Five Padres, including Manny Machado, are in the running for the All-MLB Team, with fan voting open through Tuesday.
In addition to Machado and Brandon Drury at third base (Drury played the position before the Padres acquired him from the Reds), Friars up for the honor include Jake Cronenworth at second base, Juan Soto in the outfield and Yu Darvish as a starting pitcher.
Voting closes at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Winners will be revealed Dec. 5.
Machado, however, was denied the MVP Award Thursday, which went to St. Louis Cardinal Paul Goldschmidt. He finished second, with 291 points and seven first-place votes, to Goldschmidt’s 380 and 22. Cardinal Nolan Arenado finished third.
The Padre star hit .298 with 32 home runs and 102 RBIs, while Goldschmidt hit .317 with 35 homers and 115 RBIs. It’s the fourth time Machado has been among the top five finishers in MVP races, including 2020.
Meanwhile, the trio of players in the Padres trade deadline haul – Soto, Drury, as a utility player, and designated hitter Josh Bell – won Silver Sluggers earlier this month, for being the best hitters at their positions. Soto captured his third – the others came when he was a Washington National – while Bell and Drury each received their first. Trent Grisham also picked up some post-season hardware, a Gold Glove.
In other developments, the team formally announced a new contract for set-up man Robert Suarez and reportedly signed another key arm out of the bullpen.
Suarez received a five-year, $46-million deal following a season in which he had a 2.27 ERA over 45 appearances in which he posted a 5-1 record. General manager A.J. Preller had no qualms about the contract he told MLB.com, despite Suarez having only a year of U.S. major league experience even at the age of 31.
“In the moments that were the most pressure-filled, Robert wanted the baseball, was calm and threw the ball great,” he said “For all those reasons, it was a situation where we were strong in wanting him back.”
Meanwhile, MLB.com reported Wednesday that Nick Martinez agreed to a three-year, $26-million pact, with options that could add $16 million to the deal.
The Padres proceeded with the talks with the knowledge that Martinez, largely used out of the bullpen in 2022, wants to be a starter.
“Starting, for us, is something we really want to explore with him and something he wants to do,” Preller told MLB.