Over at Camden Chat, I reviewed the 2014 season of Nick Markakis, the once-hyped prospect who turned into a basically-average major leaguer.
In the lead-in I talk about last year:
With his walk year looming, Markakis bottomed out in 2013 with 0 fWAR. Many loyal Orioles fans stuck by him, noting his valuable OBP and his tenure with the team. He also played through some injuries and was sidelined by others, most notably a broken thumb towards the end of 2012. But he started drawing more and more criticism for his outfield play and his offensive output relative to expectations in 2009. As more offensive and defensive data became available and sabermetric thinking began to permeate baseball analysis, talk began of how foolish the Orioles would be to pay him $17.5 million in 2015.