Conflicting offers reported for Machado

It’s USA Today vs. ESPN, to see who has the tightest sources

Just due diligence here, fellas, don’t kill the messenger. But there’s a bit of late Sunday Manny Machado news to report. larry has already weighed in, but here’s a bit more of the blow-by-blow.

Jeff Passan at ESPN is referencing those wily “league sources” in reporting the Chicago White Sox offer to Machado as eight years, $250 million.

That’s an average annual value of $31.25 million, with Passan indicating the White Sox are willing to go higher, as need be. It also conflicts with White Sox suite class garden gnome Bob Nightengale’s recent report that the White Sox were in on Machado for seven years and roughly $200 million — an AAV of $28.5 million.

Two hours later, after rousing Ken Williams from an early food coma sleep after a big day of NFL playoffs, Nightengale had an answer for Passan:

So, what to make of the new ESPN information? Aside from the fact that this is getting to be like a loose baby tooth that just won’t ... come ... out, you mean?

“League sources” (vs. “team sources”) are notoriously unreliable tools of speculation and intrigue. You have to wonder who is talking with Passan, and with what motivation. While it helps that Passan is a solid reporter, such speculation has to come under the same scrutiny recently given local pal Bruce Levine. Passan’s Sunday reporting was very Philly-centric, so who knows, perhaps these (Philadelphia) sources are making a dire pitch to score both Bryce Harper and Machado. After all, in the piece Passan dubs the Phillies as the “fulcrum” for where both players land.

Either way, there’s a fun little fight rearing up between Passan and Nightengale. Passan directly contradicts Nightengale’s insistence that Harper-to-Philadelphia is all but a done deal, noting that the Washington Nationals and White Sox are still very much in the mix.

Perhaps that’s what roused Nightengale late on Sunday, to directly contradict the new ESPN “scoop” on Machado.