A report from Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports has said that the Baltimore Orioles will not be looking to trade their superstar third baseman Manny Machado during the 2017-2018 offseason. But at this point, his value is only going down, and the time to trade him is right now. Here’s why trading Manny Machado makes sense for Baltimore right now.
The Case for Trading Manny Machado
Prices Are at an All-Time High
The trade market right now has role players going for a very high price. Multiple top level prospects can easily be acquired through a trade like never before. Just ask the Chicago White Sox how they built their minor league system. They have acquired multiple prospects that were ranked in the top 100 by mlb.com through trades for guys like Adam Eaton and Jose Quintana. Some of the great prospects they got include Eloy Jimenez (ranked number 4), Dylan Cease (59), Michael Kopech (9), and Blake Rutherford (40). If the Orioles decided to trade Machado now, they could very easily get some top prospects in return and build for the future.
Accelerates the Rebuilding Process
Baltimore is definitely at a point right now where they are not contenders. It’s time to blow it up and start all over again. A Machado trade for prospects would accelerate this much needed process to start over. This way, even though there will be a lot of frustration and quite a bit of losing, they will most likely be contenders a lot quicker if they trade Machado now.
Clear up More Cap Space
For the 2018 season, the Orioles would have a total payroll of $91.4 million according to spotrac.com. Machado’s current contract is worth $11.5 million in its final year; a point we will get to later. Even with the salary room that they would have right now, trading Machado now would give them even more salary relief to get more help, for example some decent starting pitching which is desperately needed in Baltimore.
Contract Expiring
As mentioned earlier, Machado’s contract ends at the end of this year. Now arbitration is a possibility, but even then it’s still only one year until free agency hits. At anytime, his trade value could go down due to bad production, or a severe injury. Trading him now would ensure that the Orioles get the most value out of him.
All of these reasons would be good reasons for the Orioles to trade their superstar from Hialeah, Florida. But, it’s understandable why they don’t want to do it. Machado has been an extremely effective player for the Orioles in his time in the league. In only five years in the league, he’s hitting .280 in his career with 180 home runs. There’s a reason why he’s one of their best players. And with him being only 25 years old, there is still plenty of time for him to grow and upgrade his potential.
But if the Orioles want to win now, trading Manny Machado, though not the move they want to make, may be the move they need to make.
