This is a daily BSJ off-season feature that will arrive in time for your lunch, Monday-Friday.
A spin around the leagues with the latest news, notes, and rumors around Major League Baseball
RED SOX
According to a report by Jon Paul Morosi with the MLB Network, the Red Sox and Orioles continue to have discussions about Manny Machado. It would appear that the Orioles' talks with other interested teams have cooled with both the Yankees and White Sox.
Still, it would seem two major obstacles remain in the way for the Red Sox to make a trade for Machado.
1. A lack of high-end, major league-ready prospects.
The Orioles, naturally, want a ton for Machado, who is entering his final season before free agency. Reportedly, the Chicago Cubs offered Addison Russell, Albert Amora Jr. and Mike Montgomery. It's hard to imagine the Red Sox matching such a package. With Machado ready to return to short, the Sox could include Xander Bogaerts, but he's under control for just two more years, or, just one more than Machado. The Orioles are looking for young pitching, and while the Sox have some impressive arms in the lower minors (Jay Groome, Tanner Houck, Bryan Mata), none has pitched above Single A. If the Sox had someone of Groome's ilk at Triple-A and included Michael Chavis and perhaps one more prospect, there might be a path to a deal. But without many elite prospects at Double-A or higher, the Sox seem ill-equipped to be positioned to pull this one off.
2. Machado's pending free agency is a huge roadblock.
It's not known whether Dan Duquette would allow an interested team any time to try to work out an extension for Machado. If he doesn't, the Red Sox — or any other team — would be taking a tremendous risk in acquiring him. Imagine if the Sox cleaned out their farm system for Machado, only to have him walk away next November? That would set the franchise back considerably, and leave them with few options for the immediate future.
Machado is a terrific talent, and the notion of having him play shortstop for the next half-dozen years, while bashing 35 homers a year, is more than intriguing. The Sox would have cornerstone around which to build, just as Machado, 25, is entering the prime of his career.
But from here, because of the reasons stated above, it would seem like a tremendous longshot.
AL EAST
The Daily News chose Aaron Judge as their New York Sportsperson of the Year for 2017
Baltimore infield instructor Bobby Dickerson talks about Machado's move back to shortstop
A look at five questions facing the Rays in 2018.
AL CENTRAL
The Cleveland Indians have some questions, too. Paul Hoynes lists ten of them
The White Sox have a few candidates to become their center fielder.
AL WEST
Former Angel Rod Carew took part in the Rose Bowl parade and talked about receiving his heart transplant.
Here are five questions facing the Mariners.
NL
ESPN's Keith Law believes the Rockies overspent on their bullpen upgrades.
TAKE I MAY REGRET IN A MONTH
It's 2018 now and still, little movement has been made on the free agent market. This has, in turn, resulted in some agents whispering that there's some subtle (or some not-so-subtle) collusion in place by owners and the commissioner's office. No position player has signed a deal longer than three years and only one (Carlos Santana) has signed a deal worth $20 million or more annually.
Baseball has been guilty of collusion before, of course. It happened in the mid-1980s and cost the owners hundreds of millions in penalties. So, yes, there's precedent here.
But it's early to be crying about collusion. The slow market is probably a combination of three factors: a slew of clients being represented by Scott Boras, who typically signs his players later in the off-season; the drawn-out bidding for both Giancarlo Stanton and Shohei Ohtani, which delayed the start of the signing season; and concern over recent big-money deals that have backfired.
