This year’s Major League Baseball free agency class has been highly-anticipated for a some time, with two of the brightest young stars in baseball, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, headlining it.
Many teams are expected to be interested in signing one of the two stars, while some could even look to sign both regardless of how lucrative the contracts are.
Among them was expected to be the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees as both teams are typically big spenders and stayed under the luxury tax threshold in 2018.
It appears the Yankees might not be after either of the big fish though as Joel Sherman of the New York Post is speculating that they will not go after either Harper or Machado:
I don’t think the Yankees will overreact. But they will act. Boldly. I believe they will stay away for sure from Harper, whom they have never seemed infatuated with, and probably fellow free agent Manny Machado as well.
If the Yankees are not in the mix to drive up the price then that bodes well for the Dodgers and the other teams that could be involved.
Re-signing Machado seems like a long shot for the Dodgers considering Corey Seager is coming back to play shortstop, but they have shown interest in Harper dating back to this season’s trade deadline when they claimed him off waivers from the Washington Nationals.
Whether or not the Dodgers sign either of them remains to be seen as their front office has typically not been willing to hand out long-term contracts.
Machado seemed to make sense for the Yankees considering their shortstop Didi Gregorius recently underwent Tommy John surgery and will be out for half of the 2019 season. Their main focus this winter may be on pitching instead though.
Other potential suitors for either Machado or Harper could include the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants, among others.
