Call to the pen
Fansided

MLB Rumors: Landing spots for Manny Machado

By Bill Felber

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Manny Macchado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to his first inning strike out against the Boston Red Sox in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Manny Macchado #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to his first inning strike out against the Boston Red Sox in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
Manny Machado
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 3: Didi Gregorius #18 of the New York Yankees looks on during the American League Wild Card game against the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, October 3, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

Yankees and Phillies

The Phillies are an interesting case largely because a consensus has already formed that they will ultimately sign Machado. Certainly, there is a need. Philadelphia contended most of the season before settling back to 80-82 due largely to an 8-20 September in which they lost nine games by five runs or more.

Shortstop duties were split among Scott Kingery, Asdrubal Cabrera, Pedro Florimon and J.P. Crawford: in other words, the Phillies lacked a shortstop.

A team’s revenue situation is always speculative: it hinges not just on how much revenue the team took in and what it spent but also on ownership’s willingness to spend more. Because the Phillies have pared their payroll over the last few seasons from $177.729 million in 2014 to just $95.27 million last year, there is a consensus that the club has a wide latitude to pursue costly free agents such as Machado. As recently as 2016, the Phils turned an $88 million profit, ranking them as baseball’s most lucrative franchise.

The Phils’ money situation looking ahead to 2019 isn’t quite as open-ended as those numbers suggest, though. Counting nearly $69 million in long-term commitments plus arbitration awards estimates to top $42 million, they are headed toward a $20 million payroll upgrade from 2018 even before signing Machado.

So if Phils’ upper management truly believes Machado is the key to closing the gap between themselves and the Atlanta Braves in the NL: East, they probably do have the payroll flexibility to do so. But it may not be the slam dunk case outsiders view it as.

The Yanks, like the Phillies, can afford the contract. The Yanks can afford almost anybody. In New York, though, two other factors come into play. The first is what to do with Gregorius assuming he returns at close to his usual form without undue delay. Gregorius is not on a multi-year deal, but he is arbitration-eligible and he is at a stage where an award in the $10 million to $15 million range would be expected.

The second consideration is that New York has an obvious need, and it’s pitching, not an infield bat. The lengthy roster of attractive rotation options includes J.A. Happ, Dallas Keuchel, Patrick Corbin, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Nathan Eovaldi and Matt Harvey. One or two of those arms is likely to be New York’s top priority, ahead of Machado.

Home/MLB News