The Baltimore Orioles reportedly would prefer not to trade star third baseman Manny Machado to an American League East rival, but the Boston Red Sox still reportedly have at least some interest.
The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo reported Dec. 13 that the Red Sox reached out to the Orioles about Machado when the 25-year-old was put on the trade market earlier this month.
Baltimore then reportedly pulled Machado off the market after it failed to receive any worthy offers for the perennial All-Star.
That might not have stopped the Red Sox, however, as MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported Friday that Boston has shown “continued interest” in acquiring Machado, noting that Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and Orioles general manager Dan Duquette worked together with the Montreal Expos, which could help get the deal finished.
While that might get some Red Sox fans all hot and bothered, WEEI’s Rob Bradford later reported that Boston might not be all that interested in the O’s star.
Boston certainly would love to add Machado to its lineup, but the left side of the Red Sox’s infield currently is occupied by Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers, meaning the Sox would have to do some shuffling should they acquire Machado.
The Major League Baseball hot stove has been realtively cold so far this offfseason, but it might be starting to heat up as the calendar heads toward 2018.
