Speaking with reporters Sunday, Orioles general manager Dan Duquette confirmed that the team will attempt to return to contention, not rebuild, in 2018. That means neither third baseman Manny Machado nor reliever Zach Britton will be on the trade market in the offseason. Both players are scheduled to become free agents after next season, but Duquette unsurprisingly revealed that the Orioles will consider trying to extend Machado over the winter. Given that Machado’s a year from potentially collecting a record contract on the open market, it’s difficult to imagine the 25-year-old re-signing in the coming months. From a team standpoint, the positive contributions of Machado and other position players largely went to waste this year on account of poor pitching. With that in mind, Duquette said that the Orioles will focus on improving their rotation in the offseason, adding that they’ll have the ability to upgrade via free agency (Twitter links via Rich Dubroff of PressBoxOnline.com, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com and Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun).
More from around the American League:
- Machado isn’t the only superstar third baseman in the AL East who has one year left on his contract. The Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson is in the same situation, but if the soon-to-be 32-year-old gets his way, he’ll remain in Toronto for the long haul. Donaldson said Sunday that he’d “be tickled pink” to finish his career as a Jay, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet (Twitter link). He also revealed, via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, that he met with GM Ross Atkins to “let him know where I stand and where I stand is I want to be a Blue Jay.” There were no contract negotiations during the meeting, according to Donaldson, and Atkins was reluctant to share details of their discussion. “I can tell you I love Josh Donaldson as a player, he’s been a great teammate, really smart, interesting person, dynamic personality, he’s been great for this organization,” said Atkins. Check out Davidi’s piece for more quotes from Donaldson and Atkins.
- The Twins have surprised this year en route to a playoff berth, but Paul Molitor still doesn’t know if he’ll be the team’s manager in 2018, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press writes. Molitor is unsigned past this season, and his fate will rest with the decision-making duo of chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine. Those two were not at the helm when the Twins hired Molitor prior to the 2015 season. That was ex-GM Terry Ryan, who’s now an employee of a Philadelphia team that happens to be looking for a manager, as Berardino notes.
- The Tigers have conducted interviews for their vacant managerial post this weekend with hitting coach Lloyd McClendon, first base coach Omar Vizquel and third base coach Dave Clark, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports (on Twitter). General manager Al Avila will begin interviewing outside candidates next week, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com tweets.
Molitor’s gone. Knowing Falvey and Levine, and judging by their most recent firings in the front office, they’ll just have a computer manage the team. This is the dark side of sabermetrics.
He will be th Tigers next interview, then
Not so fast with the hook. He’s done an overall good job. And they were not expected to contend this year.
At the trade deadline, if The Orioles aren’t anywhere near a division title, or a wild card spot, they better shop Britton, and Machado.
I don’t see them resigning Machado after next year. Are there any players they’ve signed to avoid free agency, or spent big money on one? I know they’ve missed out on Fielder, Teixeira, and others in the past. I know they signed long-term contracts with a few “core players” at the time (like Adam Jones and Chris Davis), but Machado is going to be a different beast, and he’s already made a few comments about the possibility of playing in New York (with Gary Sanchez and Bryce Harper — unlikely but he’s thinking about NY) or “home” in Miami. Would the O’s spend the big bucks after doing so on Davis? If not, why not trade him this offseason and get a better return?
With how much money Miami is losing each year, and the new ownership group looking to shed big and small contracts. The odds of Machado in Miami is next to nil, unless he wants to be paid pennies on the dollar.
Agreed, I don’t see Machado taking a huge pay cut just to play in Miami. I don’t see Baltimore being the highest bidder either.
Totally. No chance and with the FA pitching options and what’s available in house, its gotta be Angelos making this call. That roster has too many “what ifs” that it needs to go right to have a chance next year.
There is no doubt starting pitching is a big Orioles issue. However, this team slump in September illustrates the hitting focus on just hitting HRs while ignoring OBP. Machado, Davis an Triumbo have tanked. This also must be addressed.
If they hypothetically listened to offers for Machado this offseason (admitting that it’s unlikely they re-sign him), who do you think the caliber of starting pitchers would be that they could acquire for him since his new team would have him for a full season (at least), rather than July 31st to the end of the season?
This is the key question. As much as DD maintains he won’t be shopping MM, he’ll no doubt receive and listen to offers this offseason from a bunch of teams.
It’s hard for me to imagine that a team would give up a top SP for Machado. It’s just too hard for deals to work like that. A team acquiring Machado would need that frontline SP to compete next year. I’d imagine the prospect return would be pretty great though. Buehler from LAD or Whitley from Houston to start. Someone along those lines.
I didn’t understand the massive dollars thrown at Davis when they signed him. It seemed at if the Orioles were only bidding against themselves. He should have been offered a lot less. Now Baltimore has an albatross of a contract that is going to hinder the likelihood they can sign Machado, or any top tier starters. Davis was a bad signing when it took place, and looks even worse now.
I agree. The Orioles totally misjudged the market for home run hitters. Look at last year, home run hitters like Trumbo and Chris Carter signed for a lot, lot, lot less. And, if Davis could at least hit like .250-.275 that would help. And, even though Davis is a free swinger, this year, with men on base, he took a lot of key third strikes with his bat on his shoulder. I started wondering if he needed glasses?
He’d let the first 2 strikes go straight down the middle and then swing at strike 3 in the dirt! I hope this was just a bad year for Davis or else it’s going to be a long miserable contract.
If the Twins don’t retain Molitor then they deserve the 75 win seasons that will follow.
Relax Tiger fans, these internal interviews are more of a courtesy than anything. My suspicion is that Al is more than happy to clean house and go with someone outside the organization. Look for those who have worked with him in the past, such as Fredi Gonzalez to be his main targets.