GLENDALE, Ariz. — Yes, it’ll play in Peoria.
The Manny Machado show, that is.
In Peoria, Ariz., that is.
Twelve miles from the White Sox’ spring training facility here, Machado — the $300 million man — will lace ’em up for the Padres, with whom the superstar infielder reportedly agreed Tuesday to a monster 10-year free-agent deal. For the next five weeks, the story of the Cactus League will be Manny mania and his upstart team.
It came oh, so close to being Manny mania and the upstart Sox. But we know how it goes, don’t we? Some teams just can’t have nice things.
“You’ve got to give it to them,” Sox executive vice president Ken Williams said. “They are in a similar trajectory as we are. And they were after him for the same reasons we were after him.”
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What do the Sox do now?
Well, they keep moving forward. The future still appears to be bright — bright-ish? — for the Sox. It’s still difficult to turn around at Camelback Ranch without bumping into one of their highly touted prospects.
But Sox fans won’t want to hear any of that. Not yet. Not so soon after this mother of all gut punches.
Machado’s brother-in-law Yonder Alonso and close pal Jon Jay may not want to hear it, either. Do the free-agent signees still get to cash their Sox checks?
Give credit to the Sox — no, really — for taking a real run at a free agent of Machado’s stature. It’s usually easy to say it’s the Cubs’ world and the Sox are just living in it, but at least the Sox went for it. The Cubs, despite all their inherent advantages, cried poor and stood pat.
Around these parts, it’s the Padres’ world now. Boom, just like that. Until, you know, Bryce Harper signs with the … dare we even imagine it?
Nope, we dareth not. Some teams just can’t have nice things.
