White Sox pick up 1B Yonder Alonso in trade that will be very interesting to Manny Machado

Suddenly flush with options at first base, the Cleveland Indians have shipped Yonder Alonso to the Chicago White Sox in a rare cross-divisional trade, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Per Zack Meisel of The Athletic, Cleveland will receive a minor league prospect in return, the identity of which will likely by revealed when the two teams announce the deal on Saturday.

Why the White Sox acquired Yonder Alonso

Cleveland added a pair of solid first-base options this offseason, acquiring old friend Carlos Santana and prospect Jake Bauers in the trade that sent Edwin Encarnacion to the Seattle Mariners. Adding both of those players gave the team a surplus that they’ve now traded away to bolster their minor league system.

Alonso posted a .250/.317/.421 slash line with 23 homers, 83 RBI and a below average 97 OPS+, but he’s still only a year removed from a year in which he made the All-Star Game and posted a .500 slugging percentage for the first full season of his career. He’s slated to make $8 million next season with a $9 million option for 2020.

Could there have been another reason for getting Alonso?

However, Alonso’s statistics and salary might not be the only things the White Sox care about in their new first baseman. Another thing to know about Alonso is that he is prize free agent Manny Machado’s brother-in-law.

Machado married Alonso’s sister in 2014 and the two players published an article together in The Players’ Tribune last year about their Miami connection.

The White Sox have been linked to both Machado and this offseason’s other superstar, Bryce Harper, as they attempt to begin the transition from rebuilding to competing in a soft American League Central division. Landing one, or maybe even both, of those free agents would certainly speed up the timeline.

Now, bringing in his brother-in-law and good friend probably isn’t going to be the tipping point for Machado’s decision. That tipping point will probably be money, as it usually is. However, it’s also hard to ignore as we use every smoke signal at our disposal to figure out where one of the biggest talents in baseball end up.

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