The Manny Machado sweepstakes are far from over, but things are beginning to heat up. There are currently two teams showing significant interest in the 26-year-old shortstop. It was earlier reported by MLB's own Twitter account that Machado has been offered with a massive contract with the Chicago White Sox, but the tweet was later removed, thus prompting confusion among those following this offseason free-agent saga.
Here's the photo of the now-deleted tweet, via Satchel Price of The Chicago Sun-Times.
The tweet showed a picture of Machado next to what they thought was his offer from Chicago. The offer was for eight-years, $250 million, but the tweet was quickly deleted which has fans scratching their heads. Their original offer to Machado was reported to be seven years. According to ESPN, the White Sox upped it to eight years but there is no certainty.
The White Sox are one of the serious contenders to land Machado along with the Phillies. The Yankees’ rumors have cooled off since their recent signing of Troy Tulowitzki and D.J. Lemahieu. There have been no other offers made to Machado aside from the one out of Chicago.
The White Sox brought in Yonder Alonso who is Machado’s brother-in-law. Many believe that this was partly made to persuade Machado to join the White Sox. Machado is looking for a contract worth 10-years and it is yet to be seen if he will accept one for any less. There is something to be said for a tweet being deleted off of Major League Baseball’s verified account. The only thing that we know at the moment is that we have to wait a little longer to see who hits the Machado lottery.