Padres $350 million slugger called 'untradeable' despite zero reason to trade him

Padres $350 million slugger called 'untradeable' despite zero reason to trade him originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The San Diego Padres are sitting in first place in the NL West coming out of Mother's Day weekend. They're in great shape to go on a postseason run.

In such a situation, A.J. Preller finding a few trades by the deadline to bolster the roster is well within expectation. But, looking into the future of the franchise, there might be some internal players traded away by Preller in the coming years.

Zachary Rotman of Fansided.com identified one Padres player, $350 million slugger Manny Machado, as someone who is "untradeable."

"Even if Machado were performing at his typical star level, he's a 33-year-old under contract for seven more years after this one at nearly $40 million annually. – a price virtually no other team would be willing to meet," Rotman writes. "This version of Machado, though, will be nearly impossible to trade, and again, that's without mentioning his full no-trade clause."

Rotman is calling Machado an "untradeable" player, which makes sense based on his expensive deal and no-trade clause. But, there's just one issue: the Padres likely have zero intention of trading Machado now or anytime soon, if at all.

Manny Machado might be 'untradeable,' but Padres have zero reason to move him

Machado is 33 years old and will be 34 on July 6th. He is under contract through the 2033 season, meaning he will be over 40 years old by the time his Padres contract is over.

With his struggles this season through 38 games played and 161 plate appearances, with a .191 batting average, .647 OPS, and 82 OPS+, there is palpable concern long-term with Machado.

In theory, trading him would make sense. The Padres could get out of his massive deal, allocate that money to better and younger players, and become a contender again in the future.

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However, why should the Padres even consider trading Machado? He's the cornerstone of the franchise and isn't so bad on the field or in the clubhouse that Preller needs to move on from him anytime soon, if at all.

Machado might be locked into the Padres roster through 2033, but that likely was the Padres' plan anyway. Trading Machado might make sense in theory, but in reality, the Padres likely won't consider trading a franchise cornerstone like Machado.

Sure, he might be "untradeable" in the sense that part of his $350 million contract is hard for a club to take on. But, Machado likely never was going to be available for trade anyway, so this "untradeable" issue isn't actually a problem.