Yankees Make ‘Strong Offer’ for Manny Machado as Orioles Seek Top Pitching Prospects

By Matt Dolloff, 985TheSportsHub.com

The Manny Machado trade watch continues. And so do the efforts of the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and other teams to leverage themselves in the media.

Here’s the latest as of Thursday afternoon. The Yankees put a “strong” offer on the table for Machado, according to baseball insider

sources: yankees have made a strong offer for manny machado. haven't heard they are the favorite, but they are clearly a player at this point. @Ken_Rosenthal said there was "increased" interest from NYY a couple days ago.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 11, 2018" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jon Heyman. But the offer apparently didn’t include top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield, if you ask Orioles beat writer

#yankees did NOT include Justus Sheffield in offer to #orioles. He's been excluded.

— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) July 11, 2018" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Roch Kubatko. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi had previously

Source: #Orioles willing to trade Manny Machado to #Yankees if LHP prospect Justus Sheffield is in the deal, but there is skepticism #Yankees would move Sheffield for a rental. @MLB @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 11, 2018" rel="noopener" target="_blank">reported that the O’s would ask for Sheffield in a Machado deal, but that the Yankees are no guarantee to budge on that.

Sheffield is the No. 2 prospect in the Yankees organization and the No. 39 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. Morosi also previously

Source: In Manny Machado trade talks, #Orioles have asked that #Indians include one of the organization’s top young pitchers, Triston McKenzie or Shane Bieber, who has a 3.47 ERA in six @MLB starts and is currently on the 25-man roster. @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 11, 2018" rel="noopener" target="_blank">reported that the O’s are seeking one of two right-handed pitching prospects from the Indians: Triston McKenzie (21st in MLB Pipeline) or Shane Bieber (91st).

So clearly, the Orioles want a top pitching prospect and they’re feeding as much as possible to reporters to make that known. If the Red Sox were to pull it off, they’d almost certainly have to include southpaw Jay Groome – and that’s if the O’s feel good enough about him to wait for his return from Tommy John surgery next season. Maybe they like 2017 first-round pick Tanner Houck.

The posturing is likely to go on until the 11th hour of baseball’s trade deadline. And it’s still worth monitoring for Red Sox fans as the possibility of Machado in pinstripes continues to percolate.

Matt Dolloff is a digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff or email him at [email protected].