This article was originally published on December 17, 2022.
I’m writing something a little bit different today, with a dive into Manny Machado, and his impending (possible) Free Agency after the 2023 season. We have seen three Shortstops get ten-plus year contracts in the past two weeks, and Manny Machado is most likely looking to capitalize on the performance he has put up in the last three years.
I want to start somewhere that gets overlooked with Machado, his durability. In the last five seasons, consisting of 708 regular season games, Manny Machado has played in 681. You’re talking about a guy playing in 96% of games the last half decade, while hitting .284, smashing 145 HR, and driving in 447 Runs.
Getting into the deeper stats of Machado for his tenure with San Diego from 2019-22, he has put up a OPS+ of 136, or 36% better than the average hitter. He’s also walking almost 10% of the time, while striking out 17.7% of the time.
Final verdict: the numbers tell us that Machado is a top 5 Third Baseman from 2019 to 2022. Machado has been an All Star back-to-back seasons, as well. There is no comparable contract, so he will probably get something like 10-13 years at $275 to $325 Million at 32 years old.
Teams are not afraid to sign players into their 40’s now with the Universal DH in both leagues, and even with some regression, Manny Machado has shown that age is something that won’t affect him all that much for several years. We have also seen teams skirt around the Luxury Tax by stretching out contracts, and lowering a players AAV, and I put Machado’s future AAV at $25-27M a year.
Edit: Third Baseman rankings from 2019-22
Games played –
- 1. Manny Machado
- 2. Eugenio Suarez
- 3. Rafael Devers
- 4. Nolan Arenado
- 5. Matt Chapman
Homeruns –
- 1. Eugenio Suarez
- 2. Nolan Arenado
- 3. Rafael Devers
- 4. Manny Machado
- 5. Jose Ramirez
RBI –
- 1. Rafael Devers
- 2. Jose Ramirez
- 3. Nolan Arenado
- 4. Manny Machado
- 5. Eugenio Suarez
WAR –
- 1. Jose Ramirez
- 2. Nolan Arenado
- 3. Alex Bregman
- 4. Rafael Devers
- 5. Manny Machado
