Padres’ Machado signing could impact D-Backs
The Diamondbacks have long resided in the same economic bracket as the San Diego Padres, fellow residents in the National League West. And yet, in moves made a couple of months apart, the Diamondbacks traded their face-of-the-franchise player in slugger Paul Goldschmidt while the Padres are about to dish out $300 million to land star infielder Manny Machado.
The optics of the moves side-by side do not look good for the Diamondbacks. But Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall contended the Goldschmidt decision was never entirely about economics, drawing parallels between his team’s signing of Zack Greinke three offseasons ago and the Padres’ deal with Machado.
“I think (the Machado signing) is very similar to when we made the decision on Zack,” Hall said Wednesday, referring to the team’s six-year, $206.5 million expenditure in December 2015.
“I think it was a time where we felt like we could make that next step from a competitive standpoint. I think (the Padres) see it (that way), too.
“The difference would be they’re looking at a player long term who will still be in his prime when they believe their next wave is coming through because they have so much talent that is younger and close to being in the big leagues.”
With Goldschmidt a year away from free agency, the Diamondbacks dealt him to the St. Louis Cardinals in December for a package that included three young players and a draft pick. The front office did not feel comfortable with the risk associated with letting Goldschmidt reach free agency only to potentially sign elsewhere, in which case the club would have received just a draft pick as compensation. Given that, they felt the return from the Cardinals – which includes catcher Carson Kelly and right-hander Luke Weaver – was too good to pass up.
The Diamondbacks had preliminary conversations with Goldschmidt about what a possible contract extension would look like, but the club would have had a difficult time fitting both Goldschmidt and Greinke onto the payroll if Goldschmidt were making close to market value.
Hall, who spoke a day after owner Ken Kendrick chose to “respectfully pass” on addressing the media, said it would have been “challenging.”
“I think there was possibility that we would have stayed with Goldy and maybe continued to try and figure out a long-term solution, although we had a pretty good idea of what that was going to look like,” Hall said. “Where we thought we would have had to go, it probably would not have worked with a salary already committed to Greinke and others.”