The offseason's main events have been swallowed up by an event horizon, but after months of a news cycle that occasionally turns hours into minutes only to stretch them into weeks, Major League Baseball may finally be arriving at some kind of closure with its two marquee free agents.
Both Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Todd Zolecki at MLB.com said the Phillies are laying track to sign Bryce Harper after a productive Saturday in Harper's hometown of Las Vegas. Nightengale's USA Today story goes further than the house organ, calling Philadelphia the "clear-cut favorite" for Harper's services.
The fun thing about a thorough Harper-Phillies story is that it's intrinsically a thorough White Sox-Manny Machado story. The Phillies and Sox are apparently the only identifiable teams with the resources and desire to throw $200 million or more at the offseason's best free agents, and Nightengale's characterization of the events suggests a conclusion by elimination. With the Nationals supposedly out on Harper and the Yankees signing D.J. LeMahieu to address the infield gap, that basically leaves one marquee talent apiece for Sox and Phils.
The White Sox, meanwhile, have focused their attention this past month on Machado, offering him a contract for about $200 million. They also traded for his brother-in-law, Yonder Alonso, and signed his close friend, Jon Jay. Their optimism is also growing, believing that if the Phillies sign Harper, they might be the only true remaining suitor for Machado.
After the reports from Las Vegas dropped into the picture, Jeff Passan filled out the White Sox' side with their Machado pursuit:
Manny Machado is sitting on an eight-year offer from the Chicago White Sox and is still engaged with the Philadelphia Phillies while their pursuit of Bryce Harper grew stronger with an in-person meeting in Las Vegas over the weekend, league sources told ESPN.
Eight years? $200 million? Both seem well short of what seemed necessary to land Machado, and both figures still may be. I suppose it's commendable that the White Sox are avoiding the Baltimore/Chris Davis trap of bidding against themselves, but this remains such a strange way to approach the end of a landmark deal for a team with no natural advantages. Those in the Sox' position usually have stepped up with offers the stars can't refuse, so when it's merely an offer Machado may as well take, it seems like it's begging to get blown up before they cross the finish line.
Then again, maybe the $200 million/eight years is as far as the White Sox have been pushed to go as Machado seeks other suitors or one-year deals to take another run at the market as a 27-year-old, even though the qualifying offer isn't a factor (corrected).
Basically, no matter how you twist it, it seems like Machado's most sensible landing spot in Chicago, but it's playing out like a terrible romcom. The question is whether the White Sox have been The One for Machado this whole time and he just needed to realize it ... oooorrrrr the drip Machado is about to settle for before somebody more appealing and recognizable has an epiphany and swoops in.
Here's hoping for a happy ending, even if the path to it as tortured and terrible as, say, "Serendipity." Just like with the acquisition of Yonder Alonso and Jon Jay, all's well that ends well. Then again, if this story line lasts a few weeks longer, it might just be all's well that ends at all.
