Manny Machado is one of the best players in baseball.



He’s not going to be the American League MVP — the Angels’ Mike Trout should have that sewn up by August, (though if he doesn’t, it’ll be because Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts, hasn’t yet fallen off his torrid clip after the All-Star break). Machado isn’t even one of the most valuable players in the league going by any wins above replacement metric you might cite, because every defensive metric baked into those formulas has skipped Machado since he moved from third base to shortstop. (He hasn’t been great, but there’s a reason everyone cautions against using even single-season public defensive data, let alone half a season’s worth).



Still, in an environment where many of the best walk-year would-be deadline deals are either playing startlingly well for competitive teams (Nick Markakis), perpetually-injured (Josh Donaldson), or plain confounding...