MLB
Finally one of our baseball free agent nightmares is over as Manny Machado signed with the San Diego Padres yesterday. Not all of the details of the contract where released but it’s reported to be a $300 million dollar deal over 10 years. It’s also been reported that there is an opt out clause after 5 years and the contract has a limited no trade clause.
The Padres ended up being a bit of a surprise team in the Machado negotiations as they didn’t show any interest in him until last month. I think the fact the Machado didn’t receive the offers a lot of teams thought he would that allowed the Padres to join in the negotiations. It appears the only other team to make Machado a serious contract where the Chicago White Sox.
It was reported that the White Sox last offer to Machado was 8 years at $250 million dollars with 2 option years. In the end that wasn’t enough and Machado signed with the Padres.
Machado has to pass a physical before the contract is official but as long as that goes well there should be a press conference tomorrow or Friday to introduce him as the newest member of the Padres.
So it’s one down and one to go, but who knows how long it will be before Bryce Harper signs. While Machado’s deal didn’t surpass in total money; he will earn more per season. Giancarlo Stanton’s deal was 13 years for $325 million dollars. Since Scott Boras doesn’t represent Stanton I think he’s going to try and get Harper a deal bigger than Stanton’s. Which means we could still be waiting a while before we actually see Harper sign with a team.
I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that one of these guys signed and I wish they would’ve both signed on the same day. I am just completely over listening to every single baseball show be it on television or on the radio only talk about these two players even though pitchers and catchers have reported and we’re not too far away from all players reporting to spring training.
I’ve said this once and I’m going to say it again. There needs to be a signing deadline in the off season. I get tired of agents like Boras keeping his players out as long as he can thinking that they’ll get a better deal than if they would’ve signed earlier.
At least Boras and his corporation managed to get one of his clients signed as Mike Moustakas will be returning to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Moustakas signed a one year $10 million dollar deal with a $11 million dollar option for the 2020 season. There is a $3 million dollar buyout if the Brewers decide not to pick up the option year.
The Brewers acquired Moustakas in July of last season from the Kansas City Royals and he played in 54 games for them in 2018. He hit .256 with 8 home runs and 33 RBI’s with the Brewers last season.
Bringing Moustakas back will make it interesting to see how the Brewers line up defensively. Now last season when Moustakas came to Milwaukee it was Travis Shaw who was displaced as the everyday 3rd baseman and 39 games at 2nd base; 36 of them he started at 2nd base. After the signing was announced there was some talk that it would be Moustakas that will be moved to 2nd base.
Having Moustakas for a full season will really help the Brewers offense, but he’s never played 2nd base in the major leagues. Even if the Brewers decide to put Shaw back at 2nd base he’s only played those 39 games in the majors at the position; all last season.
It won’t come as a surprise to me at all if whichever one of them ends up being the full time 2nd baseman that they’ll commit more errors than any other 2nd baseman in baseball. The only thing that may save them is you have to wonder what kind of range they’ll have and how many balls they’ll actual get to.
NBA
Of course over the All-Star break Anthony Davis was badged by reporters about being traded. Interestingly when Davis answered, he made a point that I think every team but the Los Angeles Lakers should be aware of if they’re interested in trading for him.
During his interview he mentioned that all 29 NBA teams where on his list of teams he’d be willing to be traded to. Of course the New Orleans Pelicans would be the one team not on that list. Davis who has one year left on his contract after this one went on to point out that no matter where he’s traded he’ll be testing free agency.
What this more or less means is that if he doesn’t get his wish and is traded to the Lakers he’ll play out his contract with whichever team he’s dealt to and then sign with the Lakers as a free agent. Even if the team Davis is traded to wins the NBA title with him he’ll still be signing with the Lakers as a free agent.
Now I know there are a lot of teams interested in acquiring Davis and the Pelicans have been asking for a lot in return for him, but after listening to his interview can you really mortgage your future for what will be just one year of Davis.
Do you think that Davis lowered his trade value with what he said in his interview? Or do you think that a team is still going to pay the Pelicans asking price? When healthy Davis is one of the top players in the NBA, but what is one year of him worth?
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