Orioles Nick-le and Dime Markakis

Based on the last decade of Orioles baseball, we should have known it was coming.

After an off-season where they managed to successfully purge millions from their payroll and bolster their farm system, the Orioles have made their first blunder.

While it is difficult to feel bad for a 24-year-old who makes $455,000 a year, this isn’t about sympathy.

This is about logic.

Nick Markakis deserved more money because he is the future cornerstone of this franchise.

Having played only two seasons, Markakis is under club control and forced to accept the Orioles renewal of his contract. So, despite putting up better numbers than most outfielders in the league, he will be getting paid near the league minimum.

Major League teams often misplace their wallet when negotiating with future stars.

The normally free-spending New York Yankees renewed fan favorite and stud pitcher Joba Chamberlain’s contract for the league minimum, $390,000.

Many teams renew the contracts of inexperienced players for relative peanuts knowing that in a few years they will be paying them a fortune that would make the lotto blush.

Because teams pinch pennies with their young players doesn’t mean that that is the appropriate thing to do.

Large market teams have the luxury of watching players develop without much investment because they can sign them to the big bucks when the time comes. 

The Orioles are fighting a different battle.

Because they can be outbid by the three teams in the Northeast, the two in Chicago, and two in Los Angeles, they need to develop a relationship of goodwill with their young players. 

While it is still possible, though unlikely, that Markakis flames out like Ben Grieve (A player that baseball-reference.com lists as one of his most similar batters through age 23) or gets injured, signing him to a long term contract and buying out some of his free agent years does not make sense economically. 

However, throwing an extra $100,000 dollars at one of the only players on your roster worth paying to watch is a smart move. 

When it is time for Markakis to cash in and test the free agent waters, this moment will be in the back of his mind.

Just as the Orioles played him, he will play them. Markakis knows now that the game he used to play is a business. 

I can see it now.

In six years, the Yankees and their legions of followers will be striding into Camden Yards to play a game against the still lowly Orioles. Markakis will take his customary spot in right field, but this time wearing road grays. 

It will have been 16 years in the making. We should have seen it coming.