Phillies rumors: Manny Machado off the table, signs with Padres
By John Town
The Phillies have officially missed out on signing Manny Machado as he will sign a 10-year, $300 million contract with the Padres.
It is now Bryce Harper or bust time for the Phillies. They will not fulfill the ultimate free agency pipe dream and sign both Harper and Manny Machado. According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, Machado will join the Padres with a 10-year, $300 million deal. Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports reports that there will be an opt-out after the fifth year. It is the biggest free agent deal in American sports history.
The Padres entered the market late for Machado. The Phils, White Sox, and Yankees all fielded meetings with Machado in December; San Diego came into play once the year turned. They also took a run at Harper, but their depth in the outfield made signing Machado more logical.
With Machado now off the table, Harper is the next domino to fall. Machado’s deal matches what Harper was offered by the Nationals at the beginning of the offseason. Machado’s record will likely be broken once Harper signs.
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Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, now knows what suitors will need to beat to sign his client. The theory all offseason has been that Harper will wait for Machado to sign first so he can beat his deal. The first step of that is done; now it is on Harper.
Harper will likely look to also beat Giancarlo Stanton‘s record $325 million that he signed when he was still with the Marlins. He may even try to top Zack Greinke‘s record annual average value of $34.4 million.
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Philadelphia no longer has their fallback option of Machado. While the front office may not, many fans will consider this offseason a failure if they do not sign one of the top two free agents. With one no longer available, it’s do or die for the front office.