Padres roster review: Manny Machado – San Diego Union-Tribune
MANNY MACHADO
Position(s): Third base
Bats / Throws: Right / Right
2026 opening day age: 33
Height / Weight: 6-foot-2 / 218 pounds
How acquired: Signed as a free agent in February 2019; extended in February 2023.
Contract status: Will make $21 million in the third year of a 10-year, $350 million extension that runs through 2033; will make $40 million annually beginning in 2027.
fWAR in 2025: 3.8
Key 2025 stats: .275 AVG, .335 OBP, .460 SLG, 27 HRs, 95 RBIs, 91 runs, 55 walks, 108 strikeouts, 14 steals (159 games, 678 plate appearances)
STAT TO NOTE
.590 — Machado’s OPS in August 2025, the fifth-worst month of his career. Machado was coming off his best month of the year (1.004 OPS in July) when he paired just one homer with a .222/.294/.296 batting line over 28 games in August. Machado had only finished below .600 for a calendar month four other times in his career and not since 2017. The 2025 August slide from the Padre with the biggest contract was especially unfortunate as the Padres (16-12 in August) were unable to fully capitalize on the Dodgers’ struggles (15-13 in August) to overtake them in the NL West. The Padres moved one game up on Aug. 23 only to lose their next two games and never return to the top of the division.
TRENDING
Idle — Because Machado is locked up through his Age 40 season, the Padres will no doubt see the subject of one of the most important transactions in franchise history see his skills decline eventually. His isolated power, for instance, has already slid from .234 in 2022 to .204 in 2023 to .197 in 2024 to .185 last year, his lowest mark since 2014. However, Machado seems to have regrouped following the elbow surgery that marred the end of his 2023 season and slowed him to start 2024. He started 145 games at third base and played in all but three games in the regular season. The iron-man mentality wasn’t much help in August (see stat to note), but 2025 saw Machado hit his 350th career homer and up his franchise-leading total to 194, surpass 2,000 career hits, earn his third Silver Slugger Award and start the All-Star Game at third base for the second time as a Padre. It’s all beginning to add up as Machado fills out what could be a Hall-of-Fame resume. Moments like the one he provided in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series will help, too, as Machado’s two-run homer clear out of Wrigley Field provided a cushion in the team’s lone win over the Cubs. The home run, however, was Machado’s lone hit in three postseason games, lowering his career playoff batting line to .209/.259/.423 and .205/.252/.455 in 28 postseason games as a Padre.
2026 OUTLOOK
While the organization may want to begin having conversations about working in more DH days as Machado wades deeper into his 30s — 14 in 2025 was down from 51 a year earlier while returning from elbow surgery — expect to find the veteran at third base on a near daily basis. And expect at least 25 homers and 90 RBIs for a sixth straight year, even if he hasn’t had an .800 OPS season since finishing second in NL MVP voting in 2022 (.898).
Manny Machado #13 of the San Diego Padres looks on in the dugout during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
ROSTER RANKINGS
2. 3B Manny Machado
3. OF Jackson Merrill
4. RHP Nick Pivetta
5. RHP Michael King
6. RHP Mason Miller
7. OF Ramón Laureano
8. SS Xander Bogaerts
9. LHP Adrián Morejón
10. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
11. RHP Jason Adam
12. 2B Jake Cronenworth
13. RHP Joe Musgrove
14. RHP Randy Vasquez
15. OF Gavin Sheets
16. LHP JP Sears
17. RHP Yu Darvish
18. RHP Bradgley Rodriguez
19. RHP David Morgan
20. C Freddy Fermin
21. LHP Wandy Peralta
22. C Luis Campusano
23. LHP Yuki Matsui
24. INF Sung-Mun Song
25. RHP Matt Waldron
26. OF Bryce Johnson
27. RHP Ron Marinaccio
28. RHP Bryan Hoeing
29. LHP Kyle Hart
30. RHP Jhony Brito
31. INF Will Wagner
32. OF Tirso Ornelas
33. RHP Garrett Hawkins
34. RHP Miguel Mendez
35. RHP Daison Acosta
36. RHP Ty Adcock
37. RHP Alek Jacob
38. INF Mason McCoy
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