Tom Krasovic: Padres have an Old Guy problem, but it isn’t what you think

The Padres had an Old Guy problem this year, but — contrary to common perception — it wasn’t the Old Guy problem of 33-year-old infielders Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts playing on contracts worth hundreds of millions of guaranteed dollars.

Machado outperformed his 2025 salary. At $17.1 million, the sum was much smaller than many of his salaries still to come — a thorny fact — on the $350-million extension issued by Peter Seidler and A.J. Preller in February 2023.

But while Machado’s second-half slump and two hitless games in the recent playoff series are fresh in many minds and did hamper the Padres, the No. 3 hitter returned good value on the dollar overall. His 27 home runs and 95 RBIs led the team, and his two-run home run keyed Wednesday’s Game 2 win over the Cubs in the Wild Card Series.

Bogaerts, who blew out 33 candles on Wednesday, still seems a longshot to slug up to the expectations placed on him when he signed a $280 million deal in December 2022. Still, the ex-Boston star returned decent value on his $25.45 million salary. Defensively, he wound up among the top seven shortstops in several metrics. Offensively, Bogaerts had a league-average year, even with just 11 home runs. Overall, his offense — which included a .720 OPS and 20 stolen bases in 22 tries — garnered C or C+ grades in advanced metrics. Lastly, Bogaerts had a fine Wild Card Series.

An Old Guy problem did plague the 2025 Padres, however.

And I’m in awe of it.

In this era of unprecedented pitch velocity and spin, several of the Padres’ older rivals had good, great and even epic seasons.

The Padres’ Old Guy problem was exemplified best by Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber’s monster season at age 32.

Showing young dudes how it’s done, the burly, pitch-hunting left-hander hit a National League-high 56 home runs, including a major league-best 15 off pitches 95-plus miles per hour. Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. each had five such blows.

Freddie Freeman, 36, struck a stunning blow for geriatric hitters by batting .323 with runners in scoring position during the regular season. He had 39 doubles and 24 home runs and matched Machado, three years his junior, in home runs off 95 mph-plus heat with five. Dodgers teammate Mookie Betts, 32, led all Major League shortstops in defensive runs saved despite having never played shortstop full-time before 2024. Just when it looked like age may have stolen his slugging power, Betts banged his way out of a career-worst slump in August.

The Dodgers, as a result, held off the fading Padres for the National League West title, which enabled them to face the last-seeded Reds in Los Angeles while the Padres were facing the fourth-seeded Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Over in the American League, Aaron Judge’s latest jaw-dropping season provided more material for baseball historians. Building upon his early 30s transformation into an all-time great, the 33-year-old hit 53 home runs and won his first batting title by hitting .331. Helped by 32 home runs from slugger George Springer, who turned 36 last month, the Blue Jays are facing Judge’s Yankees in a Division Series.

If the Padres of this era ever are to win a pennant, much less a World Series, they may need an Old Guy hitter or two to join the party.

But that may not be a reasonable request of Machado or Bogaerts.

Machado whetted appetites in his age-29 season with a .298 batting average and 32 home runs and hit four more home runs in leading the Padres to the 2022 National League Championship Series. But he has played an extraordinary number of innings at two grueling positions — shortstop and third base — for someone who’s now 33. To help Machado combat attrition, Preller ought to acquire a defender who can spell Machado at third base while also hitting at a league-average rate.

This year, Bogaerts halted a spooky five-year slide in slugging rate, but this year’s .391 percentage was still well below his career norm. He had his healthiest of three seasons with the Padres but was still set back by a fractured foot. Shortstops in their mid-30s don’t tend to grow more durable.

Rather than assume a happy surprise, Preller will have to look elsewhere for power-hitting upgrades in the roster, and he’ll have to get improved home run totals from Jackson Merrill, 22, and perhaps Tatis, 26. Preller got off to a good start there in July, trading for left fielder Ramón Laureano. The righty slugged .489 with nine home runs in 50 games before fracturing a finger. Laureano, 31, is under contract for $6.5 million next season.

As for the Dodgers and Phillies, who are meeting in a Division Series, they’ll ask their age-defying stars who include slugger-ace Shohei Ohtani, 31, and shortstop-batting champion Trea Turner, 32, to lead them to the World Series title.

Like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning did to Philip Rivers, a handful of Old Guy stars are raising the bar very high above Machado and Bogaerts.