How the Padres Benefited From Orioles Decision to Not Trade Manny Machado
This offseason, the Orioles finally appeared to be a team with sound leadership.
Manny Machado, one of the game’s brightest young superstars, was put on the trade block after years of playing with underachieving teams in Baltimore. Reportedly, somewhere around ten teams bid on his services.
Baltimore had a prime opportunity to strike it rich with a prospect return. Yet on Thursday, Orioles’ G.M. Dan Duquette reportedly turned his attention elsewhere and away from dealing his stud third baseman.
So how does this affect the San Diego Padres? Well, they can reap a few benefits from the decision. Even before the 2017 season ended, there was a realization that San Diego’s own infield had to be remade.
The combination of Yangervis Solarte, Cory Spangenberg, Carlos Asuaje, and Carlos Villanueva had taken up too much roster space. One, predictably Solarte, was expected to leave before spring training. However, conditions were only made more confusing when former Friar Chase Headley was reacquired on December 12 from the Yankees. Now the team looks to possibly unload two aging veterans in a market that is already full.
Mike Moustakas, Todd Frazier, and Eduardo Nunez have yet to be signed as they are free agents. There are names out there who will sign in the next month or so.
The removal of any third base options signals great news for San Diego. The fact an outstanding talent like Machado is off the market certainly makes the Padres’ men more appealing. They pale in comparison to Machado, but each provide better value than Moustakas and steadier reliability than Frazier and Nunez. Moustakas will cost you an arm and a leg after having a career year in 2017.
Playoff hopefuls like the Brewers, Cardinals, Mets, and possibly the Dodgers and Yankees could also be in the market for proven assets at second, where Solarte thrives. As such, the amount of leverage Preller has in any proposed trade has increased due to the Machado incident.
Moreover, by keeping Machado on the Orioles, Duquette has kept the slim hope of a Machado-San Diego union alive.
Many of the teams that had placed calls on the third baseman this offseason were looking not only towards 2018, but beyond that. He is a free agent after 2018 and so whoever takes him from Baltimore has a better chance of retaining him for the long haul. This is why the Chicago White Sox, a ball club nowhere near competing yet, was said to have put forth one of the strongest offers. A cornerstone like Machado could greatly affect their future in terms of being competitive.
Luckily, the thought of an exchange has been put to a halt, giving San Diego an opportunity to chase the superstar soon as well. He will not stay in a bad team’s uni and will certainly look for a team on the rise in his free agent winter. Thus, the fact that the White Sox and other teams with bright futures were not able to work out a deal with Baltimore, could bode well for America’s Finest City.
There is more hope that Machado can one day be Wil Myers‘ bashing buddy, even if it remains really slim.
Overall, Duquette’s choice to not cash in on his most productive player helps the Friars.
Teams that will strive to be competitors in 2018 will turn their attention towards Yangervis Solarte and Chase Headley on the trade market. As a result, Preller will make the infield picture clearer in San Diego, while further adding to one of the best minor league systems in all of the game. It is an excellent scenario for the Friars.
Also, with Machado not on the move and not receiving lucrative extension offers because of it, the Padres have a greater chance at signing him in the 2018-2019 free agency period. If hope turns to reality, then watch out for the San Diego Padres. They may just return to the promised land. With Manny Machado leading the way?
I write, I write, and then I write some more.. Lifelong Padres & Chargers fan who is tired of the acceptance of losing that grips all of San Diego sports fans!
It’s fun to fantasize but there is no way Machado signs with the Padres as a FA. The resources just aren’t there. New ownership has injected a bit more cash than we’re used to but not to the level of committing $300m+ to one player.
You do know the Padres are no longer paying for Kemp or BJ Upton, don’t you? They still owe $12 million on Shields ($10 million in 2018, and $2 million buyout in 2019). They owe $3.5 million to Gyorko for 2018.
That’s it.
Underachieving teams in Baltimore? The orioles have been picked to be at the bottom of the division every offseason, but have finished in the top 3 for 5 of the last 6 seasons. They made the playoffs 3 of the last 6 years. And won the division in 2014. Being picked to be last, but going beyond expectations isn’t you in derachiving. They’ve been a pretty overachieving team. They’re just definitely at the end of this run right now.
Why would Machado pick San Diego over the other 29 teams? The Pads don’t seem to have a plan.
But they actually do have a plan (for once). Also, they have money to spend.
Rich, Yes, I absolutely did. Didn’t you? And I still do (they are still paying for him). And I still have a problem with them paying millions of dollars for several other players (Kemp, JG, Upton) who are not on their team!!! Don’t you!? Furthermore, you have to admit that Tatis, while great, is a fluke and/or the Padres got VERY lucky (he wasn’t even in their top 30). No one saw that coming.
If they do move Headley, they will have to eat a portion of that contract or throw something else in the mix just to dump him.
This pitcher we got, Bryan Mitchell, cost us as much as Adrian Morejon ($11 mil). He better be REAL GOOD!!!!
They will trade Solarte, asuaje, and Spang, and will roll w Headley at third and parlay him into prospects come the deadline. Headley will be one of the top 2 or 3 offensive players on our team at a decent price.
You need to “B” a lot more “rad” than that (see what I did there). Problem is…while they have value, there is very little demand for the position(s) that those guys play. So if the Padres were able to trade them, they would likely be selling very, very, very low–and the same thing goes for Headley, or any other third baseman, or second baseman, or even first baseman. That is one of the many reasons why the acquisition of Headley is all the more perplexing. Not only The were the Padres the only team buying in a glutted market, they, too, had their own logjam and surplus. Who does that? Now they will have to literally give him away, but only IF they can find someone to take him (or they will have to pay a great deal of his bloated contract that no one else is willing to pay). Is it possible that CH has a big year and is tradeable at the trade deadline? Not very likely.
Other than the money, I’m not sure how this is a horrible trade. We are only ‘stuck’ with Headley for one season max. We got the pitcher that Preller wanted and dumped Blash.
Thanks for highlighting just how bad and embarrassing that Headley trade was.
There is a glut of 3B available, there are VERY few 3B needed, the Padres have their own glut at third that they were trying to reduce, and then Preller goes out and gets ANOTHER 3B!!!
The season does not start tomorrow
Yes, of course, does stating the obvious somehow change the fact that this is a horrible trade?
If Mitchell turns into the pitcher Preller and Co. thinks he can be, and that seems like a pretty good pitcher seeing as they have been after him for 3 years, no one will/should care that the Padres have a Headley still on the roster. And I agree James, the Padres roster as it stands now, will not be the Padres roster come opening day.
Well, you keep spouting off that the Padres are stuck with Headley. That remains to be seen.
Wow, I guess I have been put in the “spouting off” corner, all for saying this was a horrible trade, and that they will have a VERY hard time getting him off their hands, at least w/o paying much/most of his contract, just like Preller has had to do with many others. So by that measure, you’re right, they have 3+ months to pay millions of dollars to another team to take a player who should not have been obtained in the first place.
Freddy, Did you have a problem with the Padres paying the White Sox millions of dollars to take Shields off their hands? Seems to have worked out, no?
James, as one of the writers here, have any of you considered doing an article on the possibility of expansion teams in the near future? It does seem there is a growing surplus of talent at many positions (yes, except pitcher…”You can never have enough pitching”).