When news broke that the Baltimore Orioles were considering moving franchise cornerstone Manny Machado, it threw a lot of people for a loop.
Machado is still just 25 years old. He’s been an All-Star three times in five full MLB seasons. He’s homegrown talent. And he’s among the best players this franchise has had since Cal Ripken Jr. called it quits many moons ago.
Why move Machado? Surely the idea of getting a king’s ransom back in return could entice GM Dan Duquette and Co. The fact that Machado is also set to become a free agent following next season also plays a role here. But Baltimore doesn’t exist in a small market. It has the financial resources to make him among the game’s highest-paid players.
Well now, it looks like the Orioles’ ownership group agrees with this sentiment. According to MLB insider Jim Bowden, sources believe that a Machado trade wouldn’t be approved by the brass, even if Duquette recommended it.
8 teams have made trade offers to the Orioles for Manny Machado but sources doubt that ownership will approve a trade even if recommended by GM Dan Duquette
— Jim Bowden⚾️🏈 (@JimBowdenGM) December 19, 2017
First off, it is somewhat of a surprise that someone of Duquette’s ilk would have to get ownership approval to make a trade. He’s a veteran off 38 MLB seasons as a general manager. Here’s a guy that seemingly had full control over his roster in Milwaukee, Montreal and Boston.
Though, Machado is seen as a generational type talent. If the ownership group is unwilling to approve a trade, it would likely be willing to throw together the necessary contract to keep Machado long term.
As the MLB hot stove season continues, this is one of the stories we have to pay attention to. Any potential Machado trade could change the entire dynamic of the 2018 MLB season.