The Manny Machado trade decision will be made soon

Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the big name left on the trade market.

Manny Machado might be traded. Machado probably won't be traded, but hey, there's a chance he will be. We should know either way soon enough, as the Orioles supposedly plan on settling the issue by the end of this week.

The short of it is the offers for Machado haven't been what Baltimore was hoping for, but at the same time, they're going to be without closer Zach Britton, who ruptured his achilles working out, haven't upgraded the rotation, and don't have the farm system to make up for the free agents they aren't signing. Machado is gone in a year, as is Britton, and now is probably the time for the O's to forget about 2018 and start thinking further down the road.

So, the options here are to hold on to Machado either until he leaves as a free agent and gives the O's draft compensation, which is a situation they tried to avoid by offering their third baseman up in the first place, or until he can be moved in-season to a team desperate for a major upgrade. Or they can move him now for less than they hoped to get in order to avoid having to deal with any very Orioles-esque emergency outcome like Machado getting hurt or playing poorly in the first half that further adversely impacts his trade value.

It seems as if Baltimore is leaning toward keeping Machado despite the risks, but that can be defended, given this is Machado we're talking about: his 2017 was a down year, sure, but he rebounded before it was over, and is a season removed from being a guy everyone expected to make at least $300 million as a free agent down the road. If the right situation pops up in-season, the O's won't see low-ball offers: they'll see franchise-altering ones.

• The Giants traded for Evan Longoria, which is a pretty good sign they plan on contending in 2018. Grant Brisbee, who knows a thing or two about the Giants, is here to let you know that they're trying to contend because they have no other choice.
• The next move for the Giants in their quest to contend in 2018 is probably Jay Bruce.
• Seriously, though, the Orioles need to get moving on acquiring pitchers if they're going to seriously attempt to compete in 2018.
• The Rockies have been fixing their bullpen, but they need to focus on fixing their lineup, which was not good in 2017.
• Here's a reminder that Scott Boras is not the enemy. I mean, he's not your friend, either, but the owners of baseball teams are the foe of fans and Boras alike, so we can at least uneasy truce it for a bit.

• Rob Manfred seemingly got caught in a lie about his knowledge of new Marlins' owners plans for slashing payroll, and his defense was basically "Count the rings!" and "Tanking works!" I hate this sport sometimes.
• Weird how the 29 other owners all had advance knowledge of the Marlins' plans to severely slash payroll -- and not knowledge through whispers but knowledge gained through official league paperwork -- and then free agency took forever to get going and still hasn't truly gotten off the ground because the players and the teams have far different ideas of what their market value is in a world where the Marlins are going to keep selling off players at a discount just to clear payroll. Collusion is a strong word here, but shifty as hell fits.
• Cleveland signed Yonder Alonso to a two-year deal, and they have to hope that he hits more like the Alonso from the first few months of 2017, and not the Alonso of the entire rest of his career.
• On the other hand, bad Alonso is basically adequate Mitch Moreland, so ... things could be worse in Cleveland.
• The Tigers rushed to get Ian Kinsler off of their roster, and the result was a meager return.