SHORT AND SWEET

Maybe not too sweet if you happen to be a Yankee/Machado fan. Two NY sports writers have written about the possible final resting place for Machado and they both handicap it this way:

1) The Phillies
2) The White Sox
3) The Yankees

They reason that the Phillies are anxious to spend big to get either Machado, Harper or both.  Philly and the White Sox both seem more than willing to go for 10 years at $30 million each that he's seeking. The consensus seems to be that NY will probably offer 7 years at $30 million. Machado has indicated that he wants to play for the Yankees, but historically, he will follow the money like every other free agent has. We've seen this many times in the past. Robinson (I wanna remain a Yankee) Cano being dragged to the west coast by the dollars, Patrick Corbin to Washington in spite of being from Syracuse and having his whole family pushing him to NY. Remember A-Rod, who took big, big money from the Rangers after he "researched the team in depth so he play for a winner" and became disillusioned after a couple of years of losing.

Finally, Machado met with the Yanks for a 90 minute meeting and dinner that night on Wednesday, then met with the Phillies for four hours on Thursday. That's got to tell you something.

Machado may drag this out a little bit to try and force teams to bid against each other, so we probably won't hear the answer until after Christmas.

Picasner's suggestion for NY: Sign Tulowitzki and nail down Harper. He fits the team better. Trade Clint Frazier and Ellsbury (Have to eat some money on that one). Gardner becomes the backup outfielder and Stanton becomes the DH. How's this for a NY lineup:
Hicks, CF
Judge, RF
Harper, LF
Stanton, DH
Sanchez, C
Andujar, 3B
Voit/Bird, 1B
Tulowitzki, SS
Torres, 2B
That lineup should be good for 300 home runs and 1000 runs and probably 100+ wins, barring injuries. I'll take that.

It's not sports, but...
"After reading that “Long Island Medium” Theresa Caputo has finalized her  divorce,
 reader Eric H. asks whether she saw it coming."  Phil Mushnick's column

***THEY SAID IT***
"The world’s oldest woman, Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122, credited long life to port wine, olive oil and “lots of smiling.” Good news, Bill Belichick, you can buy the first two."  -- RJ Currie
"Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, after he retires, again for health reason, will co-teach a course at the school on character  and leadership. Some statements don’t even need a punchline."  -- Janice Hough
"Goodbye to Penny Marshall and thanks to her for reminding us that “there’s no crying in baseball”. (yankee fans exempt)   She truly was “Big” and “In a League of Her Own”.  -- TC Chong

"Adam Ottavino, a 33-year-old journeyman pitcher, claimed on an MLB Statcast podcast. “‘Babe Ruth, with that swing, swinging that bat, I got him hitting .140 with eight homers. … I would strike Babe Ruth out every time.’ ” In Babe’s defense, though, hitting .140 with eight homers in today’s game would be a pretty good showing for a 123-year-old."  -- Dwight Perry

"The Warriors’ Steph Curry said he has doubts about the lunar landing, then later said he was just kidding. Steph, there’s been more walking on the moon than what’s called in the NBA."  -- Gary Bachman
"A rumour says the Dodgers’ Manny Machado will sign with the Phillies. With an expected
contract offer of $300 million, he will show what hustle is in how fast he gets to the signing table.”
 -- Jim Barach
"The World Series trophy was damaged by a thrown full can of beer during the Red Sox championship parade. That’s terrible. Talk about a waste of beer!”  -- Greg Cote

 CP-