2018 Dodgers Review: Manny Machado

On Wednesday July 18th, the Dodgers completed a trade for Baltimore Orioles shortstop Manny Machado. The Dodgers sent five players to the Orioles: outfielder Yusniel Diaz, infielder Rylan Bannon, infielder Breyvic Valera, right-handed pitcher Dean Kremer and right-handed pitcher Zach Pop.

Machado would start 49 games at shortstop and 16 at third base for the Dodgers in the second half of the season. He also started all 19 games in the postseason.

What went right

As a Dodger, Machado hit .318/.437/.553 in 103 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. Also his overall total of 13 home runs in the second half, tied him with Max Muncy for the team lead in the second half.

What went wrong

The Dodgers trailed the Brewers two games to one game as they were playing in extra-innings in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

Machado was fined an undisclosed amount for what he did to Jesús Aguilar.

Machado had a few incidents like that and also his effort when running out batted balls was sometimes less than what it could have been.

Prior to this game on October 16th, Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic and Fox Sports released an interview with Machado and one quote got a lot of play after the story came out.

“Obviously I’m not going to change, I’m not the type of player that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle,’ and run down the line and slide to first base and … you know, whatever can happen. That’s just not my personality, that’s not my cup of tea, that’s not who I am.”

Almost five weeks after that interview, Machado spoke with MLB.com writer Mark Feinsand and said here that he was sorry he wasn’t clear enough when he spoke to Rosenthal in October.

“When I was asked that question, I was definitely on the defensive, and I was wrong to answer it the way that I did, because looking back, it doesn’t come across how I meant it,” Machado said in the interview that was certainly geared toward to his free agency discussions.

“But I know how I said it and how that came across, and it’s something I take responsibility for. I look forward to talking with each GM and owner that we meet with about that, or any other questions they have.”

2018 particulars

Age: 26

Stats: .297/.367/.538 in 163 games with 37 home runs and 107 runs batted in. In Los Angeles, Machado batted 273/.338/.487 with 13 home runs.

Game of the year

In Game 4 of the National League Divsional Series, Machado went 2-for-5 with a three-run homer that put the game out of reach and Dodgers would go on to their third straight National League Championship Series.

Roster status

Manny Machado was one of the two premier free agents to hit the market this offseason. Reportedly, Machado will make a decision in early January, the teams that are most rumored to be involved are the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox.

Since Machado was traded during the season to the Dodgers, he does not have any entanglements with a Qualifying Offer attached to him so any team that signs him will not lose a draft pick or any other compensation.