By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
If the Philadelphia Phillies were to acquire shortstop Manny Machado from the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday — as rumors suggest — it is not yet known who the club would deal away in the blockbuster acquisition of the four-time All-Star.
One player that NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury speculates could be heading to the American League East is third baseman Maikel Franco.
“I think there could be a big leaguer involved, and I think Maikel Franco definitely could be involved. There has to be some type of a resolution there if you take a left-side infielder,” Salisbury said Monday afternoon on SportsRadio 94 WIP.
“They’ve talked up Maikel and they show him a lot of respect with things they say, but in some of their actions, though, it looks like they’ve moved on from him, at least in their mind. They started playing J.P. Crawford there before he got hurt. They lowered him in the batting order. It just seems like the first half of the season was the referendum on Maikel Franco, and it seems like they’ve made up their mind that they are going to try to place him somewhere else.”
Franco is slashing .269/.317/.459 this season with 13 home runs and 47 RBI in 85 games. He was first mentioned in trade rumors on June 24 of last season, when the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo said the third baseman “is more than available.”
Fast-forwarding to June 22 of this season, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden cited four players the Phillies were eyeing to replace Franco at the hot corner: future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre, soon-to-be free agent Manny Machado, 2015 Kansas City Royals World champion Mike Moustakas and Toronto Blue Jays slugger Josh Donaldson. Two days later, Franco was reported as drawing interest from the San Diego Padres.
It appears the Phillies are aiming to go with the youngest of the four third basemen in Machado, and last Monday, The Athletic’s Jayson Stark said it would be “safe to assume” Franco would not be with the Phillies in 2019.
If Salisbury’s report is true, Franco might never play a game in a Phillies uniform again, let alone in 2019 and beyond.
