NO GO MACHADO
All signs point to Machado joining Dodgers and not Phillies after break >>
WASHINGTON » Almost all of the layers of mystery had been stripped away by the time Manny Machado arrived at his locker in the American League clubhouse Tuesday before the All-Star Game.
All but one: Which locker room will he be using next?
“I haven’t heard anything,” he said, before starting at shortstop in the All-Star Game. “Nothing. Nothing.”
For two days, Machado had expressed his peace with the idea that he would wear a Baltimore Orioles uniform for the last time Tuesday. Before the season resumes Friday, he knows he will take his power and his expiring contract to a contender, with the Orioles adding a package of young talent in return.
The Phillies have been trying to put together the right offer to add Machado to their first-place lineup, even if only as an end-of-the-season rental. But every indication at Nationals Park Tuesday was that Machado will wind up with the Dodgers. For that, Los Angeles would have to part with 21-year-old, powerhitting outfield prospect Yusniel Diaz, among other prizes. Should the Phillies win Machado, they likely will have to spend deepminors pitching talents Sixto Sanchez or Adonis Medina, or both. And that would just open the package.
The Orioles will not play until Friday, allowing them a couple of more days to keep the auction buzzing. Machado knows, though, that he’s gone.
“There will be a time and a place,” he said. “And I will be here again, answering questions. For now, I am just trying to worry about today and not anything else.”
Technically, Machado is not in control of the situation, with the Orioles free to secure their best possible return for their only All-Star. At season’s end, though, he will be a free agent, thus gaining full power over his next destination.
During the All-Star break, he did give some hints about his preferences: He would prefer to move only once, a hint that he would be willing to sign a long-term deal with his new team; he will only sign an extension in a place where his family is content; he has no geographical preference; he will give the most consideration to a team agreeing to let him play shortstop, not third base; he has some fondness for the Yankees; and he will give his rental team a good, long look before necessarily signing someplace else.
All he knows is that he wants the questioning to end … and the relationship with a contending team to start.
“One hundred percent,” Machado said. “Get these answers done with. And just get it over with already. Go on and not manage these questions any more. That would be good.”
*** The Phillies have been linked in trade discussion about American League All-Star J.A. Happ, one of their former pitchers. Since All-Star lefthanded sluggers Nick Markakis, Freddie Freeman and Bryce Harper, among others, will have some influence on the NL East race, they could use a left-handed starter.
Happ, 35, is 10-6 for Toronto and has been in trade rumors all season. He would be intrigued by a return to the franchise that made him a third-round draft choice in 2004.
“Yeah,” he said, not necessarily as it relates to an imminent trade, but as a general wish about what could be his final majorleague stop. “Maybe ... sure.”
Happ was 12-4 in the Phillies’ 2009 National League championship season, appearing twice in the World Series. The following July, he was sent to Houston in a package for Roy Oswalt.
Happ, who also made one postseason appearance in 2008, remains surprised that Phillies nucleus was not able to win a second world championship.
“You thought at the time that it was going to be a five-year run with everybody they had there,” Happ said. “And they still had some really, really good teams. They just weren’t able to get back to the World Series. But those are still some of my best baseball memories, being on that team.”
As for other former Phillies pitchers perhaps available once again...
Left-hander Cole Hamels, 34, has been caught campaigning for a return to the Phils. Questions abound, however, about his diminished velocity and inability to command his cutter.
Hamels is 5-8 with a 4.36 ERA with the Rangers. On the last year of a contract, the Phillies would have to pay whatever is left of the $23 million he is to be paid this season. At the end of the year, he can be bought out for another $6 million. The Rangers are said to be open to taking a midlevel pitching prospect in return for the salary relief.
*** The Phillies just had a 10-day, 11-game road trip. For Aaron Nola, that was followed by three days at the All-Star Game. So on one level, he is looking forward to returning to Citizens Bank Park, where he could pitch Friday against the visiting San Diego Padres.
“For sure,” he said. “We had a makeup game in Baltimore, then to Miami, then to here.”
Nola hardly was complaining. Rather, he savored every moment of the All-Star experience, answering every question and hanging round long into Monday night to support Rhys Hoskins in the Home Run Derby.
“It is definitely an honor to be in a situation like this,” he said. “It has been memorable.”
*** The All-Star festivities were popular with the Washington fans. But commissioner Rob Manfred knows his sport has an issue with the image that every regular-season at-bat results in a home run, a strikeout or a walk. Solutions? “There’s a lot of conversation going on in the game,” the commissioner said. “It’s being discussed among ownership and I do think there is some concern with respect to that issue.”
Manfred said there has been contact with Tony Clark, who directs the players’ association, about improvements.
Could a limit on shifting provide some relief?
“Even if you move players back to the opposite side of the diamond, it’s unclear that they are going to change their approach at the plate,” Manfred said. “So we’ve got to weigh that one all the way through.”