A trend in the free agent market

Consider me a bit confused by the Braves' offseason strategy to this point.

Atlanta has already traded away Jason Heyward, and has reportedly been in fairly serious trade discussions with teams involving both Justin Upton and Evan Gattis.

It had looked like the Braves were intending to drop some salary, dish off some assets who have contracts set to expire in the near future and accumulate younger talent that could lead the team to make a push back toward the top of the division in a couple years, possibly in 2017, when their new stadium is set to open.

Then the Braves go out and give $44 million to right fielder Nick Markakis over a four-year deal.

Markakis is a solid player, no doubt. He's got a tremendous arm in right, gets on base at an impressive clip and provided quiet leadership in the Orioles clubhouse during his time in Baltimore. And yes, Markakis was born in Georgia and grew up close to where the Braves' new stadium is being built. That's a nice story.

But Markakis just turned 31. He hasn't hit more than 15 home runs in a season since 2009, has seen his extra-base hit total decline over the last handful of seasons and has posted an OPS-plus of 97 the last two years. (The league-average OPS-plus is 100, for those unaware.)

Just when it looked like the Braves were willing to retool, ship out some of their proven players and add prospects, they hand out a four-year, $44 million deal to a seemingly declining outfielder.

Interesting. We'll see where the Nats' rivals to the south go from here.

Meanwhile, the Markakis deal is yet another example of a player spurning the team that drafted and developed him, and signing elsewhere once reaching free agency.

Yes, we've seen lots of teams hand out contract extensions to their talented young players prior to them hitting the free agent market. That's still an effective way of locking up homegrown players, providing you have a player and agent that are amenable to such a deal.

But it sure seems these days like once a player reaches free agency for the first time in his career, he's gone.

This, of course, is something the Nationals will have to try and avoid, as they have loads of talented players, including some that are homegrown, nearing free agency.

Jordan Zimmermann and Ian Desmond will hit the free agent market next offseason, if contract extensions are not reached before then. (Doug Fister is in that mix, as well, even though he isn't a homegrown player.) Tyler Clippard would follow in 2016. Stephen Strasburg, Wilson Ramos and Drew Storen would then be up in 2017. And if you want to look further down the line with guys like Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon, feel free.

This isn't to say that a player can't or won't re-sign with a team once he hits free agency and hears pitches from other clubs. But once the other 29 organizations have a chance to throw their money around and lure a talented player, the price tag often rises and it can get tougher for the player to say no.

Markakis is the latest example of that.