The San Diego Padres made the biggest splash of the offseason on Tuesday when they signed Manny Machado, and there’s apparently a chance that may not be the biggest contract they hand out this winter.
Even after signing Machado to a 10-year, $300 million deal, the Padres have reportedly not ruled out adding Bryce Harper. As Jon Heyman of Fancred notes, their payroll will only be around $110 million with Machado. If San Diego also signed Harper at a salary of more than $30 million a year, they would still be somewhere near the middle of the MLB in total payroll.
Padres are pulling off one surprise (once Manny’s finalized) but here’s another shocker : they aren’t ruling out Bryce Harper, too. 110M payroll (with MM) is still lower than most.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 19, 2019
The Padres are clearly serious about trying to contend after they won just 66 games in 2018, but signing both Machado and Harper seems extremely farfetched. Harper has consistently been linked to another National League team, though it’s hard to tell what information is real and being fabricated by Scott Boras.
For what it’s worth, there has been talk that Harper would prefer to play for a West Coast team. If the Padres offer the most money or match Harper’s best offer, they might be in a good position to sweep the two biggest free agent prizes on the market.
