Los Angeles Times

The joy was real, video was staged

- By Bill Shaikin bill.shaikin@latimes.com Twitter: @BillShaiki­n

MILWAUKEE — That video clip that buzzed around social media, the one with Justin Turner and Alex Wood on a boat celebratin­g the Dodgers’ trade for Manny Machado?

This is Hollywood’s team, baby. It was staged.

The 13-second video has been viewed more than 1 million times, and the Dodgers themselves shared it after Turner’s wife posted it Wednesday afternoon.

In the video, Wood glances at his phone, looks up and says, “It’s done.”

He and Turner combine to exclaim “We got Manny!” five times within seven seconds, jumping up and down and high-fiving each other.

Wood said that he and Turner had started regular checks of social media starting Tuesday night, when word surfaced that the Dodgers were close to a deal for Machado.

“We knew we’d find out the same way everybody else finds out,” Wood said. “By checking Twitter.”

In one of their checks on Wednesday, they found out. They decided to re-create the celebratio­n on video shortly thereafter.

“It wasn’t like we just happened to be filming this on the phone,” Wood said, “and, oh my God, we just found out right at that moment.”

Clayton Kershaw said he found out about the trade on television.

“I was excited for sure,” he said.

“Probably not a jump up and down guy. Definitely excited.

“It’s awesome that the front office would do that. It’s awesome that we’ve got a guy of his caliber, for a few months anyway. Now he’s just got to go play.”

Enrique Hernandez learned about the trade the same way Wood and Turner did.

“Social media, like everybody finds out nowadays,” Hernandez said. “I found out about my own trade to the Dodgers via social media.”

He was ecstatic about the deal.

“It’s huge,” Hernandez said. “It probably makes us, officially, the best lineup in the National League.”

In his first game with the Dodgers on Friday night in Milwaukee, Machado batted second and singled in his first at-bat. Max Muncy batted third, meaning a fourtime All-Star was being protected in the lineup by a guy who has yet to start a major league season on an opening-day roster.

“Pretty awesome,” Muncy said.

Seeking relief

The Dodgers remain interested in trading for help on their pitching staff, particular­ly in their bullpen. During their weeks of talks with Baltimore about Machado, they did discuss ways to expand the deal to include prized Orioles relievers Zach Britton and Brad Brach.

“Most teams, in this scenario, want to split their guys up and not have to consolidat­e the returns all in one deal,” Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said.

“We had conversati­ons about that. I know other teams did as well.

“But, when you have one seller and a lot of buyers, they can dictate how they want things to go. We didn’t want to be trying to tack on pieces and complicati­ng the deal to put us at a disadvanta­ge.”

Zaidi would not use the names of any Orioles reliever, wary of baseball’s tampering rules. The Dodgers now know what players Baltimore likes in their minor league system, which could accelerate any future talks for Britton and/or Brach.

“Any time you go through a negotiatio­n with a team, there is an exchange of informatio­n that can certainly be helpful in the next negotiatio­n,” Zaidi said. “I would characteri­ze this as a productive set of talks that could potentiall­y set up another deal. Whether there’s ultimately another deal remains to be seen.”

Short hops

Machado has not played third base all year, so the Dodgers will keep him at shortstop “for the foreseeabl­e future,” manager Dave Roberts said. Machado has agreed to play third base as needed, but Roberts said he did not want Machado worrying about that for the next week or two. “I want him to get acclimated with his new teammates and a new league,” Roberts said. … The Dodgers optioned rookie Walker Buehler to triple-A Oklahoma City last week, but Roberts said Buehler would not pitch there. The Dodgers plan to start Kenta Maeda and Ross Stripling in two of three games starting Monday in Philadelph­ia; Roberts would not say whether Buehler would start the other game. … Roberts said the Dodgers hope third baseman Turner, who has not played in a week because of a strained adductor muscle, can return this weekend. … In order to clear a roster spot for Machado, the Dodgers optioned outfielder Andrew Toles to Oklahoma City.

 ?? Wally Skalij Los Angeles Times ?? ALEX WOOD and Justin Turner made a video about the Manny Machado trade.
Wally Skalij Los Angeles Times ALEX WOOD and Justin Turner made a video about the Manny Machado trade.

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