But, he added, “with regards to the top of this free agent market, you can’t control when these guys become free agents. Their powerful agents — Dan Lozano for Machado and Scott Boras for Harper — naturally want to emerge from the winter with the largest haul. The Phillies, who reportedly will meet with Harper this weekend, lurk in both discussions. Their owner, John Middleton, has vowed to spend aggressively, and they are eager to end their own streak of six consecutive losing seasons. “As a kid coming up, I’d see Jon and Yonder out there making their mark, and it gave me something to shoot for,” Machado wrote then.

Source: New York Times January 11, 2019 18:12 UTC