Another top 3B not coming to the Miami Marlins

I was considering or better said hoping for a miracle...an upgrade over a good player that sadly doesn't compare to Manny Machado. Now Bruce Sherman couldn't really do anything about the San Diego Padres extending the once free-agent to be after this upcoming season, but something about him getting extended just bothers me. The same can be said for the Boston Red Sox extending Rafael Devers. That's now two elite third basemen who were never available by trade and who will never sign with the Miami Marlins as free agents.

The Miami Marlins won't sign an elite third baseman next off-season.

I can understand Boston extending Rafael Devers. The Boston Red Sox are one of the most successful and historic franchises in professional sports. They're a legit big market and big market team. Devers wanted to stay there and they wanted to keep him. He rose up in their farm system and it's been his organization from the start... not so much when it comes to the San Diego Padres and Manny Machado.

Machado rose through the ranks with the Baltimore Orioles. They decided to re-build and weren't going to extend him, so traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers. After an underwhelming half a season there, Machado hit the open market and found it to be less interested in him than expected. LA wasn't interested in a reunion; the Boston Red Sox passed; the New York Yankees passed; the Philadelphia Phillies passed; the Los Angeles Angels passed... all the big market teams passed. The only teams in on him were San Diego and the Chicago White Sox. Chicago offered more in average annual value, but San Diego offered a bigger overall guarantee.

Machado signing with a then small market team seemed like the least likely scenario. Yet it happened. It seemed as if the uninterested market led to this, but San Diego then kept spending and are now seemingly a big market team. I guess you could say I was hoping that the Miami Marlins could follow the same route, especially since Machado is from Florida...

So what makes me sad the most? I think it's my assumption that Machado didn't care that much about coming home to Florida, probably because he didn't think that the Miami Marlins would outspend San Diego or other teams. That perception must change considering Miami is a far bigger market than San Diego.