Yankees wanted Manny Machado to explain playoff antics, hustle comments

The New York Yankees may end up being the team that invests a historic amount of money in Manny Machado, but they apparently have the same character concerns that many others have expressed about him.

Machado’s reputation took a big hit during the postseason because of some dirty antics and his admission that he doesn’t always hustle. The slugger met with the Yankees for over an hour on Wednesday, and team officials reportedly wanted to speak with him about all of that.

Yankees wanted Machado to explain postseason antics, including "Johnny Hustle" comment. But given his affinity for them, probably didn't need to sell him on NY/the Yankee Experience. He's likely to get full red-carpet sales pitch from #Phillies tomorrow.https://t.co/efWMtJrFbB

— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) December 19, 2018

Machado appeared to spike first basemen on multiple occasions during the postseason. He also admitted in an interview that he has never been big on hustling and will probably never be known as “Johnny Hustle.” You can understand why teams like the Yankees would want assurances that that isn’t going to continue and/or was blown out of proportion.

While the character concerns are not going to prevent Machado from landing a huge contract, a report from last month claimed one team had already ruled out signing him because of them. That team obviously is not the Yankees.