This off-season Major League Baseball had two of its most talented and popular players on the free agent market.  The first one being RF Bryce Harper and the other 3B/SS Manny Machado.  The beginning of this year’s off-season was very slow and unusual for baseball.   Despite some early sparks in November and December when SP James Paxton was traded from the Mariners to the Yankees and 1B Edwin Encarnacion was traded from the Indians to the Mariners there was really no other big news coming out of baseball’s off season. 

Finally, on Tuesday, February 19th Manny Machado signed the biggest free-agent contract in North American sports history.  Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres organization agreed to a 10-year 300-million-dollar contract.  However, Machado does have a choice to opt out of the contract after the 5th year. 

The Padres where not by any means the front runner in the Machado sweepstakes at first.  There were some other notable clubs that were thought to have an upper hand in the early going.  The first was the Los Angeles Dodgers.  L.A. was the most familiar with Machado considering that they had acquired him from the Orioles prior to last year’s July 31st trade deadline and had Machado on their ball club all the way through the 2018 World Series.   

The second club that was thought to be in the mix was the Chicago White Sox.  The Sox tried to acquire Machado in a very different and unique way.  The White Sox went after best friend OF Jon Jay and Machado’s brother in law 1B Yonder Alonso, in addition to offering him a substantial amount of money. 

The third was club that was in on Machado was the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Phillies were thought to be the most logical club to pick up Harper or Machado, after their owner John Middleton said, “We’re going into this expecting to spend money.”  He also added “And maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.” in a statement to USA Today Sports.  With this quote coming out, the fans in Philadelphia must have thought that it was a given that Phillies were going to go after one of the two big fish.  This statement must have opened ears of Machado as well, considering that he was looking for a contract in the 280 to 320-million-dollar range, in addition that the Phillies are looking to be a serious contender in the N.L. East this year.  

The fourth and final club that was thought to be in contention for Machado was the “Bronx Bombers”,  the New York Yankees.  The Yankees were not necessary in need for another big bat.  However, it was said that Machado would have liked to be back in the A.L. East and during last year’s All-Star Game in D.C. MLB Network’s analyst and former big leaguer Pedro Martinez asked Machado’s nephew “Where would you like to see your uncle play?”  His nephew responded, “The Yankees.”  With a big smile on his face which made Machado blush a bit. 

Even though Machado didn’t end up where most experts predicted.  Manny Machado will still be the highest payed professional athlete in North American sports history.   I don’t think he’d mind potentially missing the playoffs the first 2 or 3 years if it means having 300 million in his pocket.

    Picture From:  https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=manny+machado&FORM=HDRSC2