Phillies

Manny Machado to San Diego: Reaction, Fallout, and Bryce Harper-Related Posturing

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 19th, 2019 · 1:54 PM EST

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Things are happening. The entire foundation of snail-paced baseball free agency is beginning to crumble upon its gastropod shell now that Manny Machado finally signed with a damn team.

In the aftermath of the Manny-to-the-Padres news, Chicago reaction:

Ken Williams: “We could not go that $300M level.”

— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) February 19, 2019

Ken Williams on the White Sox missing out on Manny Machado: "I feel we put our best foot forward."

Story and video by @TeddyGreenstein https://t.co/AlygBTmDGi pic.twitter.com/tU2Y6H4niV

— Chicago Tribune Sports (@ChicagoSports) February 19, 2019

Ken Williams is Executive Vice President of the White Sox. If the Sox couldn’t get to $300 million for Machado, they ain’t getting to $300 million for Bryce Harper. That’s good news for the Phillies.

I also saw this on Twitter:

Have been hearing lately Bryce Harper unsure about Philly. They'd better convince him for their sake.

— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) February 19, 2019

This is a good development for the Mets indirectly. The Phillies would have been a lot better Machado than Bryce Harper, whose defensive decline has scared off a ton of teams, including the Yankees.

— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) February 19, 2019

This guy is from New York, so it smells like bullshit to me. I’m sure agent Scott Boras is trying to pull whatever strings he can pull to push the price tag for Bryce Harper even higher. “Andy Martino” might actually be an elaborate Boras burner account. I wouldn’t put it past him.

There was also this:

Machado signed for what #Nationals offered Harper in last week of the reg season — albeit with deferrals. I would suspect Harper is going to beat this still with belief #Phillies remain most likely destination

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) February 19, 2019

Yes, the Nationals offered Harper 10 years at $30 million per. The Phillies have the resources to make the offer Boras is looking for. I’m not sure who else does at this point. The other big spenders are pretty much set when it comes to their current roster and contract outlook. 

There was also this bit of… semantics? 

This likely is semantics. Machado has not passed a physical and the two sides have not finalized language. But they are in agreement on financial terms. https://t.co/j4kcZZBRg1

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 19, 2019

Major League Baseball wouldn’t have photoshopped a picture of Machado in a Padres jersey if the deal was gonna fall apart. This thing is happening. 

Bob Nightengale:

The #Padres simply outbid everyone and got their man.
Now, the #Phillies will be focusing solely on Bryce Harper.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 19, 2019

Thanks Bob.

And finally, there’s this:

https://twitter.com/AngeloCataldi/status/1097919087475417089

Or else? Or else what? You gonna beat him up? 

Come on man.