Manny Machado ‘agrees to 11-year, $350million extension with Padres’

Manny Machado ‘is set to agree an 11-year, $350million extension with the San Diego Padres’… in massive U-turn less than a week after expressing his desire to opt out of his current deal

Third baseman and shortstop Manny Machado is set to agree to an 11-year contract extension, worth up to $350million, with the San Diego Padres ahead of Opening Day, sources familiar with the deal confirmed on Sunday. 

Earlier in February, the 30-year-old disclosed his intent to opt out of the final five years of his current deal (worth up to $150m) with the Padres at the end of next season. 

Preliminary talks between the player and the ball club over an extension have broken down previously, and despite Machado setting a February 16 deadline to resolve his situation, conversations kept going over the course of the month, according to Jeff Passen, of ESPN.

Machado’s new deal will take him into his 40s. The agreement would continue the Padres’ massive spending with the goal of winning the franchise’s first World Series title. 

Machado is one of five Padres players on the active roster earning more than $20m a year, joining pitchers Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish, shortstop Xander Bogaerts and outfielder Juan Soto.

Third baseman Manny Machado is set to agree to an 11-year, $350M extension with the Padres

Machado will be the second-highest paid MLB player in his position after Anthony Rendon

Machado will become the second-higest paid MLB player in his position after

Soto will become an unrestricted free agent following the 2024 season.

Machado signed his current 10-year, $300million contract with the Padres on February 21, 2019, and it included a player option after five seasons. 

Since then, he’s seen the market for infielders reset, with the L.A. Angels’ Anthony Rendon ($35million) and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado ($32.5million) earning more than their fellow third baseman in terms of average annual value per contract.

Shortstops Corey Seager of the Texas Rangers ($32.5million), Carlos Correa of the Minnesota Twins ($33.3million) and Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets ($34.1million) also earn more than Machado’s $30million per year.

Machado has slugged 108 home runs and driven in 340 runs in his first four seasons in San Diego. 

He has an OPS of .855 with the Padres and finished third in the National League MVP voting in 2020 and second last year.

A six-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, Machado has a lifetime batting average of .282 with 1,597 hits, 283 homers and 853 RBIs with the Baltimore Orioles (2012-18), L.A. Dodgers (2018) and Padres.

Machado has an OPS of .855 with San Diego & finished second in the NL MVP voting last year

Machado has an OPS of .855 with San Diego & finished second in the NL MVP voting last year

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