The Philadelphia Phillies are still very interested in one of the two big names left on the free agent market, but they reportedly prefer one to the other.
According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, the Phillies prefer Manny Machado to Bryce Harper, but are still interested in either of them. This is backed up by the fact that the Phillies will host Machado in Philadelphia for a Thursday visit, while they didn’t meet with Harper at the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.
This is not an indication that there’s no interest in Harper. The team is aware of his demands, but as he’s demanding a record deal in excess of $35 million a year, the expectation is he won’t sign before January at the earliest.
Machado is taking a tour of interested suitors this week. It’s publicly known that he was in Chicago on Monday to visit the White Sox, and he’ll visit the New York Yankees as well. Those appear to be the three main suitors, though other teams are still at least somewhat involved.
