On Monday, Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres accomplished an 11-9 victory towards the Colorado Rockies. With that, the Padres grew to become the ultimate group of the 2023 season to place collectively 4 straight wins.
The stat, whereas pretty esoteric, was indicative of the nightmarish Padres season. Regardless of having the third-highest payroll in baseball, they are going to miss the playoffs by a rustic mile.
The truth that the Padres have a number of the finest gamers within the fashionable recreation bemuses many. Any group that boasts a roster with names like Juan Soto, Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Manny Machado ought to, by all rights, have a file higher than 73-78.
• 
“Manny Machado has performed by means of ankle, elbow, hand accidents the previous 2 seasons, and as a substitute of appreciating him, some followers are saying he is doing it to “pad stats” Padding stats when he already bought his contract??? This fanbase is braindead generally” – Tony
All through the season, many pundits tried to elucidate the group’s woes. Not too long ago, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune referred to as into query Manny Machado’s management talents. In June, Acee additionally alledged that the San Diego Padres had a poisonous clubhouse, impacting their capacity to win video games.
In response, Machado slammed the accusations introduced forth in Acee’s piece. On 97.3 The Fan, the All-Star third baseman claimed that clubhouse points have been to not blame and that he merely didn’t play nicely sufficient:
“I feel on the finish of the day that is what it’s. A whole lot of quotes of that story have been neglected, and everybody all the time has their very own narrative that they are attempting to steer. … The true level of that is we did not play good baseball. I did not play good baseball.”
After Manny Machado hit .298/.366/.531 with 32 house runs and 102 RBIs final yr, he completed second within the NL MVP voting, narrowly dropping out to Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals.
After the stellar efficiency, Machado was rewarded with an 11-year, $300 million contract extension, the most important in group historical past.
Time is operating out for Manny Machado and Padres’ star-studded roster
Regardless of flashes of brilliance from the roster, the group’s $250 million payroll can solely keep collectively for therefore lengthy if they can’t win.
Now 20 video games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, GM AJ Preller could have some tough choices to make in offseason. Whether or not or not Machado will shoulder any blame stays to be seen.
