this team, and thats why id rather have a guy like a Scott Hairston for a two year deal for less money, because he brings about the same impact that Markakis will.

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this is staying mediocre

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Good lord it's a damn epidemic in this state.

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I mean this in all sincerity:

What the frick are we doing? Are we trying to become a permanent .500 at best team?

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We have to have someone to play right field for us, and once we trade Upton, we literally have no one that can do that. Ive said it before, Id much rather have spent money on a Scott Hairston, or someone of that magnitude, to be a short term answer, but44 million over 4 years isnt that awful for Markakis. Depending on how much a win costs, he should be able to make his value worth it over the length of the deal.

Our pitching is going to keep us in games no matter who we have pitching. Our current starting staff is young, and so is our pen. I dont think anyone is over the age of 26. So not only are they good, but they should improve.

We should be around .500 just because of our whole staff. If the offense comes around, then we could compete for a wild card berth, but its not like Nick Markakis is going to make up a 90 win team, or the subtraction of him will make us a 70 win team. He will be around average for his position, and so will our team, barring major improvements.

Agree totally. No reason to make a 4 year commitment on an average player when you are not a contender. I can understand possibly risking those 3rd and 4th years being bad if you are short a right fielder and you hope to contend next year but this does not make a lot of sense to me.

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Why not just tank and do it right? Get your top 5-10 draft picks in 2015 and 2016 and gear up for 2017.

I have no idea why would purposely put ourselves in position to be a mediocre team. This has not been a good offseason.

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Tank how exactly?

Teharan/Miller/Wood/Minor is a very good 4 man rotation, and if we trade for Tajuian Walker like everyone expects, then it gets even better and deeper, and probably a top 5 in all of baseball.

The bullpen consists of Kimbrel(best in the business), and good young guys like Carpenter, Simmons, Russell, and Hale. This pen is better than over 2/3rds of the league.

How are we going to tank with this? We are trying to get young, MLB ready players to compete in 2017, when the stadium is ready. Is this not the right way?

Is substituting Markakis for Upton not a downgrade? Should we sign someone off the street to play right field? Markakis isnt going to make a difference between a team that is set to win 80 games without him, or a team that could hit 65 wins.

This signing is fine.

Aoki would be the other option and likely for a cheaper price. However, this whole offseason is about gaining certainties. Heyward was traded because they were going to get nothing for him. Same reason that J Upton will ultimately be traded as well.

Markakis is a suitable replacement in right field (not an upgrade). He is closer to a wash when considering that his defense is not as good, but his offense is on par or better than Heywards. Not a great addition, but a suitable cost certain one.

I hope Heyward achieves his potential one day, but people need to stop confusing actual performance with potential.

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I don't understand why anyone would want to do a complete rebuild... especially talking about a 3 year one. This team does not need that. We have a great foundation with our pitching and all we need is some timely/consistent hitting to seriously compete. It's not like the Giants have been operating with some powerhouse offenses while they've been winning pennants.

People are still in sour grapes mode because we traded away Heyward. Get over it and move on. Maybe it'll help some off y'all to become more objective regarding the state of the franchise.

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Could not agree more. It hasn't been a "sexy" offseason by any means, but I think these moves have been extremely solid. Let's build around the rotation and focus on getting rid of the offensive philosophy which has lead to record K rates at the plate.

Hart and Coppy are doing good things. And believe it or not, can have the team competing next year.

Biggest question I have right now is who plays 2nd.