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Manny Machado is going to be very expensive someday soon
Friday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes Manny Machado’s free agent value, a ridiculous baseball comeback, and the Phanatic’s stolen keys.
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
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It took Manny Machado a few years to take off as an obviously special talent, but he's more than made up for it in the past couple of seasons. The 2015 campaign was Machado's breakout, with 35 homers, a 132 OPS+, and a fourth-place finish in the AL MVP race. He's been even better in 2016, as the O's 23-year-old third baseman is batting .318/.386/.616 with 14 homers and a 165 OPS+ that ranks only behind David Ortiz, Daniel Murphy, and Mike Trout. Sure, one of those things is not like the others, but Machado is legit. And also is going to be very, very expensive when he's a free agent in less than three years.
Machado will be reportedly looking in the $400 million range, and apparently that’s territory that Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos has no interest in approaching. The two sides talked extension after 2013, well before Machado’s ascension to arguably the third-best player in the game, and those discussions led nowhere. He’s certainly not going to be cheaper now, not when he’s one of the few players you can see in the AL bumping Trout from his assumed MVP status in a given year. Not when he’s still just 23 years old and will hit free agency at the absurd age of 26.
Of course, like with Bryce Harper or any other major free agent at this point, signing Machado long-term doesn’t mean a team would get to keep him long-term. Opt-outs are going to cloud everything, and someone like Machado could easily negotiate a $400 million deal that turns into an even longer and richer one after two or three or four seasons given his youth. That’s in the future, though. The Orioles are just one game out of first in the East at present, and they have two-plus seasons of Machado left to them no matter what. They can worry about Machado’s free agency when it comes.
- Jason Kipnis interfered in the mascot race by knocking over Ketchup, but Ketchup managed to win anyway.
- The Dallas Mavericks want Rougned Odor to be their new security guard.
- The NCAA Baseball Tournament begins on Friday, and we've got the bracket, schedule, and so on for your pre-tourney perusal.
- On a related note, you'll find draft prospects playing during said tournament, so here's a look at the ones you'll want to keep an eye on.
- The Mariners completed the greatest comeback in franchise history against the Padres on Thursday, coming back from down 12-2 in the fifth inning to win 16-13.
- You'll never stop the Marlon Byrds of the world from taking PEDs. They just don't have anything to lose.
- With Joe Kelly demoted, the Red Sox need a new fifth starter, but who is it going to be?
- The Nationals and Phillies saw their game start three minutes late because the Nat's bench coach stole the Phanatic's keys.
- It's unclear what the Phillies' plan is at first base.
- The Indians have ditched their cream jerseys, which has at least one person very happy.
- Baseball -- and sports as a whole -- fetishize comebacks. These comebacks can often be conflated with redemption, and that's something to be keep in mind as Matt Bush becomes more and more important to the Rangers.
- Since the start of 2014, Madison Bumgarner has homered in a higher percentage of his plate appearances than Mike Trout. Maybe he should do the Babe Ruth thing if his arm ever gives out.
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