The pros and cons of trading Manny Machado
The Baltimore Orioles have not exactly had the biggest of superstar talent since Cal Ripken jr but that all changed when they drafted Manny Machado in the 2010 MLB Draft. Right away you could see Machado was gonna be a superstar he was a rare five tool player.
After two years in the minors the Orioles brought Machado up to the majors in 2012 and has been a top player in the league ever since! Over his 6 years in the majors Manny has bolstered 138 Home Runs, 406 RBI’s and a career batting average of .279.
The last two years around the league there have been rumblings of players such as Bryce Harper and Manny Machado getting 300 million dollar contracts. The Orioles have never been the team to spend that much money on any player…besides Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo but I’ll save my opinion on that for another article. The Birds even let Nelson Cruz walk away after a 40 Home Runs and 108 RBI season.
What exactly should the Orioles do with there superstar slugger in the last year of his contract? They’re several pros and cons to the idea of trading Manny away.
A Obvious pro to trading Machado would be getting several high end prospects back in return. The Orioles currently have the 16th ranked farm system according to MLB.com with there top prospect being catcher Chance Sisco.
Another pro is having flexibility to sign other free agents in the years to come. Signing Machado to a possible 10 year 300 million dollar contract could handicap the franchise money wise in the future.
The biggest con is obviously a lack of good product on the field. Who would replace Machado at third base? Moving Schoop there would make the most sense but then you have a glaring hole at second base. The infield of Manny, Beckham and Schoop sounds like a top 5 infield in the league.
Fan attendance plummeting is a huge con Machado is obviously a fan favorite and beloved by a majority of O’s fans. Even if you’re not a huge baseball fan if you live in and around Baltimore you know who Manny Machado is.
Losing the best player the franchise has had since Cal Ripken jr. The O’s have had players such as Miguel Tejada, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis since Cal has retired but none even come close to the talent and superstardom of Machado. Trading him away means losing a once in a generation type of player.
If you ask me there are pros and cons that make sense why the Orioles should and shouldn’t trade Machado. The fact is do we really think Peter Angelos is gonna shell out 300 million for one player? The answer is more than likely no. Trade Machado rebuild the farm system and attempt to follow the blueprint the Houston Astros just successfully completed. 
