A hearty congratulations to Manny Machado for getting through Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday without doing anything stupid, anything to hurt his free-agent platform.
Or should we say anything else?
Machado, the gifted shortstop/third baseman who has long been the fancy of the Phillies' front office, didn't exactly author a brilliant campaign speech when he acknowledged his raging allergy to hustling in an interview with baseball reporter Ken Rosenthal earlier this week.
"Obviously, I'm not going to change," Machado told Rosenthal. "I'm not the type of player that's going to be Johnny Hustle. It's not my cup of tea, not who I am."
Can you imagine the reaction that Machado's agent, Dan Lozano, had to these comments? (No, Danny, no. That's a heavy chair, do not throw it through the window!)
In less than a month, Lozano will start shopping the 26-year-old infielder to prospective buyers. Estimates on Machado's price tag have hovered around the $300 million mark, give or take a Brinks truck or three. Now, the first question that Lozano is going to hear from the potential suitors won't be about what it will take to sign his client or whether Machado wants to play shortstop or third base, it will be about the player's aversion to hustle. Or, as it is known in other circles, playing hard.
In some cities, admitting you don't, won't or can't hustle could make you toxic.
Philadelphia Phillies
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New York is one and the Yankees just so happen to need a shortstop next season as Didi Gregorious recovers from elbow surgery. People close to Machado have told me he likes the idea of being a Yankee because, one, they are the Yankees, and two, he wants to play on the East Coast with a team that trains in his native Florida.
The Phillies also play on the East Coast and train in Florida. They also have a lot of money and a longstanding interest in Machado. They tried to acquire him from Baltimore in July and were willing to include big talent in the deal if Machado would have agreed to a contract extension. The Dodgers ended up getting Machado and the Phillies, quietly confident that they could land the player as a free agent this winter, moved on.
But now you have to wonder if Machado could work in Philadelphia. It's almost become cliché to say the city - i.e., the fans who pay the bills - likes a certain kind of athlete, one that goes all-out all the time, but when you think about some of the city's all-time favorites - Chuck Bednarik, Bobby Clarke, Brian Dawkins, Chase Utley - you realize it's not cliché, it's fact.
Even before Machado made news for the wrong reasons this week, there had been whispers that some in the Phillies organization would prefer to steer clear of Machado for just the reasons that the player articulated in his ill-advised and ill-timed comments. To the best of our knowledge, general manager Matt Klentak remains open-minded, and that's good because Machado is a great talent and the Phillies need some of that if they are going to put a winner on the field.
But this whole issue has complicated things for Klentak and an ownership group that is poised to write some big checks this winter. Whether or not to pursue Manny Machado is going to require a lot of thought and a lot of weighing the rewards of his talent versus the risk of his makeup.
And who are those guys over there in the corner grinning like a pair of Cheshire cats? Looks a little like Bryce Harper and Scott Boras.
