ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Manny Machado is on pace to start as many games this season as he did last year, when he wobbled to October, admittedly spent.<\/p>\n
So what happened?<\/p>\n
Well, it\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is, he was fighting to play,\u201d Padres manager Craig Stammen said. \u201cAnd you gotta listen to your guy when he says he wants to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Stammen then spent several minutes assessing his culpability in one of his most important players dragging as the season entered its final month.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go into a season with a plan, and sometimes that plan doesn\u2019t always work out the way you dreamed of it,\u201d Stammen said Friday. \u201cBeing my first year, it\u2019s easier said than done. It\u2019s definitely, I think, one of the things going forward that I\u2019ll probably have a different strategy on, just because now I experienced the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stammen stated in spring training that his third baseman would get more time off this season, owing to his age and his importance to the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, yeah, he\u2019s gonna get more rest,\u201d Stammen said in March. \u201c\u2026 He\u2019s no spring chicken anymore. And we want the best for him. He wants the best for himself, wants the best for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stammen did give Machado the 12th game of the season off.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s getting a little older,\u201d Stammen said then. \u201cHe\u2019s still a spring chicken, but I think these days, hopefully, add up in August, September, and we get the same Manny we get the whole season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Machado also sat the 29th game of the season, though that was due to what was described as a calf cramp that caused him to leave the previous game.<\/p>\n
Since then, Machado has started all but one game.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s start was his 44th in a row. He has played 106 of the past 107 games over 122 days.<\/p>\n
Machado, who turned 34 in July, shrugged when reminded late Friday night that he was supposed to get more time off this season.<\/p>\n
Asked if he could have used it, he said: \u201cI mean, absolutely. For sure. I\u2019d love that. Yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regulating playing time with Machado is tricky. He tells his manager he is fine every day. He doesn\u2019t want to not be in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pay me to play,\u201d he said earlier in the week when talking about why he was not taking time off to let an obviously painful finger bruise heal.<\/p>\n
Machado has started 1,726 games since the beginning of the 2015 season. That is more than any other MLB player in that span.<\/p>\n
To achieve that number, Machado has played through ailments that the public never hears about.<\/p>\n
But among those that could not be hidden were an unspecified shoulder issue in 2021 that forced him out for five games. He also missed nine games but avoided the injured list after suffering a Grade 3 ankle sprain in June 2022. And he served exclusively as designated hitter the final month of 2023 before undergoing extensor tendon (elbow) surgery in October.<\/p>\n
The reason Machado essentially refuses to embrace more days off runs deep.<\/p>\n
To Machado, posting every day is a cornerstone of what has so far been a Hall of Fame-track career. There can be no doubt he considers it as important as the talent he was born with. He lives the credo that the most important ability is durability.<\/p>\n
Comments he made in March shed light on the importance he places on and pride he takes in posting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen guys who won MVPs and have gotten on a cold stretch and gone on the (IL) for a few days, then come back and get hot, then go back on the (IL) when they get cold again,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they play 130 games. So has it crossed my mind to play 130 games and try to win an MVP? Absolutely. But that\u2019s not me. It won\u2019t be me. I\u2019ll grind it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The road the Padres are attempting to map out \u2014 and will certainly have to navigate more certainly in future seasons as Machado passes 35 \u2014 is that they also pay Machado to be productive.<\/p>\n
And that is not happening.<\/p>\n
The end of the season has generally been when Machado has done some of his best work. He carried the Padres into the postseason \u2014 or at least did a huge portion of the heavy lifting \u2014 in 2020, \u201822 and \u201824.<\/p>\n
But this is the second consecutive August in which Machado\u2019s production has dropped off precipitously.<\/p>\n
After batting .288 with a .962 OPS over 41 games from June 9 to July 28, he entered Saturday\u2019s game batting .198 with a .535 OPS in his previous 28 games. Last season, he was batting .297 with an .850 OPS on Aug. 11 and hit .210 with a .631 OPS over his final 40 games.<\/p>\n
It is impossible to entirely dismiss the notion that fatigue is playing a role in Machado\u2019s offensive fade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure, honestly,\u201d Machado said. \u201cMaybe. Could be, sure. Could be a lot of different things. It could be one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Machado does not address injuries unless they are obvious. Even then, he is vague.<\/p>\n
According to multiple people, he has dealt with at least some level of affliction with his feet, a calf, an Achilles, his back and his right finger.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything,\u201d he said when the list was ticked off to him. \u201cAll of the above. Choose.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ebb and flow of his season has further complicated his load management.<\/p>\n
As Machado struggled at the plate in May, he insisted he needed to swing his way out of it. Then he got hot, and the Padres had ground to make up. Sitting him then seemed paradoxical.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cEverybody says, \u2018Oh, just give him a day off.\u2019 You\u2019ve got a lot of other voices that say, \u2018Don\u2019t give him a day off.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The Padres also had 13 scheduled days off in the first 92 days of the season, which provided built-in rest. But they also spent a week playing at elevation in that time. And beginning June 26, they played 17 straight days, had four days off for the All-Star break, and then played 26 times in the next 27 days.<\/p>\n
It was during that stretch, too, that they had to win in order to entrench themselves in the playoff chase and justify the front office investing at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
Stammen acknowledged these factors, but he did not excuse himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also my job to take care of him,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cHe\u2019s not gonna come up to me like, \u2018Hey, I need a day off.\u2019 \u2026 They don\u2019t need to do that. I gotta be the person that understands situations a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n
In lieu of days off, Machado has served as designated hitter 15 times this season, once more than he did in all of \u201825.<\/p>\n
And it has been clear virtually all season that he has throttled down on the bases. Machado has over the course of his career been one of the game\u2019s most astute baserunners, getting excellent leads and running well once he gets going. The leads have been shorter this season, and the extra bases have not been taken as frequently. His lower body maladies have been part of that. So has the goal of preservation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not part of my game right now,\u201d Machado said. \u201cWith everything, it just hasn\u2019t really been one of my \u2018A\u2019 games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Machado still turns it on when he feels it is imperative. On Wednesday against the Pirates, he scored from first base on a double.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed the extra run,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing a team that we (weren\u2019t) really scoring a lot of runs (against). So had to scratch one out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no way to know how much better Machado would feel if he had one or two more days off.<\/p>\n
But Stammen would like to find out.<\/p>\n
He indicated more DH days are forthcoming and said it is possible Machado will get at least one game off soon.<\/p>\n
But going forward, it seems Stammen will be even more committed to giving Machado more days off earlier in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, for me, like seeing how these games seem to be more important than the games \u2014 just like the perception, and in reality too, everybody starts looking at standings now \u2014 it\u2019s very hard to give guys days off at this time of the year and feel good about not putting our best team out there,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cNow that I feel that in a different role, hopefully I can manage the season overall a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Manny Machado is on pace to start as many games this season as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3493,74,76,75,2611],"class_list":["post-447573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-manny-machado","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}