Soooooo, should White Sox fans be nervous about the Padres? Maybe? On Friday, the Padres were officially tossed into the Manny Machado saga, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported they are legitimate suitors for Machado. Now, there’s another report saying the Padres are trying to set up a face-to-face meeting with Machado in Miami.
Dennis Lin with the latest.
Sources: The Padres have expressed interest in arranging a meeting with Manny Machado, possibly in Miami. SD would like to get some face time before becoming more involved with the free agent.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) January 26, 2019
So, back to the White Sox, who are definitely one of the few teams making a serious effort to sign Machado, should they be worried? Should fans start thinking the worse?
Not quite. I mean, Machado still hasn’t agreed to a meeting with San Diego.
No offer yet. The timeline on the meeting, if Machado agrees to one, is unclear. https://t.co/9WOAaBXVDz
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) January 26, 2019
And even if he does, I think everyone should expect him to, it would simply be Machado checking all his options. Again, it’s pretty obvious there’s not a single huge offer that’s on the table for him because otherwise he would have signed it by now.
There’s also this. Does Machado even want to play in the West Coast and how do other players feel about him?
A few things from today.#Padres would want to meet Manny Machado. So far have only met with agent. There’s lot of talk he really doesn’t want to play on West Coast, and there are real concerns other players have about him. Padres believe Hosmer, Kinsler will be good influences.
— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) January 26, 2019
The following addresses the doubt the Padres had about Machado, but how their attitude has shifted. Via The Athletic.
Some Padres officials initially were concerned about Machado’s makeup, but the team grew more comfortable with the idea of adding him after soliciting the opinions of some of their own players and others.
So, the concerns from other players part appears to be proven false.
The Padres are in a similar spot as the White Sox. They have a great farm system, with a few top prospects ready to come up in 2019. San Diego was a long shot to get Eric Hosmer last offseason, but they did, waiting out the market and signing him after the middle of February. They’re no strangers to the long process that has become of going after big free agents.
On Friday, White Sox GM Rick Hahn said that he hopes to get rid of the narrative that the team is cheap.
Hahn says they’ve made offers that would disprove the idea the White Sox won’t spend at the top of the market if they were accepted, and hopes to disprove that narrative over the next few weeks
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) January 25, 2019
So, maybe just keep an eye out for the Padres, but White Sox fans shouldn’t be too paranoid about losing out on Machado to San Diego.
Yet.
