Signing Manny Machado, one of the premiere talents in Major League Baseball who will turn 27 later this year, makes a ton of sense for the San Diego Padres … in a vacuum. He’s bringing one of the better shortstop gloves and arms in the game along with a powerful bat to Petco Park.
But step back from the signing and look at their roster: It’s a nice move, but one that doesn’t mean the team is ready to win a title. Not yet, anyway.
Dumping $300 million into Machado’s lap — with a reported five-year out clause — is a hefty price to pay in the hopes that the star infielder will somehow pull the Padres out of the muck (they haven’t finished over .500 since 2010) and into contention.
The Padres just paid Eric Hosmer $144 over eight years to be what he was in Kansas City, something he didn’t live up to in the first year. There’s young but inconsistent talent in Hunter Renfroe, Manuel Margot and the oft-injured Wil Myers. Catcher Francisco Mejia has a great bat but questions about his defense, and he’s going to share playing time with Austin Hedges. They also signed vet Ian Kinsler to hold down second base and shift young stud Luis Urias to shortstop.
San Diego’s farm system is loaded with young prospects — Fernando Tatis Jr., who also plays shortstop, lefty pitcher MacKenzie Gore, RHPs Chris Paddack and Luis Patino were all among MLB.com’s top 100 prospects of 2019 — which will be great, in about three years.
And the Padres aren’t winning any World Series titles right now with Joey Lucchesi as their ace.
On top of that, we haven’t even talked about how the Dodgers and Rockies are much better teams who both made the playoffs last year and will almost certainly be NL West and Wild Card contenders again.
In other words, it’s an expensive gamble, and one that Padres fans might not see pay off for a few years.
Then again, maybe the pitching talent in the minors forms a better rotation and are ready quickly. Perhaps the youth movement kicks into high gear sooner than we all thought, and Machado could put any doubts about his attitude getting in the way of his talent behind him. If all of that happens and Machado doesn’t opt out, it’s a wise investment.
