Can Manny finally be the MVP for the AL?

With the 2018 season beginning, the Orioles are pushing all in with the recent signing of Alex Cobb in order to make one last run at the playoffs.  The looming loss of a multitude of players is on the horizon.   Manny Machado is the largest question mark and most folks have already given up hope that the Orioles have any chance of maintaining him.  It is why many fans were adamant about the Orioles needing to trade him this winter to rebuild the team from the bottom up.

However, the Orioles rejected this philosophy and decided to push all their chips in on the table in order to win now rather than later.  And the key factor to that championship journey will have to be the success of Manny Machado.  Last year, Machado posted his worst season since 2013 with a .328 wOBA and posted an offensive performance of 102 wRC+, which mean he was only 2% better than the average player offensively.  Compared to players like Jose Altuve (.405 wOBA/160 wRC+) and Aaron Judge (.430 wOBA/173 wRC+), the gap in performance between Machado and the top tier players was immense.

During the offseason, the Orioles finally placated Machado and allowed him to move to shortstop.  Machado had evidently been asking to do so for several years and maybe this is the spark Machado needs going into his final season prior to Free Agency to have a career breakout year.  Machado is projected to have a more productive season due to the defensive significance of the shortstop position and his prior performance in terms of range and arm at the position.  ESPN projects that his WAR per ZIPS increases 4.8 to 5.1 just with the position move.  And this does not take into fact the intangibles of Machado now being placated and being given everything he wants.  Manny in the past has often shown a reluctance or lack of interest in games especially when he was struggling at the plate.  Perhaps the current situation and positioning of shortstop allows him to be dominant.

Manny Machado is currently +2000 (20/1) to win the 2018 AL MVP award, in a group with the likes of Josh Donaldson and Mookie Betts, and ahead of JD Martinez. Realistically, those odds are too short but, those odds may change. Probably not by much, but the odds can be tracked through the sportsbooks reviewed at My Top Sportsbooks. They’re reliable and have been reviewed by many users so you know it’s safe.

However, the odds that Machado captures an MVP may equally be tied to the success of the Orioles.  While MVPs can come from teams that have been non-contenders, it is an uphill journey as we have seen with Mike Trout in the AL for the past few years.  In essence, the two are tied together in terms of success.  And it appears the Orioles are finally understanding that it may be worthwhile to just give your most talented player exactly what he wants if the reward is tangible benefit for both the player and more importantly the team.