The Phillies are among the teams rumored to have interest in Orioles infielder Manny Machado. Machado is of course in his walk year, and he's enjoying a career year at the plate (159 OPS+ with 18 home runs going into Friday's slate). As well, the Orioles are terrible in 2018, so there's no reason not to trade him as he heads toward free agency.
As for the Phillies, though, it's looking like they're backing off of Machado, at least at the current rates. Here are the goods from MLB.com's Mark Feinsand ...
Source says Phillies have moved on from Machado for now, as Orioles’ asking price is too high. My colleague @ToddZolecki reported yesterday that the Phillies were “considered longshots” for Machado.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 6, 2018
Machado's back at shortstop this season, and the Phillies have gotten poor production from that spot pretty much all year. At third base -- Machado's former position -- Maikel Franco has been adequate but not on Machado's level. (Franco has himself been the subject of trade rumors.) For now, though, the Phillies are reportedly moving on to other targets as we work our way toward the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. That said, there's plenty of time for talks to reignite and for that asking price to fall.
As for which team is the most likely to land Machado, CBS Sports HQ MLB analyst Jim Bowden recently named his two leading candidates.
