The New York Yankees seemingly have no room for Manny Machado in their lineup with Didi Gregorius locked in as their shortstop of the future and Miguel Andujar coming off a breakout season at third base, but one trade could change that in a hurry.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that rival executives have been given the impression the Yankees are open to trading Andujar this winter.
Name to watch with #Yankees: Miguel Andújar. Rival execs tell me and @ByRobertMurray NYY open to moving him. Would make sense as #Marlins’ ask for Realmuto; MIA wants established young MLB player as headliner. Also would line up with NYY pursuit of Machado. Torres could play SS.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 11, 2018
Machado has maintained that he wants to play shortstop, but his path to earning the most money may be going back to third base. The Los Angeles Dodgers have already seemingly ruled out bringing him back and the Boston Red Sox aren’t interested, so he would be wise to remain open to signing with the Yankees and playing third again.
Andujar is 23 and coming off a season in which he hit .297 with 27 home runs and 92 RBI. The Yankees would be able to get a significant return for him and potentially fill another need while opening up a spot for Machado.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman already ruled out the possibility of the team adding one huge name on the free agent market, but Machado has been linked to the Yankees for quite some time. Their reported willingness to move Andujar could mean Machado is in their plans.
