The Phillies are, by all appearances, finalizing the big trade with Seattle we learned about last night that will bring them shortstop Jean Segura.
But don’t think that will take them out of the running for the big shortstop on the free agent market. Indeed, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that despite the Segura trade, the Phillies still have interest in Manny Machado to play third base:
It’s Machado’s stated preference to play shortstop, but money talks, right?
It’s also the case that Phillies front office sources may merely be talking here, perhaps in an effort to either drive up Machado’s price for their competitors or to make the fan base believe they are going all-out when, maybe, they aren’t. Who knows?
