I mean, no one saw the Marlins pissing away 100% of their leverage. Jeter shot himself in the foot, amputated it, then tossed it into a meat grinder before trying to run the bases. So yeah, the prospect cost was lower than expected.I mean, the bottom line was prescient, but every detail about why and how was way off. You call Boston the frontrunners when the Dodgers always were if they had been able to somehow fit him in (they evidently wanted to send back $75M in dead salaries), you don't mention his no trade clause at all which ended up being the most crucial element, and you say NY would need to send Frazier plus 2 or 3 guys from their top 10 which Cashman would never have considered even for a second. I'm really not trying to be too harsh and sorry if it is coming off that way, but it is really funny to me that you are (literally) patting yourself on the back for that one.
As for Machado, I do think it's still possible NY goes after him next winter, but it really doesn't make sense for them to send young talent within their division to get him a year earlier. Also that extra year will give them a chance to get a much better idea what they have in Torres and Andujar.
As for the Sox being the favorites, at the time of the article, they were presumed to be by a whole lot in the media. The whole point of the article, though, was that the Yankees made more sense. And I linked to a previous article in that one where I explained why the Sox didn't make sense. And I did discuss the no trade clause quite a bit in that piece.