Report: Machado, Padres agree to new 11-year, $350M deal - MLB

All-Star slugger Manny Machado has agreed to a new 11-year, $350 million contract that will keep him with the San Diego Padres through 2033, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Machado must pass a physical before the deal is finalized.

“We’re excited to be here for the rest of our careers and have this hat go into the Hall of Fame,” Machado said as he passed a group of reporters before batting second against the Arizona Diamondbacks and going 2 for 3.

Machado, 30, had said that after this season he planned to opt out of the $300 million, 10-year free agent deal he signed in 2019. With the $120 million he already has received, the new deal increases the free-spending Padres’ commitment to Machado to $470 million over 15 years.

Machado, who has helped turn the Padres into a World Series contender, finished second in the NL MVP race last year. He’ll anchor a superstar-laden lineup that includes Xander Bogaerts, Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr., who can return on April 20 from an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.

Earlier in spring training, Machado said a deadline for negotiating a new deal had passed, but owner Peter Seidler has said that retaining the smooth-fielding third baseman was his top priority.

Seidler, a member of the O’Malley family that once owned the Dodgers, hasn’t been afraid to spend big money in pursuit of the franchise’s first World Series title. The Padres haven’t been to the Fall Classic since 1998, when they were swept by the New York Yankees.

Hometown product Joe Musgrove was given a $100 million, five-year deal in July. The Padres signed Bogaerts to a $280 million, 11-year contract just after the winter meetings and signed ace Yu Darvish to a new $108 million, six-year deal earlier this month.

With the flashy Tatis sidelined all of last year, first due to injury and then the suspension, Machado was a steadying force in helping lead the Padres on a thrilling run to the NL Championship Series, where they lost in five games to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Padres eliminated the 101-win New York Mets in the wild-card round and then beat the 111-win rival Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

Machado and Bogaerts are under contract through 2033, while Tatis is locked up through 2034 under a $340 million, 14-year deal he signed in early 2021. Soto is under contract for two more seasons.

Machado batted .298 with 32 home runs and 102 RBIs in 2022 and is entering his 12th big league season. He has a career .282 batting average with an .833 OPS, 283 homers and 853 RBIs.

He has also been remarkably durable, playing in all 162 games twice and in fewer than 150 games just once, excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He was limited to 82 games in 2014, when he didn’t make his season debut until May 1 due to knee surgery the previous year, and then had the season cut short by a knee injury in August.

Machado played in 150 games last year. He sustained a scary-looking sprained left ankle on June 19 at Colorado but returned less than two weeks later.

The $350 million deal would be baseball’s fourth-largest contract behind Mike Trout ($426.5 million for 12 years), Mookie Betts ($365 million for 12 years) and Aaron Judge ($360 million for nine years).

However, the $31.8 million average will rank just 16th.

CHICAGO – The number will follow Shohei Ohtani until it is over. No, not Ohtani’s home runs or strikeouts or any of his magnificent numbers from the field. Nothing like that.

It’s all about how much. As in how much will his next contract be worth.

Ohtani is among several players going into their final seasons before they are eligible for free agency. There is still time for signatures and press conferences before opening day, but history shows a new contract becomes less likely once the real games begin.

There is no real precedent for placing a value on Ohtani’s remarkable skills, especially after baseball’s epic offseason spending spree. And that doesn’t factor in the potential business opportunities that go along with the majors’ only truly global star.

Ohtani hit .273 with 34 homers and 95 RBIs last season in his fifth year with the Los Angeles Angels. The 2021 AL MVP also went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA in 28 starts on the mound.

He prepared for this season by leading Japan to the World Baseball Classic championship, striking out fellow Angels star Mike Trout for the final out in a 3-2 victory over the United States in the final.

Ohtani, who turns 29 in July, could set multiple records with his next contract, likely in the neighborhood of a $45 million average annual value and quite possibly reaching $500 million in total.

If the Angels drop out of contention in the rough-and-tumble AL West, Ohtani likely becomes the top name on the trade market this summer. If the Angels are in the mix for the playoffs, the pressure builds on the team to get something done before possibly losing Ohtani in free agency for nothing more than a compensatory draft pick.

So yeah, definitely high stakes with Ohtani and the Angels.

Here is a closer look at five more players eligible for free agency after this season:

RHP Aaron Nola, PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Nola, who turns 30 in June, went 11-13 with a 3.25 ERA in 32 starts for Philadelphia last year. He also had a career-best 235 strikeouts in 205 innings for the NL champions.

Nola was selected by the Phillies with the seventh overall pick in the 2014 amateur draft. There were extension talks during spring training, but it didn’t work out.

“We are very open-minded to trying to sign him at the end of the season,” President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said. “We’re hopeful that he’ll remain a Phillie for a long time.”

3B Matt Chapman, TORONTO BLUE JAYS

Chapman hit 36 homers and drove in 91 runs for Oakland in 2019. He hasn’t been able to duplicate that production, but the three-time Gold Glover finished with 27 homers and 76 RBIs in 155 games last year in his first season with Toronto.

Chapman turns 30 on April 28. Long one of the game’s top fielding third basemen, he is represented by Scott Boras, who generally takes his clients to free agency.

OF TEOSCAR HERNÁNDEZ, SEATTLE MARINERS

Hernández was acquired in a November trade with Toronto. He hit .267 with 25 homers and 77 RBIs in his final year with the Blue Jays. He was terrific in 2021, batting .296 with 32 homers, 116 RBIs and a .870 OPS.

The change of scenery could help the 30-year-old Hernández set himself up for a big payday. He is a .357 hitter with three homers and seven RBIs in 16 games at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.

OF Ian Happ, CHICAGO CUBS

The switch-hitting Happ is coming off perhaps his best big league season, setting career highs with a .271 batting average, 72 RBIs and 42 doubles in 158 games. He also won his first Gold Glove and made the NL All-Star team for the first time.

Chicago had struggled to re-sign its own players in recent years, but it agreed to a $35 million, three-year contract with infielder Nico Hoerner on Monday. The 28-year-old Happ, a first-round pick in the 2015 amateur draft, is on the executive subcommittee for the players’ union.

LHP JULIO URÍAS, LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Urías, who turns 27 in August, likely will have plenty of suitors if he reaches free agency. He went 17-7 with an NL-low 2.16 ERA in 31 starts for the NL West champions in 2022, finishing third in NL Cy Young Award balloting. That’s after he went 20-3 with a 2.96 ERA in the previous season.

Urías also is a Boras client, but the Dodgers have one of the majors’ biggest payrolls. Los Angeles also could make a run at Ohtani, which could factor into its discussions with Urías’ camp.