AP source: Machado, Padres agree to new $350M, 11-year deal

By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer

All-Star slugger Manny Machado has agreed to a new $350 million, 11-year 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, which was first reported by ESPN, 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.

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

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