So now the Red Sox are interested in Manny Machado

Remember way (way) back at the start of the 2017 baseball season when Manny Machado and the Red Sox were in a huge feud? With all the drama (and home runs) that happened in the rest of the season, it feels like a million years ago. But it did happen. In April, the Red Sox and Machado had a major feud that started with Machado going into Dustin Pedroia at second base hard, and just kept escalating between the two teams. Batters were hit, Chris Sale threw behind Machado at one point, and Machado unleashed a profanity-laden rant. Pedroia even spend part of one inning trying to get Machado’s attention to let him know that he wasn’t responsible for the hit.

Why is this important now? Because despite all that, Jon Morosi says that the Red Sox are interested in trading for Machado now that the Orioles have let teams know he’s available. And of course they would be. No team would let a silly, ridiculous feud like that stop them from getting one of the most talented players in baseball. And with a giant, soul-sucking black hole at third base, they could really use someone like Machado there. He’d almost immeasurably improve the team.

In the end, there are a lot of reasons this might not (and probably won’t) happen. The Red Sox would have Machado for just a year before he’d become a free agent, and there’s no guarantee that he’d want to extend his contract with them. It seems like a bit of a waste of prospects for just one year. And since Machado wants to play shortstop and not third base in the future, that puts the Red Sox at a disadvantage. And most importantly: Orioles owner Peter Angelos already seems reluctant to trade his star, even with just one year left on his contract. And imagining him approving a trade to a division rival? Almost impossible.

But hey, it’s the offseason. It’s the time for teams to dream the impossible dream and be interested in every player possible. But with 2018 mere hours away, teams are going to have to wake up and get serious soon.