BALTIMORE, MD – MAY 30: Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles heads to the dugout against the Washington Nationals during the seventh inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 30, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Manny Machado is going to be traded that much is certain. It’s just a matter of where he’s going to end up.
The Baltimore Orioles are essentially out of the playoff race this summer, and they have a handful of guys that they need to deal before the trade deadline. Of course the hottest commodity on their team is of course Manny Machado.
Multiple teams are in on the MVP candidate. The interest in the shortstop has grown since the offseason, and the price is only going to go up for Machado. The Los Angeles Dodgers could possibly be the frontrunners to land him at the moment, but there’s one team that could sneak in there and steal him from everybody.
According to Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden of MLB.com, the Cleveland Indians could be a dark horse team to acquire Machado.
The one thing that makes a possible deal interesting is the fact that the Indians already have a shortstop, and a good one at that. I don’t envision the Indians moving Francisco Lindor to another position to accommodate a Machado deal.
Machado has made it pretty clear that if he’s traded he wants to play shortstop. He is a natural shortstop, but ended up moving to third when he got to the big leagues. If the Indians acquire him they could move Jose Ramirez to second, and then move Jason Kipnis to the outfield.
Machado doesn’t have a no-trade clause so it’s not like he’d have much of a say in the matter. But it would impact the Indians ability to resign him in the offseason.
The Indians are fifth in wRC+ as a team, behind the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners. All of those teams stand in the way of a second World Series trip in three years for the Indians. Adding a guy like Machado could be the guy to get them over the hump.