Buenas noches, señoras y señores. A report from the Dominican Republic could provide you all the warmth you’ve longed for on this cold winter evening:

“But, Russ, who in the world is this unverified dude and why should I care?” you ask? Well, friends, Héctor Gómez is a Dominican sports reporter with 70,000 followers. For some perspective, back in November when I wrote about a Venezuelan report that the Phillies were no longer interested in Machado, that writer had only a third of Gómez’ following. Does that mean his information is better? I have no clue. Machado’s family is from the Dominican Republic, so one could infer that Gómez might know someone from Machado’s circle, though that’s far from certain.

For what it’s worth, this report came on the heels of this drop-in from Jon Heyman:

One can only hope Machado makes his mind up soon and that the Phillies make a legitimate offer.