How much do you like Manny Machado in stripes?
It seems that New York Yankees, Aaron Judge, has become a great recruitment agent for his franchise. After getting to monster Giancarlo Stanton with the ‘wearing the stripes’ compliment, Judge made the same move with Manny Machado, a man who will turn the line-up into a category five hurricane in the MLB.
A year after trying to persuade Giancarlo Stanton to come for the New York Yankees, Aaron Judge is trying to recruit another of baseball's most feared hitters to add him to his team's already dangerous lineup. Judge said this to reporters in Sarasota, Florida, before Wednesday's spring training game between the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, which sent Manny Machado the idea of reaching the Bronx. The player in the main draw will be a free agent next season. "Adding him to the lineup that we already have would be something special," Judge told reporters. "I told him he would look good on a striped jersey."
Judge said Machado laughed at the recruitment offer and really did not say anything in response. "We talked a little, and I just asked him what his preseason was like, how everything was going," Judge said. "I asked him how he liked the uniform and I said: 'You would look great in a striped uniform too”. However, Judge's comments have not gone unnoticed by MLB, as the league issued a statement regarding possible manipulations. "We have been in contact with the Yankees, they told us that Mr. Judge's comments were not appropriate and that the club did not authorize them," the league said in its statement. "They will talk to him to make sure this does not happen again." Seriously?
Machado made the official move to shortstop this offseason after spending most of his six-season career at third base. Just a pity because he is great at third. Although it has appeared in almost 800 games, only in 52 of them he had played as shortstop before this season. Machado has a career batting average of .279 with 138 homers. He has homered totals of 35, 37 and 33 in the last three seasons. Due to the Orioles' $ 16 million salary this season and possibly nearly the double of that amount in the open market next winter, Machado could be a costly addition for the Yankees.
That potential buy would also have to take into account the Yankees' feelings about promising young prospects Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres, the number 5 prospect of Keith Law in baseball. Offensively, Machado would be a welcome addition to a line-up that already includes Judge's big bat (52 homers in 2017), Stanton (59 major league home runs in 2017), Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius. New York shortstop Gregorius is eligible to become a free agent after the 2019 season. Judge joked that he told Stanton at last year's All-Star Game in Miami that he would also look good in the stripes. In December, the Yankees exchanged with the Miami Marlins to take Stanton. So, Machado will join now? How do you like it?