The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to make a big splash ahead of the non-waiver trade deadline as reports indicate that they have a deal in place to acquire Baltimore Orioles shortstop Manny Machado.
With Machado set to represent the Orioles as the starting shortstop for the American League in Tuesday’s night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the trade will likely be announced on Wednesday.
The reason the Dodgers moved to the front of the line to acquire Machado is due to their willingness to include top prospect, Yusniel Diaz in the deal as he will likely headline the package going back to Baltimore.
There was some thought that a Major League player or two could also be heading back to Baltimore as well, but Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic is now reporting that is not the case:
Barring last-minute change, #Orioles’ return for Machado will include only prospects, no #Dodgers major leaguers, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 17, 2018
Many thought that perhaps Logan Forsythe could have been a part of the deal to help offset Machado’s salary due to the Dodgers desire to stay below the luxury tax threshold in 2018.
As it currently stands, the Dodgers are around $11-12 million below the tax threshold of $197 million. Machado has around $6.33m left in salary. Starter Kenta Maeda still could earn around $3-4m in bonuses, which puts the team dangerously close to going over.
So it looks like the Dodgers may have some more work to do before the trade deadline if they want to stay below the threshold, but for a player of Macho’s caliber, it may be worth the risk.
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