Report: Dodgers Emerge as the "Leading Contender" for Manny Machado

The buzz late last night was that the Phillies, in light of reports that they were willing to include Adonis Medina in a deal for Manny Machado, were emerging as the favorite to land the Orioles superstar third baseman.

Not so fast, says Jon Heyman of FanCred sports:

Breaking; The Dodgers appear to be the leading contender for superstar Manny Machado as talks head toward the finish line. The situation is fluid and brewers and phillies may still have an outside chance. Barring turnabout, deal should be done this week. Story comin on @Fancred

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 17, 2018

But nine minutes later, Heyman seemed to back off a bit:

The Machado situation is still fluid, and d-backs are also said to have outside chance, along with brewers and phillies. But LA leads.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 17, 2018

Gut. Punch.

Two things here:

1) The Dodgers are red-hot right now. On the morning of May 16, they were 10 games under .500 at 16-26. Since then, they have rattled off 37 wins in their last 54 games to reclaim the lead in the National League West. If they do in fact add Machado, they become a heavy favorite to win the National League.

2) If the Phillies miss out on Machado, it’s going to feel like a major letdown. Los Angeles edges out Philly for a major superstar. Where have I heard that one before?
Still, it was only three weeks ago that the Phillies were viewed as a long shot for Machado’s services this season, but over the last week with several prominent national baseball writers linking him to Philadelphia, it felt like the hype was real. Still, the Phillies are a team with several holes that can be addressed in separate, more conservative deals that may not require them to part ways with several of their top prospects. Those deals could still put them on the path to their first postseason appearance since the 2011 season.

But nobody wants to hear that right now, and I completely get it.