The chips have finally fallen! Manny Machado has reportedly agreed to a 10 year/$300 million contract with….the San Diego Padres! Yep, the same Padres that finished dead last in the NL West in 2018. Yes, the same Padres that have one of the top farm systems in all of baseball. And yes, the same Padres who are now showing their fans that they are committed to bring home their first World Series championship in franchise history.
It’s an absolute shame that Machado wasn’t signed until teams reported to Spring Training, but it has finally happened. He got the years he wanted, he got the money he wanted and let’s be honest, San Diego doesn’t seem like a bad place to spend the next 10 years of your career earning an average $30 million a year. Now, reports show that Machado does get an opt out after 5 years so there’s no guarantee he stays there for the full duration of the contract, but we can cross that bridge when we get there.
Padres owner Ron Fowler did what every owner should be doing; offering up the money to sign a top tier free agent in his prime who will transform their team into a future contender. It might be a year or two before competing for the NL West title but I do see it happening. With established big leaguers in Machado, Hosmer and Myers added in with the up and coming prospects in Fernando Tatis Jr., Francisco Mejia and Luis Urias. Let’s also not dismiss their young pitching prospects like Mackenzie Gore and Chris Paddack among others.They could use some starting pitching help right now before guys like Gore and Paddack are big league ready. Maybe they can see the current price for a guy like Dallas Keuchel or a Gio Gonzalez? Just an idea.
Now the question becomes how will the Padres play the left side of the infield. Will Manny be the everyday SS with Tatis shifting over to 3B? My guess is no. Tatis Jr. has played all of 8 games of 3B in 2 seasons in the minors and Machado, as much as he thinks he is, is not a SS. He’s a 3B whether he likes it or not. For his career, Machado has 84 defensive runs saved (DRS) at 3B; he’s at -11 as a SS. In the long term, Manny is best to man the hot corner while Tatis takes short.
With Machado off the board, the focus shifts to the remaining unsigned free agents, most notably Bryce Harper. I still see the Phillies to be the front runner and I predict we get news on that very soon. The market for 26 year old franchise players has been set with this deal, which is said to be a record for the largest free agent (key word there) contract in North American sports history. Could this record be short lived? Stay tuned….
