Baltimore Orioles Not Planning on Trading Manny Machado

The Baltimore Orioles are reportedly not planning on attempting to trade Manny Machado this upcoming offseason. Machado has one year of arbitration left on his contract.

The Baltimore Orioles are reportedly not planning on attempting to trade Manny Machado this upcoming offseason, Jon Heyman of Fanrag Sports reports. The team has also not made any progress on extending Machado.

Machado has one year left of arbitration on his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent, just like teammate and fellow former All-Star, Zach Britton.

Heyman reports that rival clubs believe there to be a “zero” percent chance that the Baltimore Orioles are able to sign Machado to a long-term extension, given the fact that he has just one year left on his contract, however it’s not impossible.

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According to Heyman, the Orioles were “within $8 million or $9 million” of signing Machado long-term a couple years ago, however, owner Peter Angelos had some reservations regarding the health of Machado’s knee (reservations he presumptively doesn’t have now).

Given that the Baltimore Orioles signed Chris Davis to a $161 million deal, Machado would obviously argue that he’s worth plenty more than that, if not something similar to the $325 million deal that Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton received.

If Machado elects to become an unrestricted free agent after next year, it will certainly be an interesting free agency, as he and Bryce Harper will both be free agents at the same time (assuming Harper doesn’t sign a deal with the Nationals at some point). It stands to reason that, if Harper signs some sort of mega-deal before Machado does, Machado will use that as a negotiating tool, which could potentially up his price.

At just 25-years-old, Machado has already been to three All-Star Games and has won two Gold Glove awards. This season, he’s slashing .264/.318/.484 with 32 home runs, 79 runs, and 92 RBIs, in what has actually been a very down year for him.

However, Machado’s struggles this year have largely been driven by his batting average on balls in play (BABIP), as it’s been an uncharacteristically-low .267 on the year. That BABIP has been positively regressing towards the mean lately, as it’s been sitting at .299 in the second half while Machado has been slashing .307/.346/.533, much closer to the numbers we’re used to.

That BABIP has been positively regressing towards the mean lately, as it’s been sitting at .299 in the second half while Machado has been slashing .307/.346/.533, much closer to the numbers we’re used to.

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The Orioles have a number of important contracts they will have to make decisions on soon, as both Machado and Britton are free agents after next year, and All-Star Jonathan Schoop is a free agent after the 2019 season.