Throwback Monday - Article about Manny Machado Orioles Trade Rumors

Ideal Landing Spots for Orioles Premiere Infielder Manny Machado

The New York Yankees: With Didi Gregorius playing at a consistently exceeding level at shortstop defensively and offensively for the Yankees, it’s unlikely to think that Machado would play shortstop. However, after the disaster and the incredible downfall of Chase Headley since signing in New York on a contract worth 50 million dollars, the option at third base and a mid lineup spot remain available. However, the Yankees farm system is not as strong as it was 2 to 3 years ago, so they would have to be willing to give away decent major league players for one year of Manny Machado at third, with no valid answer as to whether he would consider resigning with them the following year.

  The Chicago Cubs: A natural shortstop before being forced to the hot corner in Baltimore, Machado could greatly benefit from a move to the Cubs. With Kris Bryant at third base, Machado would return to his natural position. However, in order to do so, that would mean the Cubs would have to give up quite the package, possibly including Javier Baez, Addison Russell and a mediocre prospect. However, the Cubs should only pull the trigger if they figure they have a strong chance at resigning Machado, since they would have to give up a hefty deal for Machado to be in Chicago for one year.

With that being said, it’s unlikely there is progression on a trade including Manny Machado, as the trade rumors will always be floating around.

Why Can’t MLB Teams Trade Draft Picks?

Why Can’t MLB Teams Trade Draft Picks?

With all of the trade rumors fueling a rumor filled December, today, we chose to focus on a less discussed question among baseball analysts and fans. Why can’t draft picks be traded? First off for those unfamiliar with the MLB draft, there are over 50 rounds, and 1000 selections annually of young, hopeful players wishing to fulfill a childhood dream of being an MLB superstar.

One reason discussed among fans, is that there are simply too many rounds that would be traded and passed on to other teams. In addition, in the MLB all drafted players work from the minor leagues, up to the major leagues. However, since a player could be stuck in the minor league for as long as his career could continue, the player is hesitant to sign a contract.

Therefore, that is the reason so many players go unsigned every year. However, the popular opinion of which the MLB should allow draft picks to be traded is a very good and supported one in fact. Since many teams every year across the MLB rebuild and resign new, better players to replace the old ones, why shouldn’t teams be able to trade for first round draft picks once they rebuild and have a talented crop of minor leaguers work their way up into consistent, reliable MLB players?

Why Tanking is No Longer the Perfect Strategy for the NBA

Why Tanking is No Longer the Perfect Strategy for the NBA

Tanking is when an NBA team intentionally lose games in order to get relatively high draft picks for the next season. Just like how a minority of  the lower income social class intentionally stay poor to get health insurance benefits for free, in addition to how actors intentionally set negative societal examples to attract public attention. NBA managers sometimes use an intentional strategic move to “give-up” on the competition and in return, obtain advantages in the long-run. I believe using tanking as a strategy is detrimental to an NBA team and system because it destroys team chemistry, loses fan support, and has been proven quite ineffective.

In basketball, one plus one can either be greater than two or less than two, because the total strength of two players is not exactly the sum of the two players’ offensive and defensive power. (+,- system) Something that cannot be measurement by metrics, but can be easily neglected is team chemistry. A team can have two average role players who can understand one another's game fluently, who in part, could realistically outplay two stars who do not get along. When team chemistry is cherished and  high, players care more about team victory than personal individual stats and accomplishments. Imagine a team of players who have incredibly high and shared momentum towards competing for a championship but are consequently told to intentionally throw away games for perhaps a freak of nature college athlete the following year. Players will gradually care less about the record of the team and more of their individual metrics, because their higher management would be angry if they went on a winning streak and held it consistently, breaking intentions. Some star-caliber players in a tanking team happen to be against tanking because becoming intentionally bad as a team also negatively impacts individual player’s stats. Players who do not want their stats affected will turn away from competing with players of an opposing team and start competing with their teammates by trying to outscore them. The most representative example is the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2018-2019 season. When Jimmy Butler, an all-star level player paired up with young stars Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, people thought the 2017-2018 Timberwolves are in the distant conversation of winning the championship. After not living up to the potential and only making the eighth seed in the playoffs that year, the Timberwolves managers clearly realized and decided to take a step back this previous season and try to tank, ultimately becoming sellers at the trade deadline in February.  This strategy quickly created significant conflict between Towns and Butler, causing the Timberwolves to trade Jimmy Butler, who hoped to continue to compete for a championship in an environment where winning is placed above anything. This also caused the Timberwolves newly drafted SG/SF Josh Okogie, to develop in an environment where winning wasn’t established as a priority.. All of these negative consequences of tanking suggest that even if the tanking team is able to draft an amazing player, the team’s breath-taking atmosphere can thwart the development of the young players and the team may never finish or recover from a rebuilding process.

