Phillies rumor: Club connected to Orioles’ Manny Machado

Would Phillies general manager Matt Klentak swing a trade for Manny Machado?

Phillies fans are patiently waiting for the Giancarlo Stanton and Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes that have brought the offseason to a grinding halt to finally resolve themselves. With so much quiet on the market there must be deals teams are waiting to pull the trigger on.

One player who could find himself on the trade market going into the final year of his deal is Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado. Baltimore is reluctant to trade their prized third baseman, but if they know the finances of a long-term, $300 million deal won’t work they need to cash in.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports connected the Phillies, Yankees, Giants, and Cardinals to Machado as Baltimore receives calls regarding the 25-year-old superstar. Who exactly is making those calls is not specified, but Philadelphia makes sense.

General manager Matt Klentak was the Orioles Director of Baseball Operations and team president Andy MacPhail was the Orioles President of Baseball Operations when Machado was drafted.

Outside of one season when he tore his ACL Machado has been extremely effective at the plate and at the hot corner. In two of his last three seasons, Machado has finished in the top-five of the MVP voting and hit at least 30 home runs.

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Any deal involving Machado would likely involve some combination of hitters Maikel Franco, Dylan Cozens, Mickey Moniak, or Adam Haseley. Pitchers Adonis Medina, Franklyn Kilome, or Sixto Sanchez could be involved although given the organization’s need for pitching it’s unlikely Philadelphia budges on any of them.