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Padres store briefly displayed Manny Machado jerseys before he was officially signed

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer

Manny Machado was going to be a member of the San Diego Padres. Baseball fans knew it, the Padres front office knew it and Machado knew it.

But the deal wasn’t official until Thursday. Machado and the Padres agreed on a contract Tuesday, but until Machado crosses the t’s and dots the i’s on his deal, the team couldn’t officially announce the signing. That’s why the Padres official Twitter page didn’t mention Machado for two days even though news of the signing was everywhere.

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That message was not delivered to everyone in the organization, unfortunately. The Padres team store briefly displayed Machado jerseys Wednesday before Machado had been officially announced by the team, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

For a short period of time, the jerseys were up in the team store.

Those jerseys were reportedly pulled from the shelves once the Padres found out about the issue. It’s unclear if any of the jerseys were sold before they were pulled, according to the Union-Tribune.

While prematurely displaying Machado merchandise was a mistake, it’s not hard to figure out why it happened. Due to the nature of baseball reporting, rumors break online days before signings are official. A player like Machado has to go through multiple physicals before the deal is approved by both sides. These things take time, and that leads to a situation where everyone knows a signing is happening, but team officials can’t actually talk about it until the deal is 100 percent done.

Manny Machado is going to sign with the Padres, but it’s too early to start selling his jersey. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Manny Machado is going to sign with the Padres, but it’s too early to start selling his jersey. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

That’s precisely what happened with the 26-year-old Machado, who agreed to a 10-year, $300 million deal with the Padres on Tuesday.

If it’s any consolation to the workers who put out Machado’s jersey too early, the deal was announced Thursday afternoon, so they were just a day early.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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