(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The San Diego Padres were hoping to be playing their best baseball by the time the playoffs came around.
Instead, they will not even be playing baseball in October.
To the surprise of many, the Padres finished the regular season with an 82-80 record and failed to make the playoffs.
You can point to many different reasons as to why the Padres failed this year.
But, one player who had a down year to his standards is Manny Machado.
His average dropped 40 points from last season and he had an OPS 116 points worse.
Machado was a finalist for NL MVP in 2022.
He will not be anywhere near that this year.
But it appears Machado was battling an injury for a large portion of the season.
According to Talkin’ Baseball, the Padres announced that Machado underwent right elbow extension tendon repair surgery.
The Padres announced that Manny Machado has undergone right elbow extension tendon repair surgery
His estimated recovery timeline is four to six months pic.twitter.com/XDmoq2q3C9
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 4, 2023
The recovery process is expected to hold Machado out for four to six months.
There is no question the injury affected Machado’s season.
He was unable to play the field over the last month of the season because he could not throw.
Also, it is safe to assume that hurt his production at the plate.
Machado should be fully healthy at the start of next season.
That will be crucial for a Padres team that is hoping to bounce back from a disappointing year.
Machado has proven to be one of the most consistent players in baseball during his career.
There is no reason to believe that will not continue when he returns to full strength next season.
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