A significant reason why teams should not suggest tanking is based upon fan support. Take the New York Knicks for example. They are quite seemingly sick and tired of being well, sick and tired. Their draft lottery placements have always been lower than expected, and their management just recently signed four power forwards in free agency, with the only exciting addition being Duke guard RJ Barrett. While many fans had dreams and expectations of pairing Kyrie Irving with Kevin Durant and Zion, that quickly developed into Taj Gibson and Reggie Bullock, leaving thousands of die hard fans aggravated for this seasonOf the students that we interviewed, 62.5% (blue slice) are against their favorite team tanking and 37.5% (red slice) are in favor. We can see that most students, regardless of how bad their favorite teams are, do not want their teams to stop competing. They would rather see their favorite team give everything in to try to climb 

Lastly, a team shouldn’t simply not tank because the strategy is no longer as effective following the draft rule change. In the past, teams are substantially more likely to get the first pick with the worst record. However, following the 2017-2018 season, the NBA modified the draft lottery rule so that the worst three teams have an equal 17% chance of receiving the coveted first overall pick. Since this newly constructed rule has been implemented,  most teams understand that being last and lowest seed in the regular season is not and will never be anymore guaranteeing the first overall choice to that desired fan baseTherefore, tanking is not the perfect strategy as it was repeatedly proven ineffective, hence the New York Knicks year after year.

NBA team should always consider competing as the first option regardless of how bad or socially criticized their current team roster is.Although several teams will always pursue this path, nothing is guaranteed anymore relative to regular season records, unlike football.

The Return of Reyes

The Dominican Republic legend, .290 career average hitter, and former all star returned to the New York Mets last week on a minor league deal. Reyes, the former signee of the Miami Marlins was suspended earlier this year for domestic violence reason against his wife while they were on vacation. 

    So, what happened to Jose Reyes? The game changer, leadoff batter, and bag stealer? 

After leaving the New York Mets to sign  in 2011 for 6 years on a 106 million dollar contract, with the Miami Marlins, along with Greg Dobbs, Mike Cameron, Heath Bell, Mark Buehrle, and draftee, Jose Fernandez. However, the Miami Marlins produced no more than a flash in the pan  in terms on progression and were almost forced, due to salary cap reasons, to trade Reyes, and a handful of other established players to the Toronto Blue Jays in November of 2013. However, from their, the decline of Reyes slowly, but surely began. 

  In April, following the trade from the past November, Reyes was carted off on the field after hearing a pop in his left ankle while chasing a ball. 

    After a few unproductive and underwhelming seasons plagued by injuries, Reyes was traded to the Colorado Rockies in July of 2015, in the blockbuster deal that brought Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays, and budding pitching prospect Jeff Hoffman to the Rockies. 

   In 132 games with his new club, Reyes batted a productive .274 and was poised for a major, rebounding newt season. If only he stayed out of trouble.

    During the 2-15-2016 offseason, Reyes was charged with domestic violence against his wife, while the two were on vacation in Hawaii. On February 23rd, 2016, commissioner Robert Manfred stated that Reyes would be suspended for 50 gamed without pay. 

  After reinstatement on May 31, Reyes was assigned to a rehab stint in the minors. On June 15th however, Reyes would be designated for assignment, and would be signed to a reunion with the New York Mets, his starting club (2003-2011). 

   As the story progresses, one will not simply know how this will work out, whether Reyes would return to old form or decline steadily. 

An Interview with the One and Only Tim Dierkes, of MLBTradeRumors.com

    Tim Dierkes, the founder of the notoriously popular baseball page, MLBTradeRumors.com, agreed to talk a bit with MLBwithEvered. Tim Dierkes explains how great it was to fill a need for hungry baseball fans, like ourselves, by creating a website, not owned by a major corporation, that provided quick updates and breaking news of the MLB and MILB.Tim has been a fan of baseball his whole life. As a child he was obsessed with the Chicago Cubs and then-star players such as Mark Grace.


1: If you could interview any Hall-of-Famer, who would it be and why?

A:  I'd suppose I'd take the chance to interview Babe Ruth, because he would be opinionated and give interesting answers about how the game has changed.

2: Growing up, did any baseball player or broadcaster inspire you?

A: I grew up a Cubs fan, so I admired obvious choices like Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Kerry Wood, and Sammy Sosa. But I was fully invested, so I was aslo big on guys like Kevin Orie, Brant Brown, Terry Mulholland, Steve Trachsel, Jeremi Gonzalez, Jon Lieber, and Kevin Tapani. I met Jim Bullinger a while bad and I was really excited about it.


3: Did you feel that Brady Aiken was the correct choice as the first overall draft pick, last year?

A: Yes, I think most experts considered him the best player available. Certainly it would have been preferable if teams could have seen his medicals prior to drafting him; perhaps he'd be in an solid organization by now, in that case.

4: I'm usually on MLBTradeRumors.com at least three times a day, what effect do you think made your website so popular?

A:   I think we stumbled into a niche that needed to be filled, back in 2006 or so. We've always been very quick about putting the latest stories up, which people like and wasn't as easy before Twitter. Even with Twitter, I think we provide a filter so that people can just browse the best-written, most important, trustworthy stories and not have to wade through everything. We are able to add context and analysis by virtue of consuming so much information. As we've grown, we've done more original reporting, which is always good. The fact that we are not owned by a major corporation might be appealing to some people as well, as we have more of an independent vibe.


  Big shout out to Mr. Dierkes and his team at MLBTradeRumors.com
Not only does Mr. Dierkes provide insightful information about trades that can happen on moments notice, or the trades rumors that continue for over 4 years ( Tulowitzki ). Thank you Mr. Dierkes

   Click here to visit Tim's website.