Finally, days into spring training, one of the marquee free agents has agreed to a deal.
Star infielder Manny Machado reportedly agreed to a 10 year, $300 million deal with the San Deigo Padres, spurning other suitors including the New York Yankees.
But there’s at least one child who’s glad Machado didn’t choose his favorite team.
“You’re not going to take a guy you hate from another team!” he exclaims to an SNYtv camera. He also lists a handful of other stars that, no, he does not want to come to the Bronx.
Machado spent most of his career with the Baltimore Orioles, another team in the Yankees’ division, the American League East.
this kid EXTREMELY did not want Manny Machado pic.twitter.com/6oFCVgIsz5
— SNY (@SNYtv) February 19, 2019
When he’s loudly asked why he didn’t want Machado, the kid displays some knowledge about the league in his response.
“I don’t want anybody from the AL East!” he yells, then names Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox 2018 MVP Mookie Betts and 2015 MVP Josh Donaldson, who played on the Toronto Blue Jays for the better part of four seasons, as more stars he would hate to have on the Yankees.
“I don’t want any of those guys! I mean –” he pauses, searching for the right words to properly convey his revulsion to the idea – “You can take any other guy in the league, I just don’t want anybody — I mean –” he breaks off, too frustrated by the mere idea of Machado in pintstripes to continue the train of thought.
You can respect the youngster sticking to his guns. Loyalty is love, and he’s not about to extend an arm to a player he hates just because he has a career batting average of .282, per-162 game stats of 31 home runs and 90 RBI and three Gold Gloves.
He’s content to stick with homegrown guys like Aaron Judge, Miguel Andujar and Luis Severino.
It’s unclear how he feels about Red Sox defectors like Johnny Damon and Jacoby Ellsbury, though it is possible he came around to them.
But from the sound of it, it’s unlikely — though he was probably too young to have those emotions when Ellsbury signed with the Yanks and definitely did not feel those emotions when Damon chose New York.
“It’s kind of like taking Tom Brady from the Patriots and adding him to the Dolphins!” he exclaims. “It just doesn’t happen!”
