2018 Trade Deadline rumors/speculation

EDmuch 2018-07-26 17:15:59 UTC #844

My only concern is that if MM re-signs with the Dodgers, there are NOT a lot of opportunities ahead. The 2018 UFA class is looking pretty meek for position players right now.

bigegypt0417 2018-07-26 17:25:12 UTC #845

I would not have done that trade...I'm just commenting on the point that we couldn't have added premium pieces if we chose to.

bigegypt0417 2018-07-26 17:25:52 UTC #846

yeah...it's like when someone constantly tells everyone prospect A or B is already a bust or something.

zambonir 2018-07-26 17:32:52 UTC #847

LeBron already owned two houses in LA and spent most of the off-season there.

And hey if they don't get Manny they can just take all the assets they would have spent trading for him this year, throw in a couple of more, and get Trout next deadline.

Florida_Sunshine 2018-07-26 17:36:35 UTC #848

I think you need to trust Klentak to figure it out. Right now, I am still not sure that all of our developing players have shown all they can be. Weren’t we all ready to use Franco as a throw away? And so many of us thought Nola was a middle of the rotation pitcher? And some here on the board were criticizing the Phils for what they were sure was a lack of offseason moves? And then money started flowing as a SP, 2 RP, and a 1B were signed. We are fortunate with having a lot of developing pitchers, and your guy Pivetta is not a lost cause yet! I am of the camp that the rest of this season will be fun being in a pennant race, and then the moves for next year should make the team better.

Florida_Sunshine 2018-07-26 17:37:32 UTC #849

Minor point, you’re messing up his argument!

allentown 2018-07-26 17:46:17 UTC #850

This is the key points. Some of the press about what the Phillies were offering were incredibly rich offers. Some of those were discussed in this thread. They were too rich for a rental by my standards. I have never accepted the notion that to come to Phillies was to love the situation so much that he would re-sign here. Machado never expressed any particular affinity for Philly. The guy who has is Trout.

EastFallowfield 2018-07-26 17:50:52 UTC #851

Probably better for Machado to have his last memory of Philly being all the love sent Utley's way, with bigger crowds than usual.

bigegypt0417 2018-07-26 17:56:41 UTC #852

Florida_Sunshine 2018-07-26 18:03:39 UTC #853

Honestly, even when I read that, I thought it was a tepid endorsement. Look, I imagine the offer will be made, and they all will be for more money than he can spend in his lifetime. We shall see.

allentown 2018-07-26 18:08:13 UTC #854

It says Machado is still friends with Jordan and that a number of other execs were with the Orioles when they signed Machado. That is not at all the same thing as saying Machado has expressed an affinity to Philadelphia or to the Phillies. This article was all about why we have a chance to sign him. If he had said something like "I think Philly would be a great place to live and the Phillies are a team I really want to play for and I'm close to a lot of their players", I guarantee you the article would have featured that. It wasn't even alluded to.

zambonir 2018-07-26 18:09:28 UTC #855

You can see the front office is not "all-in" on this season with each passing day, and that's fine by me. They will do something, but clearly they didn't think two months of Machado or Britton was worth the price, and they also didn't think the "recruiting advantage" was. I really don't care what gets said in the LA papers for the rest of the year, the front office knows Machado, they know his agent, they know the risk that he might not come here.

They want to win the division for sure and after that anything can happen - but that also cuts both ways. The 2015 Cubs won 97 games and lost to the Mets (as did the favored Dodgers in the NLDS). It's not the end of the world if the Phillies are the surprise/underdog team.

Being a data-driven team, you know they are not doing anything idly. They may truly believe the line-up is going to improve on its own. They may also believe that Franco and Williams aren't the complete answer (be it defensively or offensively) and will address that, as rumored. Or maybe they secretly believe the one-run wins are not sustainable and even a few tweaks to the line-up or pen won't change that. One thing about this front office is they don't really leak or telegraph their moves that much so I'm still expecting a surprise.

bigegypt0417 2018-07-26 18:11:55 UTC #856

Again...I'm just pointing out he does have connections to the organization. I think you have moved from one reason to another reason he won't sign here. so far by my count....

He loves NY and is going to be a Yankee or now the Dodgers
Something about money
We treat LA players poorly
Now we're discussing media rumors about him loving this or that

allentown 2018-07-26 18:14:23 UTC #857

I don't doubt for a second that you are correct that LA has a leg up. What I doubt is that coming to Philly as a rental would be the determinant in his re-upping with us. Philly isn't LA. Also, by the time the season ends, Barletta will be waging a virulently anti-Hispanic Senate race and that may permeate a lot of the media/public space.

zambonir 2018-07-26 18:27:18 UTC #858

There is no way Manny Machado will ever know who's running for Senate in Pennsylvania. He probably won't even learn who Kevin de Leon is.

EastFallowfield 2018-07-26 18:58:23 UTC #859

Ken Rosenthal says the Nationals may decide to become sellers if they have a bad series with the Marlins.

Florida_Sunshine 2018-07-26 19:00:45 UTC #860

Wow, it would seem to me to be too early to cave on their part.

nycphils 2018-07-26 19:01:43 UTC #861

Harper would be perfect.

allentown 2018-07-26 19:02:23 UTC #862

I have stated multiple reasons, not shifted one to another. I still think all of the reasons are valid and add up to two months in Philly weren't going to increase our odds of signing him.

zambonir 2018-07-26 19:03:52 UTC #863

There's just no way they'd send us Harper. Bad enough to wave the white flag, bad enough to trade him (though I'm sure there'd be talk of immediately re-signing him) but you can't give him to the team that's kicking you out of NL East contention (either team).