The Manny Machado trade is finally official.
Machado was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers by the Baltimore Orioles for five players. The players include: Yusniel Diaz, Rylan Bannon, Dean Kremer, Zach Pop and Breyvic Valera.
In exchange for Manny Machado, the #Orioles are getting the following #Dodgers prospects:
4. Yusniel Diaz (No. 84 in @MLB)
27. Rylan Bannon
28. Dean Kremer
RHP Zach Pop
2B Breyvic Valera
Scouting reports, tool grades, video, stats & more: https://t.co/AnIkFLtPPp— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 18, 2018
The haul includes two pitchers (Kremer and Pop), two infielders (Bannon and Valera) and an outfielder in Diaz. Diaz is the highest-rated prospect and appears to be the centerpiece of the trade for Baltimore.
It’s impossible to say what an Orioles-Phillies deal would have looked like. But the Orioles delved extensively into background work on Adam Haseley, Adonis Medina, JoJo Romero and others. The Phillies could have matched the depth of the Dodgers offer but not the upside of Diaz.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 18, 2018
Diaz, who was signed out of Cuba, is batting .314 with a .905 OPS in double-A this season. Bannon, who was drafted in 2017, is having a huge season with 20 homers and a .961 OPS in High-A ball. Kremer is 6-3 with a 3.03 ERA this season, mostly spent at High-A. Valera has made it up to the majors already in his career and is a 25-year-old second baseman. Pop, a 7th-round pick last year, has a 1.04 ERA over 43 innings as a reliever this year.
Baltimore seems to have gotten a pretty nice haul. Though many of the players have a ways to go before reaching the bigs, many of them are certainly off to promising starts to their careers. The Dodgers are also paying the $6.3 million Machado is owed for the rest of the season. They’re clearly doing what they can to build another World Series team.
