Is the hot stove hot? Let’s see here, yes, it looks like the stove is simmering a bit.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports the Orioles are making star third baseman Manny Machado, who 25 years old and has one year left on his contract, available to suitors. There’s also a twist: Machado reportedly wants to go back to being a shortstop.
Rosenthal reports that Baltimore wants “two young, controllable starting pitchers” in return for one of they very best and most valuable players in the league. The Orioles are reportedly being “aggressive” about offloading Machado before he hits free agency, and are encouraging teams to make them offers.
Yes, fine, trading Machado is an objectively logical thing to do if they Orioles are convinced that they have no shot at re-signing him once he becomes a free agent next year. They just want something for their trouble and a head-start on their inevitable rebuild, but it’s impossible to get anything close to fair value for a generational talent like Machado. The Orioles are on a quest to make themselves a much worse baseball team, and that stinks.
Rosenthal’s report includes a list of teams who it might make sense for the Orioles to trade with, but the best bit is this line: “[T]he only [club] the Orioles would rule out is the New York Yankees, with whom Peter Angelos does not want to trade, sources say.”
It’s always good to burn the Yankees, and not trading Machado to a division rival would be a good move. An even better one would be finding a way to hang onto a 25-year-old stud with 29.7 career WAR.