The Bryce Harper/Manny Machado Drama Train About to End
Over the past week or so there has been some indication that Manny Machado’s free agency was coming to an end. Rawlings tweeted out a picture of Machado’s 2019 gloves, which bore a striking resemblance to a certain baseball club on the Southside of Chicago.
Check out Manny Machado's gloves for this season! Where do you think he is going to play this season? Is the black and white a sign?? #TeamRawlings pic.twitter.com/GO1CNs57UT
— Rawlings Baseball (@RawlingsSports) February 12, 2019
Now, of course this could be all bunk. Why would Rawlings take it upon themselves to announce a deal, especially when contracts aren’t finalized. But there is some hope for Chicago White Sox fans that Machado will play his home games in Com-Cell-Rate Field in 2019 and beyond. After all, he has used team color equipment before.
But, let’s face it, baseball gloves come in all sorts of colors, and you can get customized Wilson A2000 gloves using just about any color combos you’d want.
Ultimately, if this is the offer on the table, and as we suspect, no one is near at the moment, Machado will be walking into Camelback Stadium at any time.
Report: The White Sox offered free agent shortstop Manny Machado an eight-year, $250 million deal #MLB pic.twitter.com/GdxQhwzwaV
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 10, 2019
It also sounds as if the Bryce Harper courting is coming to an end, at least if you believe Chris Russell, a host on 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C.
In the report, Russell believes that Harper is telling those around him it is finally time to relax and celebrate.
“Maybe I took a little bit of a leap of faith here based on some indications I got from a real good source,” Russell said of saying the decision would be announced on Friday.
“Bryce and his representatives, (Scott) Boras, his people, his wife Kayla, they’ve been meeting since Monday morning in Vegas. Bryce originally wanted this done, when it took this long, by Valentine’s Day. Obviously, the contract has not been announced, signed, whatever.”
“But I’m lead to believe by the people that I’ve talked to that are close to the situation — and I have, again, a real good source that has helped me through this process, let’s just leave it at that,” Russell said. “That Bryce was in a mood to celebrate yesterday. Now, the source said, ‘I believe it’s done.’ I don’t have concrete, 100-percent proof for you guys. I wish I did, otherwise I would have it and I would be running around with it. But I don’t have that, so I want to caution everybody in Philadelphia. But that’s what I was lead to believe, that this thing is now decided.”
“Now, what comes then is hammering out a contract. And if we were to believe the report that the Philadelphia Phillies had not even extended a formal offer — and I assume that to be a termed, written agreement, that type of thing, which I find hard to believe — then there might be more leg work to this. And therefore, hey the decision may be done but the contract still needs to be ironed out.”
So… ah… where is he going?
“I don’t think it’s going to be the Nationals. I think it’s going to be the San Francisco Giants. But, that is not, that is not — by any means — a, like, I know that for a fact. So, I want to caution everybody because I know how this works…”
So there’s legit information here, ah… possibly. It would make sense that Harper would tell people around him it’s time to celebrate if he believed he made a decision. But, it was also Valentine’s Day and he very well could have said that to give the impression that all is well. Now, I’m not going to compare my salary to that of Harper, but if I was out of a job and looking, I’d be telling my wife similar things in an attempt to calm her.
This isn’t a unique thought. There are many that seem to sense this thing coming to a close. The line wild card can be the Phillies. If they are waiting for best and finals from anyone else involved, they can get screwy by overbidding by several million to force the issue.
There’s still that possibility that Scott Boras comes back to the Cubs at the end, as it was suggested earlier in the offseason, giving the Cubs an opportunity to offer something, but with how long this process has taken, I couldn’t picture the Cubs making an offer and have enough time to trade a current outfielder opening up some room.
It is my strong belief that both players have things narrowed down to the club they want to play for. I also believe that neither want to be the first to sign, as that could lead to more money for the second one to accept terms.
