Just a quick musing on my part:

How much did the Aubrey Huff trade affect Nick Markakis' stats?

Before you flame me, consider this: Yes, Huff had a down year, but he still had 73 RBIs at the time of his trade. Opposing pitchers started the season knowing that the 2008 edition of Huff had had 32 dingers and was fifth in the league in OPS.

And yeah, Huff was off the pace for much of 2009, but players go through ups and downs all the time, and he had enough good stretches early in the year that pitchers had to respect him somewhat. So there's little doubt that in the typical Orioles' 2009 lineup of 3-Markakis, 4-Huff, they were throwing better stuff Nicky's way. 

When Aubrey was traded in August, who were these pitchers to fear? Melvin Mora? How long did it take Trembley to move Nolan Reimold up?

No, I don't think this accounts for all of Nicky's lowered numbers (AJ's declining average and time on the DL hurt Nicky's RBI chances) but I think it's a contributing factor.

Part of getting Nicky back to form next year will involve Andy finding someone with a big bat to protect him in the lineup.

Stats, for those of you who are so inclined.....

Aubrey Huff was traded on August 17th. Nick's stats before and after that date, courtesy B-R.com:

Date	Tm	G	GS	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Apr 6, 2009 to Aug 17, 2009	BAL	118	117	48-70	527	480	70	146	39	1	15	84	39	0	77	3	0	5	9	9	3	2	.304	.357	.483	.840
per 162 games		163	161		724	660	97	201	54	2	21	116	54	0	106	5	0	7	13	13	5	3

Link

Date	Tm	G	GS	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aug 18, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009	BAL	43	43	16-27	184	164	24	42	6	1	3	17	17	0	21	0	0	3	0	3	3	0	.256	.321	.360	.680
per 162 games		162	162		694	618	91	159	23	4	12	65	65	0	80	0	0	12	0	12	12	0

Link
Note that the only statistically significant offensive category that's higher in the second stretch is BB/162 games. It's 20% higher. Nicky's numbers all went down except this walk rate. It's not like he was getting a bunch of IBBs, but pitchers weren't afraid of losing him to pitch to the next guy either.