After many teams inquired on the services of Baltimore Orioles shortstop Manny Machado for the rest of this season, it was ultimately the Los Angeles Dodgers that acquired the four-time All-Star on Wednesday afternoon.
It did come at a cost, with the Dodgers giving up five prospects in the deal: outfielder Yusniel Diaz, infielders Rylan Bannon and Breyvic Valera, and pitchers Dean Kremer and Zach Pop. Diaz, who was the Dodgers’ fourth-ranked prospect according to MLB.com, was the headliner of the package.
The Dodgers have been interested in Machado ever since shortstop Corey Seager underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in April, so it took the two sides a while to agree on the right package that would be heading back to Baltimore.
It was recently reported that the Orioles were interested in infielder Gavin Lux and pitcher Dustin May, but according to Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Dodgers were not willing to include either of those prospects:
seeing speculation top rhp pitching prospect dustin may may be in the machado deal. but I have heard the dodgers rejected that request early on. they wanted to keep both may and ss gavin lux. can think of no reason why that would change. diaz is the centerpiece for o's.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 18, 2018
It comes as no surprise that the Dodgers were so stingy when it came to those two players as they are both in the midst of breakout seasons for High-A Rancho Cucamonga.
Lux was the Dodgers’ first-round pick in 2016, while May was not far behind him in the third round of that same year.
A couple other prospects that the Dodgers appear to be high on are outfielder Alex Verdugo and right-handed pitcher Yadier Alvarez. Their names have come up in trade rumors multiple times in recent years, but they have managed to keep them in the organization.
The Dodgers are still looking to add pitching before the non-waiver trade deadline, so it is possible that any of those guys could still be dealt this year although it seems unlikely if they were unwilling to part with them for Machado.
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