Baltimore Orioles shortstop Manny Machado will be one of the most sought-after players ahead of the 2018 MLB trade deadline. With his contract expiring following this season and the Orioles off to a terrible start, Machado is almost certainly going to be dealt before the July deadline.
With a few teams reportedly interested, the race to land Machado could start heating up soon. One of those teams involved could be the Chicago Cubs according to beat writer Gordon Wittenmyer.
The Chicago Sun-Times writer is reporting that the Cubs are expected to talk to the Orioles in the “coming weeks” with the talks centered around Machado. Here’s what Wittenmyer wrote on the situation:
A lot of dominoes would need to fall in the right directions for the Orioles’ superstar shortstop to wind up with the Cubs before the trade deadline.
But after checking in on his availability during the winter, the Cubs expect to talk to the Orioles about Machado again when the worst team in the American League inevitably makes the pending free agent available in the coming weeks, insiders say.
The Cubs have struggled to start the season and would like to add some more power to their lineup. Adding Machado would boost that lineup but would likely cost shortstop Addison Russell plus prospects.
Machado is set to become a free agent at the end of the season and he’s already made it clear he would like to test out free agency. Would Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer risk trading a player like Russell and prospects for just half a season of Machado? They did so when they acquired closer Aroldis Chapman back in 2016 and they won the World Series. But that’s a different situation.
There’s likely going to be a lot more on this in the coming weeks so buckle up.
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