Manny Machado: Latest Offer Should Pique The Yankees Interest
Given the latest offer from the White Sox, If the New York Yankees don’t pounce on Manny Machado, then Hal Steinbrenner should just sell the team.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Buster Olney, reported that the Chicago White Sox had offered Manny Machado a 7-year, $175M deal.
The White Sox offer to Machado is for $175 million, over seven years. In some ways, their approach is like Boston's w/ J.D. Martinez last winter -- the Red Sox offered $100 million and waited for two months. If CWS offer emerges as best, a big ? is: Would Machado/NYY re-engage?
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 16, 2019
That’s $25M per year for one of the games premier infielders. How often does a 26 year old who is elite defensively at 3B, and has averaged 37 HR and a .511 SLG in the last four seasons enter free agency?
In his last four seasons, Machado has a wRC+ (128) better than Nolan Arenado (127) and Robinson Cano (125). How have Arenado and Cano faired recently?
Arenado recently asked for $30M in arbitration, and is expected to receive somewhere around $27M for 2019. This is before reaching free agency. Is it possible that Manny Machado could make less money as a free agent in 2019 than Arenado does in arbitration?
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And then there’s Robinson Cano.
Cano felt “disrespected” after the Yankees offered him 7-years at $175M back in 2013. As a result, Cano ended up getting a 10-year deal worth $240M from the Seattle Mariners. How have Manny Machado and Robinson Cano faired since Cano received that 10-year deal?
- HR: Machado (154) > Cano (107)
- SLG: Machado (.502) > Cano (.472)
- wRC+: Machado (126) < Cano (127)
- fWAR: Machado (24) > Cano (20.7)
The kicker in all of this is that Cano received his deal at age 31 and in the midst of the Yankees paying luxury taxes. Manny Machado is – again – 26 and the Yankees for the first time in history got under the tax threshold precisely for the purpose of signing premier players to compliment their young talent.
The expectation is that Machado will get even better as he enters his prime.
This $25M per year offer from the White Sox should be taken as a slap in the face from Machado’s camp. It should also have opened the door for the Yankees to get the elite defender at a price more to their liking.
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If Hal Steinbrenner’s Yankees don’t pounce on this opportunity, then the Steinbrenner’s run with the Yankee organization should come to a halt.