LOS ANGELES -- Offseason free agency beckons for Manny Machado, one of baseball's premier infielders.
He is very talented. Some team will back up an armored bank truck, and oodles of cash will tumble to his feet.
But before then, Machado still has baseball left to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who acquired him from the Baltimore Orioles for their postseason run. But if it started out as an opportunity for Machado to show off his wares to potential suitors, he has quickly discovered that the spotlight is not always kind.
The playoffs have been a grab bag for Machado, who is many things: a gifted hitter, an overaggressive base runner (when he actually runs) and a magnet for controversy.
After Machado loafed out of the batter's box on a groundball he hit Saturday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, he found himself encircled by reporters in the visiting clubhouse. One of them asked him about a tweet posted by Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher who works as a broadcaster for Orioles games.
"Once again Manny doesn't run hard," Palmer wrote. "Down 0-1 in series, 0-0 game in 4th. Too tired to run hard for 90 feet. But wants the big $$ #pathetic."
Machado proceeded to stare at the reporter who asked the offending question for about 30 seconds, which was his way of declining to comment.
He was even less accountable after Game 3 on Monday night, which was a meek showing for the Dodgers at home. Machado had been one of his team's lone sources of offense in a 4-0 loss, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. But he also had a pair of hard slides at second base, one of which was clearly dangerous, and then never materialized for postgame interviews.
The Dodgers trailed the Brewers in their best-of-seven series, 2-1, with Game 4 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
The New York Yankees are expected to be in the mix for Machado, 26, who was hitting .286 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI through his first seven playoff games with the Dodgers. Didi Gregorius, the Yankees' starting shortstop, needs Tommy John surgery and could miss most, if not all, of next season, leaving a huge hole in the infield.
Machado will command a fortune, no matter what he does the rest of the month. With the Orioles and Dodgers this season, he hit .297 with 37 home runs and 107 RBI. But if he has trouble coping with criticism and unwanted attention now, he might not particularly relish employment in the Bronx.
Machado, who grew up in Miami idolizing Alex Rodriguez, already had a reputation for skirting the ethics of baserunning before Monday's game. Last season, Machado went high into second base in a game against the Boston Red Sox, spiking Dustin Pedroia in the general area of his surgically repaired left knee. Pedroia hobbled off the field and left the game.
Baseball has banned dangerous slides since 2016, after the Dodgers' Chase Utley broke Ruben Tejada's leg at second base in a playoff game against the New York Mets the previous season. The episode was an embarrassment for baseball officials, who revamped the rules.
On Monday, Machado went into second base with gusto twice -- each with the idea of breaking up a double play, and perhaps he should get credit for trying to help his team. But in the fourth inning, he actually reached across his body to grab the leg of Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia. After the Brewers called for a video review, the second runner was called out.
"We talk about it a lot when you go into second base that you have to really make an attempt to hold on to the bag, so that it's a safe play as far as trying to protect the infielder," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "And so Manny knows that. We talk about it all the time. And they looked at the review, and they got it right."
Sports on 10/17/2018