PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — All-Star slugger Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres finalized a $350 million, 11-year contract on Tuesday, the fourth-largest in baseball history.
The deal will keep Machado with the Padres through 2033 and is the latest contract handed out by big-spending owner Peter Seidler.
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 star-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.
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 helped lead the Padres on a stirring run to the NL Championship Series last year, where they lost in five games to Philadelphia.
His deal’s total trails contracts for Mike Trout ($426.5 million for 12 years), Mookie Betts ($365 million for 12 years) and Aaron Judge ($360 million for nine years). However, Machado’s $31.8 million average ranks just 16th.
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.
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