Baltimore Orioles: The drip, drip of Manny Machado news
By Rick Soisson
Trade rumors of Baltimore Orioles Manny Machado have been slow as molasses.
Although the SportsSpyder graph of Manny Machado news stories for the last 30 days involves a falling line, the Baltimore Orioles star remains linked in rumors for every team from the New York Yankees to Manchester United.
Nearly a month ago an unnamed Yankees scout suggested that Machado isn’t a great fit for the Bronx Bombers for several reasons ranging from cost in dollars to potential misfit issues in the New York spotlight to cost in talent coupled to a misfit resulting in the player leaving at the season’s end. Moreover, for this team, a question begs, according to NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty: Do the Yanks need him with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez already on board? Nonetheless, as Machado is considered one of the game’s “best” players, Kuty’s answer there was: “OK, every team needs Machado.” (This is known in Jersey as having it both ways – whats your point, whaddya gonna do?)
It says here, firmly, the median OPS for Judge, Stanton, and Sanchez is .920. The Yankees do not need Machado.
Ah, yes, but the season of speculation rolls on. Machado has his third year of arbitration eligibility this year, his two Gold Gloves, and his lifetime OPS of .805. He has over 30 homers each of the last three years. Manny’s life is good.
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The list of teams interested in him now includes not only the Yankees, but their archrivals, the Sawks, as well as the Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies, and Diamondbacks. Presumably, the Cubs would use Machado at short. Past suitors include the White Sox and Buffalo Bills, who knew they needed a new quarterback.
OK, I halfway made that last part up.
However, what if Machado weren’t 25? Would the pursuit of this player be quite as hot?
Yes. Try as you might, it’s hard to see anything concerning in his numbers beyond the slight dip in batting average in 2017. The next nearest “problem”? He hasn’t won a Gold Glove in two years. Who wouldn’t want a 25-year-old who can field “pretty well” and hits .259 with 95 RBI in an “off-season”?
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For now, the bet here is that Baltimore tries to slug their way out of last place this season after moving Manny Machado to shortstop to make him happier. They will hope that makes their star want to stay in Baltimore while they work on their starting pitching. Neither the Yankees nor any other team is likely to give up the two “controllable” starters the O’s apparently want for their most crucial infielder.