Manny Machado is running full-throttle toward the free-agent contract of a lifetime this winter. Or, wait. Is he jogging?
The free-agent star is no Johnny Hustle, by his own admission in a now-infamous October interview with The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. Indeed, hustling 24/7 is not his "cup of tea." That became clear several times down the stretch last season and in the playoffs when the marquee man the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for became a marked man thanks to his perplexing, inexplicable lack of urgency in key moments.
Even before the rest of the baseball world caught on under October's glare, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts admitted to talking to Machado in September about his periodic lack of effort, explaining it away as the sometimes slothful superstar's tendency to go into "conservation" mode because he is an everyday player.