New reporting indicates that the New York Yankees remain very much a factor in the Manny Machado sweepstakes.
According to The Athletic’s Jayston Stark via colleague Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees are “doing particularly extensive work” on Machado. Manager Aaron Boone and members of the front office have been calling those who know Machado well to get a sense of his character and his reputation as a teammate.
Those are fair questions after a controversial postseason in which Machado attracted more attention for a lack of hustle and questionable on-field actions than any of his exploits at the plate. Previous reporting had indicated that all of that had caused the Yankees to cool their interest on him, but that may have been an attempt to manipulate the market, as this indicates they’re as interested as they’ve ever been.
Machado is still a 26-year-old fresh off a season in which he hit .297 with 37 home runs while playing in the middle infield. He’s going to get a ton of attention and a lot of money.
