“I didn’t play good baseball”

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. Despite having the third-highest payroll in baseball, they’ll miss the playoffs by a rustic mile.

The undeniable fact that the Padres have a few 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 document higher than 73-78.

“Manny Machado has played through ankle, elbow, hand injuries the past 2 seasons, and instead of appreciating him, some fans are saying he’s doing it to “pad stats” Padding stats when he already got his contract??? This fanbase is braindead sometimes” – Tony

Throughout the season, many pundits tried to clarify the group’s woes. Recently, 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 properly sufficient:

“I think at the end of the day that’s what it is. A lot of quotes of that story were left out, and everyone always has their own narrative that they’re trying to persuade. … The real point of this is we didn’t play good baseball. I didn’t play good baseball.”

After Manny Machado hit .298/.366/.531 with 32 dwelling runs and 102 RBIs final 12 months, 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

Despite flashes of brilliance from the roster, the group’s $250 million payroll can solely keep collectively for thus lengthy if they can not win.

Now 20 video games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, GM AJ Preller may have some troublesome selections to make in offseason. Whether or not Machado will shoulder any blame stays to be seen.