Machado convinces Showalter to move him to shortstop

Manny Machado is nothing if not persuasive.

In the wake of his team losing shortstop J.J. Hardy to a fractured foot, the Baltimore Orioles third baseman managed to convince manager Buck Showalter to change his lineup hours before Tuesday's game against the New York Yankees.

Instead of playing third, Machado will slide over to cover shortstop for Tuesday's game. Ryan Flaherty, who was recalled from Triple-A to take Hardy's roster spot, will man the hot corner.

"Manny made the case he wants the Orioles to win," Showalter told reporters. "That's all we talked about. What all this about (is) 'if you want me to play third, I'll play third. If you want me to play short, I’ll play short.' He's in."

Since reaching the bigs in 2013, Machado has dazzled with the glove at third base while only playing 11 games at shortstop, his natural position. He only played shortstop in the majors for the first time last year, covering for another Hardy disabled-list stint.

Whether the 23-year-old will stay at short until Hardy comes back - whenever that may be - is unclear. Baltimore reportedly wants to call up Paul Janish to add another infield bat, but that's being delayed as he's about to go on the paternity list. There's also the question of whether Machado switching positions would actually hurt the Orioles, as they would then have to use any of Flaherty, Janish, or even the defensively-challenged Pedro Alvarez at third.

Either way, Showalter was fine with his star voluntarily offering to move for the team's sake.

"Good players like the challenge of doing something that the team needs. They like that responsibility," Showalter said.