MLB

Padres' Machado plans to opt out of contract after 2023 season

By Sports Desk February 17, 2023

Manny Machado plans to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract following the upcoming season.

Machado is entering the fifth year of a 10-year, $300million deal he signed with the San Diego Padres in February 2019, which included the right to terminate the agreement after this season and enter the free-agent market.

"Obviously, the team knows where I stand, my situation with the opt-out coming," he said at the Padres' spring training camp in Peoria, Arizona. "I think I've expressed that I will be opting out after this year, but I think my focus is not about 2024. I think my focus is about 2023, what I can do to this ballclub, what I've done for the organisation and what we're going to continue to do here. I think we've got something special here growing and I don't think anything's going to change."

When Machado originally signed his deal, it was the second largest in the majors behind Giancarlo Stanton's $325m contract. Now he is tied for the 11th-highest deal with the Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout topping the majors at $426.5m.

"Markets change," Machado said. "From where I signed five years ago, it's changed tremendously. Things change and evolve. As a player who's about to opt out, it's pretty good to see."

Machado is a six-time All-Star who finished second in the NL MVP voting last season after he batted .298 with 32 homers and 102 RBIs for a Padres team that reached the NL championship series before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Padres have not been shy about handing out big-money deals. They signed Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280mi deal in the offseason, and recently gave pitcher Yu Darvish a six-year, $102m extension.

"That provision's in his contract," Padres manager Bob Melvin said. "It's in his right to opt out, but we've also shown a willingness to keep the important guys here."

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