Dan Lozano, who represents Manny Machado, rips Buster Olney and Bob Nightengale over their coverage of Machado’s free agency:

I have known Bob Nightengale and Buster Olney for many years and have always had a good professional relationship with both. But their recent reporting, like many other rumors in the past several months, have been inaccurate and reckless when it comes to Manny Machado. I don’t know if their sources are blatantly violating the Collective Bargaining Agreement by intentionally misleading them to try and affect negotiations through the public or are just flat out lying to them for other reasons. But the truth is that their reports on the details of the White Sox level of interest in Manny are completely wrong.

I am well aware that the entire baseball universe; fans, players, teams, and media members alike; are starved for information about this free agent market for all players, including Manny. But I am not going to continue to watch the press be manipulated into tampering with, not just with my client, but all of these players’ livelihoods as they have been doing this entire offseason. 

TheBigLead.com

Some people think the quiet of the off-season indicates the system is broken. It seems to me the system has just matured. In everything I’ve read about negotiations, one wants to go down to the wire, as that is where both sides are going to get the best deal. It makes for a boring off-season, but players and teams do better.

It really makes you miss George Steinbrenner, who would make a deal just to get a story on the back page of the New York tabloids.