PEORIA, Ariz. -- Manny Machado rolled into the Peoria Sports Complex on Tuesday morning, his second day at Padres camp this spring. He took a few swings. He took ground balls at third base and threw a few across the diamond.
None of it would’ve been particularly noteworthy -- except for the fact that Machado’s ability to throw and hit are very much question marks this spring, after he underwent surgery on his right elbow last October.
“Rehab’s been going amazing,” Machado said. “As of right now, I’m feeling good. No issues with hitting or throwing. It’s just a matter of building up my arm.”
Machado remains limited. Mostly, those limitations come in the actual amount of throwing and hitting he can undertake on a daily basis. But he says he’s been doing both for more than a month.
Two days after the 2023 season ended, Machado underwent right elbow extensor tendon repair, an operation to address the tennis elbow that has nagged him for parts of two seasons. It’s an uncommon procedure among baseball players, so the timeline for his return was always murky.
The Padres offered a recovery timetable of 4-6 months. That thrust Machado’s status for Opening Day on March 20 in Seoul into some doubt. But his current trajectory has team officials encouraged.
“He’s hit every checkpoint so far this offseason,” said general manager A.J. Preller. “... I know he wants to be ready to go play in Korea. So far he’s tracking towards that.”
At such an early juncture in camp, Machado wasn’t about to declare himself ready for the start of the season. He’ll undoubtedly be eased into game action this spring.
“No expectations,” Machado said. “It’s just a matter of what my body tells me and how much I can go, how much I can push. At the same time, just being smart about the situation. It’s a long season. As of right now, I’m feeling good.”
It remains a possibility that Machado would open the year as a full-time DH while he continues to build his arm strength. But that decision will be predicated on how his arm feels. Once he’s fully healthy, he says it won’t take him long to get back up to speed at third base. (Machado, after all, is a two-time Gold Glover and one of the best defenders in the sport.)
Machado is eager to put a disappointing 2023 season behind him. He hit 30 home runs, but his .782 OPS was his lowest in his five seasons as a Padre, and he struggled down the stretch while playing through significant elbow pain. Meanwhile, the team fell well short of expectations, sputtering through the summer and missing the playoffs.
“It was devastating,” Machado said. “We could’ve been a lot better last year, and we fell short -- two games back, from a season that wasn’t so great. We know we have it. It’s there. … A lot of guys are hungry, and they’ve been hungry all offseason.”
Of course, the Padres’ roster has also seen significant turnover. Juan Soto and Josh Hader have departed. Their rotation has undergone an overhaul, and Blake Snell remains a free agent.
The “big four” of Machado, Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts has become a “big three.”
“Obviously we lost some big key pieces,” Machado said. “But we believe in the guys we have in here. We know what our capabilities are. Myself, Bogey and Tati, obviously we gotta perform better than we did last year. But other than that, it’s just about going out there, playing as a team and believing in each other.”