Real or Not Real?

So, "The Athletic"—no, not Connie Mack—and others are reporting that the Yankees are now fully in the hunt for Manny Machado.

The hot skinny on this hot skinny is that they will replace El Matador at third with Manny.  Andujar will be traded for pitching—or Manny—or sent down.

All of which sounds (I hope) like a great, steaming heap of processed  horse oats.

I HOPE this is not true, because it would be intensely stupid.

There is a case to be made for getting Manny, but only after the season, when he is a free agent and would not cost us any warm bodies, just cold, hard cash.

He is, after all, two-and-a-half years younger than Didi, a much better hitter, and maybe even a better fielder, good as Didi has been with a glove.  And Didi could then be dealt for a pitcher.

The down sides of this would be that it would seriously unbalance the Yanks' lineup.  Spotty as Didi has been for over two months now—NO, Ma, he is NOT a No. 3 or No. 4 power hitter, and it's time to stop pretending he is—losing him would shift us very far to the right.  And of course getting rid of him would mean getting rid of the proverbial, "positive clubhouse presence"—usually an overrated element.

Beyond all this, though, I THINK this rumor is untrue, because it doesn't make sense for Machado or the Yankees.

Machado has purposely insisted on playing shortstop this year.  If he is NOT to replace Didi, why would he possibly go back to third?  Why would the Yanks want to get rid of Andujar, a cheap, young player of such evident ability and unlimited potential?

It just doesn't make sense...none of which is to say, of course, that it won't happen.  This is Cashman time, after all.

Let's hope this is just the Yanks trying to hike up the price for the many other teams trying to get hold of Manny.  Anything else would be about the biggest sidestep move I've ever seen.