The New York Yankees have been considered the favorites to land Manny Machado this winter for quite some time now, but they may not be willing to break the bank for the free agent slugger the way some other teams are.
With both Machado and Bryce Harper still weighing their options, Bob Nightengale of USA Today noted on Monday that it does not seem like the Yankees are pursuing Machado all that aggressively.
The #Yankees are either playing it coy, trying to gauge the Andujar trade market, or simply have no intention of offering Manny Machado a $200 million-plus contract. The Chicago #WhiteSox and Philadelphia #Phillies remain the most aggressive teams for the prized infielder.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 7, 2019
The Yankees have probably been listening to all the reports that Machado would prefer to sign with them, so they could be confident the 26-year-old is going to give them a chance to match any offer he gets from another team. If Machado is going to come to them before he signs, there’s really no need for the Yankees to set the market.
For what it’s worth, executives reportedly believe one team is going to make the biggest offer to Machado and Harper, and that team is not the Yankees. While New York could try to trade third baseman Miguel Andujar for a top starting pitcher and then sign Machado, they probably don’t have much interest in a bidding war.
