Padres superstar Manny Machado made one of the early headlines of this year's MLB spring training, when he confirmed last week that he would be opting out of his lucrative 10-year contract at season's end.
For Padres fans hoping to see their team's nucleus locked in for the long term, the prospect of the 2022 NL MVP runner-up departing in free agency wasn't exactly welcomed news.
During an appearance with Ben & Woods on 97.3 The Fan on Friday morning, the six-time All-Star said he loves San Diego and the direction the Padres organization is headed, but added that "business is business."
"It's obviously a hard decision for me and my family, but it's not about myself or anything. Some people might say, 'He just wants the money.' No, we love San Diego. We have a home there. We love this organization, we love the way things have been moving around here, and going in the right direction.
"But at the end of the day, sometimes business is business. And I think it wouldn't be in my interest if I -- you know, the market has changed in five years. In one year it's changed. You see it in life, you see it in the real world. Let's take away baseball. The price of eggs is how much? It's just life. Things change, a lot of things change. Ultimately, the markets change, right?"
Markets do indeed change, and MLB's seems have kicked into another gear since last offseason. Rich contracts abound for the league's top talent, including the nine-year, $360 million pact Aaron Judge, who turns 31 in April, signed with the Yankees.
The 10-year, $300 million deal Machado landed with the Padres prior to the 2019 season is not exactly a pittance, but it's also not hard to see him getting more than the remaining five years and $150 million if he were to hit free agency next offseason. Machado and his camp appear to be betting on it, reportedly turning down a five-year, $105 million extension offer from the Padres.
Machado, who turns 31 in July, appears to have his sights set on the long haul, suggesting he'd like a deal that takes him past his age 36 season, which is when his current contract is set to expire.
"You see the offers that are being offered out there. I'll be 36 at the time that my contract will be over, and I'll still have four, five more years -- I want to play until I'm at least 42, like [Nelson Cruz]. At that point, it's about milestones, it's about maybe getting into the Hall of Fame, putting up those final numbers. At the end of the day, we play for 20 years, and that's all we got. After that, we're 42 years old, and we've got a whole life left. What are we going to do at that point?"
He also expressed a desire to continue resetting the market in a way that is favorable to his fellow players.
"So, going back to the question, what am I going to do for [Padres prospect] Jackson Merrill? My decision that I'm making today, obviously it's going to impact myself, but it's going to be a big impact on Merrill, on [Padres prospect] Ethan Salas, on these young kids that are coming up in this organization, or the young kids that are coming up all around the league.
"This market is just going to continue to go up, and if I take a bad deal or someone takes a bad deal, then things go down, and it trickles right back down. So, we have to stand up not just for ourselves obviously, but for the guys coming up behind us, and stand up for this union that we have as baseball players. We've got to stick together and do what's right for everyone else, because obviously, yes, it's coming to impact us and our families and generations to come, but it's also about the players coming up throughout the league, and the younger guys."
With the Red Sox having signed third baseman Rafael Devers to a long-term extension this offseason, Machado projects to be the top position player in next offseason's class of free agents, behind only Shohei Ohtani in the overall rankings.
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