Fun, Fun: Multiple “Legit” Mystery Teams in on Manny Machado

I mean, you can say anything is “legit” and it’s not like we have to believe you. But when a reporter of solid repute is willing to put it out there – with that phrasing – hey, I’ll at least listen.

Forget about A-Rod, Mrs. Machado's favorite city, Jon Jay or Yonder Alonso. Word from Machado camp is he's signing with highest bidder.

And Phillies are still strong on him. And there are legit mystery teams,https://t.co/IJ9DMDiejy

— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) January 14, 2019

The precise phrasing from the article: “Additionally, there is more than one unidentified team still pursuing Machado. The ‘mystery team’ concept is often mocked for good reason, but we hear reliably that it’s true in this case.”

In other words, there are teams actually in on him other than the White Sox, Phillies, and Yankees.

I’m still not going to tag the Cubs as a mystery team on Machado, because I tend to think their reluctance to commit to a monster contract right now – based on everything we’ve seen and heard – is more likely than they are performing the greatest smokescreen in the history of the rumor era. But, well, it’s not as if there wouldn’t be a fit there if the Cubs were interested.

Martino’s piece also gets into Machado’s plan to accept the highest offer he receives, which makes you wonder about the wide-ranging reports on how much the White Sox have offered (from 7/$175M on the low end to 8/$250M on the high end), and how much it would actually take to be the top bidder.

Even if it’s not the Cubs, I hope some crazy, left field team enters the bidding out of nowhere. That’s fun.