BALTIMORE -- There's nothing imminent on a possible trade of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado and it's becoming increasingly likely that the club won't find a suitable trade partner and will instead hold on to its franchise player in his last year of arbitration.
While Wednesday's news of Zach Britton's ruptured Achilles may appear to put the O's in more of a rebuild mode, they simply haven't gotten the offers necessary to get a Machado deal green lighted. Executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette, who didn't sound overly optimistic on Wednesday, has said the club will have to soon shift its focus. And that could come as early as the end of this week.
Of course, it's still possible the Orioles trade Machado if they get a good offer, though their ideal return -- two young, controllable starting pitchers -- has been a steep cost for opposing teams given that Machado is essentially a one-year rental. He is expected to reach free agency after the 2018 season and any long-term deal that sees him give that up would have to be extremely lucrative this close to Machado hitting the open market.
Britton's injury, while taking a key trade chip off the table, also makes it much more difficult for the O's to part with late-inning reliever Brad Brach. Brach and Mychal Givens will presumably take over late-game duties without Britton.