Padres News: What Does the Payroll Commitment Look Like for San Diego for the Next 11 Years?
Anybody that believed the San Diego Padres were planning to let star Manny Machado walk in the offseason in order to save money and pay outfielder Juan Soto was very surprised on Sunday. Topping off a historic offseason of new signees and returners, the Friars gave arguably their most important player and captain an 11-year, $350 million extension.
There is no doubt that the third baseman deserves every dollar of this contract due to his play over the past few seasons. In just 2022, he put up a slash line of .298/.366/.531 and an OPS of .898. Many of his teammates stressed his importance to the squad amidst his negations with the front office and starting pitcher Yu Darvish even kept him in mind when receiving his own deal.
However, the Padres do need to be careful and strictly monitor their spending and roster moves over the next couple of seasons. In just three of their top guys in Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Fernando Tatis Jr., they take up a combined $1 billion dollars over the next 11 years.
There is also no doubt that Juan Soto, star outfielder that was acquired by San Diego last season, has been monitoring the Machado situation carefully and keeping receipts for whenever he starts negations of his own. Other fans have speculated that the team will let Soto walk in 2024 or just trade him again, but his deal saw them part ways with six players (including some very important prospects) to add him to the roster. He surely still has to be in their future plans.
Starting pitchers Darvish and Joe Musgrove also cashed in these past few months and will add another $200 million to San Diego's payroll. Their front office is going all in for at least these next two seasons with all of this talent. The Friars got a taste of what it was like to make a deep playoff run last year and want to be back every season.
