Interesting note from Buster Olney’s blog today:
Most major-league teams are working to sign their best young players to multi-year deals. But right now, the Orioles’ internal philosophy is to wait for at least three years before discussing a multi-year deal with the likes of Adam Jones and Nick Markakis.
Surprising, isn’t it? If the Orioles eschew long-term deals, their best players will be much more expensive when the team is ready to compete. Markakis, their star player, will be up for arbitration after this season. Maybe he won’t get the $10MM Ryan Howard did, but $7MM seems reasonable. There were already rumblings that Markakis was angered by this year’s $55K raise.
