San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado is going to be in California for a long time.
Over the weekend, he signed an 11-year, $350 million pact to stay in San Diego for the next decade, and then some.
He had leveraged an opt-out clause existing in his old contract, and ended up achieving his goal of scoring a new deal.
If Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts signed deals at or around $300 million, Machado knew this was his best chance of surpassing both.
And he did.
He is coming off the best season of his great career, with 7.4 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and a .298/.366/.531 line with 32 home runs as a 30-year-old.
His moment to cash in was now.
Machado has earned a reputation as an offensive and defensive star, and for good reason.
However, we should be paying more attention to his ability to stay healthy.
They say health is a skill: it may not be entirely true, but players can decrease odds of injury with a good diet and the perfect training routine, as well as good sleeping habits and other sacrifices.
Machado has certainly put himself in a position to play as many games as possible.
“Manny Machado has 5,007 plate appearances since 2015, most in MLB in that span. We are SO lucky to watch him play,” MLB stats expert Sarah Langs.
Manny Machado has 5,007 plate appearances since 2015, most in MLB in that span
We are SO lucky to watch him play
—Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) February 26, 2023
In the last eight seasons, Machado has played an incredibly high percentage of his team’s games.
He rarely gets injured, and when he does, he comes back relatively quickly.
He should be getting some more attention as an “iron man”, a guy who will be there defending the uniform no matter what.
That, of course, has a lot of value.
NEXT:
Padres Ownership Is Fighting Back Against MLB Narrative
