Chicago White Sox Rumors: Are Sox out of Manny Machado sweepstakes?

Do the latest Chicago White Sox rumors reveal the team is no longer in the hunt for Manny Machado?

According to the latest Chicago White Sox rumors, the team may no longer be a player for the services of superstar infielder Manny Machado. The power-hitting Machado was down to three teams and met with each of them this week. Those teams were the aforementioned White Sox, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the New York Yankees.

In a flurry of late moves to make themselves more attractive, the Yankees brought on Carlos Beltran as a consultant (Beltran and Machado share the same agent), and the Sox acquired Cleveland Indians first baseman Yonder Alonso via a trade — Alonso happens to be Machado’s brother-in-law.

All week long, fans and pundits alike took to social media to dissect every detail about the meeting, from the length of it to the video graphics the team flashed in their ballpark in their recruitment effort.

But while all three teams put on the full-court press, it is starting to look like this is really a two-horse race. Unfortunately for the White Sox, they don’t appear to be one of them.

YES Network analyst Jack Curry made some interesting comments yesterday about Machado’s visit to New York.  Take a listen:

This is not necessarily breaking news as it is no secret that Machado had a soft spot in his heart for the Yankees, leading to speculation that he would ultimately sign there this offseason, even before he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But what was interesting was his mention that the Phillies were seemingly willing to “explode  beyond the number” the Yankees were willing to go to, even with the Yankees being willing to consider an eighth year to the contract.

Notably absent from that analysis was the White Sox. In fact, it has been all quiet on the South Side. Primarily, the chatter has been about the White Sox and free agent Bryce Harper. So it may not come as a surprise that the Sox may not be real players in the Machado courtship.

But they should be — if for no other reason than to give themselves a plan B if Harper doesn’t work out. However, maintaining an interest (at least publicly) gives them some, albeit minimal, leverage with Harper.

Look, the White Sox need to make a splash. Despite what some might say, they need to accelerate the rebuild. They’ve got some extremely talented and exciting young players, but it’s time to start adding some more established big leaguers to the mix to help speed up this process.

If Harper really wants to come to Chicago and knows he’s their only target, he can sit back, take his time and name his price. And maybe he can do that regardless, but there is nothing to be gained from being considered a non-player for Machado, so even if that’s the case, the Sox would be wise to keep up appearances.

We’re past the Winter Meetings and creeping up on the holidays so expect the hot stove to heat up even further. While this thing could drag on, it’s unlikely that two superstars like Harper and Machado will be on the market much longer. But when the music stops, the White Sox have to make sure one of them is in their chair.