Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
Considering all the money he was giving everybody else, it was almost obligatory for A.J. Preller to find a few million lying around for Manny Machado.
Just kidding. Preller tore up Machado’s existing 10 year, $300 million deal (which ran through 2028) and gave him a new 11-year, $350 million one through 2033. Preller now has three players (Machado, Bogaerts and Tatis) under contract through 2033. He hopes he lives long enough to see those deals play out.
To this point, the Machado re-signing isn’t looking all that great. He hit .258 with 30 home runs and 91 RBI, which sounds OK. But there were those incessant rumblings about Machado’s clubhouse chemistry, or lack of same.
His average fell 40 points from last season, his OPS took a 116 point tumble, and he piled up 56 fewer total bases in 601 plate appearances.
He was not, in short, the sort of franchise figure you envision when you sign a player long-term.
The discrepancy between Machado’s WAR and his WPA was striking. The 2.9 WAR wasn’t anything to write home about (in fact, it was well off his 6.8 WAR of 2022) but it was survivable. But his WPA took a pratfall from 4.5 one season ago to -0.5 in 2023.
His line drive and hard hit percentages both declined to levels not seen in several seasons. Transactional grade: D