Talks between O's, Markakis on hold

Contract-extension talks between the Orioles and their star right fielder Nick Markakis have broken off and likely will not be revisited for at least six weeks.

[Groundskeeper]

Macphail..........SHOW HIM THE MONEY!!! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? ANOTHER LOEWEN SITUATION???!!

[Bob]

Markakis dosen't want to come to Baltimore , because he like so many others know......"Peter the Great"..is too cheap to put a winning team on the field

[Fang Guy]

Unbelievable. Only the Orioles could blow this.....

[Jerome]

Is Nick worth that much money and is he that good of a hitter?

[alphanumerics]

Yes, and yes. Markakis, Jones and Wieters could be the cornerstones of this franchise for the next decade, but they'll find a way to f it up.

[Rico13]

I wonder what the Orioles' definition of "fairly significant" is?

Just give him the damn money.

[Ghost Oriole]

Wieters just filed for free agency.

He said it was better to get it over with now...

[Ghost Oriole]

I think it's smart for the O's front office to wait a while before signing an extension.

If we've learned anything about professional sports, it's that contracts are cheaper the longer you wait. Just like prices on big screen TV's, you're better off to wait as long as possible.

[trifin]

Sounds like normal "posturing" by Nick and his agent for $$ value purposes. It's been done by many players before him with other teams so it is not much of a suprise. What would be a suprise is if the O's ponied up the long term money. Angelos still has Albert Belle nightmares I am sure.

[Ghost Oriole]

This should free up the Markakis-for-Pie trade which MacPhail has been working on.

The O's need to get younger, and Markakis is getting old.

[Joe]

This is fine, I see the salary bubble bursting this winter and we don't want to be stuck overpaying anyone. We are a small market now, with a dwindling core of good fans, his salary has to reflect that and make sense long-term for The Baltimore Orioles.

[Ghost Oriole]

MacPhail is showing the players who is boss.

Angelos has made it clear that no player will be paid over $500,000 by 2010.

This will help keep ticket prices low.

[Ghost Oriole]

Angelos still has Albert Belle nightmares I am sure.
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Another myth.

The Belle contract was covered by insurance. Angelos made out like a bandit because so many people still think the team had to pay that salary.

Why do you think Belle was still on the roster YEARS after he retired?

Insurance.

[Ghost Oriole]

Gosh, Joe fully supports not signing Markakis.

That's shocking news.

Joe supports whatever ultimately happens regardless of what he believes.

The best O's fan in history!

I'm with Joe. Saving money is far more important than winning. The goal of every MLB team should be to spend the least amount of the customers' money.

[Joe]

Better yet let's box him up to Atlanta for Hanson and Escobar. We have Nolan Reimold coming along anyway. No I don't really want to do that, but the point is we could and most of all we don't HAVE to build this team around Nick. Fall in love with the name on the front of the jersey not the back is my motto.

[Nic]

The O's almost have to sign Nick to a extension if they want to be seen as a serious rebuilding club otherwise it's back to the last eleven years.

[jon dey]

Ghost Oriole wrote:

I think it's smart for the O's front office to wait a while before signing an extension.
If we've learned anything about professional sports, it's that contracts are cheaper the longer you wait. Just like prices on big screen TV's, y

You can't possibly believe that! "Peter The Great" is killing this franchise. This club is going down faster than Linda Lovelace and you want to procrastinate?

[Joe]

I see an attendance crash followed by a salary crash in MLB. I think it's prudent for both sides to see where the market is, I am confident that if Nick wants to stay he will be an Oriole for years. If he dosen't he's got major value, so why worry about it?

[2cents]

Bob wrote:

Markakis dosen't want to come to Baltimore , because he like so many others know......"Peter the Great"..is too cheap to put a winning team on the field

Markakis is ALREADY in Baltimore DONKEY.

[lance917]

Joe wrote:

I see an attendance crash followed by a salary crash in MLB. I think it's prudent for both sides to see where the market is, I am confident that if Nick wants to stay he will be an Oriole for years. If he dosen't he's got major value, so why worry about it?

Joe anything that andy and the orioles do is ok with you.Ghost says it right when he says you have to be the greatest oriole fan of all time. The only thing that i can't figure out why you don't get a usher's job down thereand save that 96 dollar's a game