Padres News: Manny Machado Refutes Negative Report on Leadership, Chemistry
The Padres have been the epitome of underperformance in the 2023 season. With a 69-78 record, the Friars still well behind in the Wild Card race and will spend the postseason on the couch despite having one of the highest bankrolls in baseball.
Naturally, those on the outside of the locker room want to understand why this season went as poorly as it did. In the quest for a scapegoat, the leadership in the Padres organization, from the front office to the dugout to the locker room, has come into question.
Manny Machado, who said that everyone on the team is a leader, thinks that the attempts to analyze what went wrong are getting out of hand.
“Honestly, the moral to the story is simple,” Machado said. “I think we’re getting a little sidetracked here. … I think ultimately there are (a lot of) guys that lead here. Obviously, myself, Tati, Bogey, Darvish. Croney, Joe. We’re all obviously going to be here for a long time, and people look up to us, and they expect us to go out there every single day and be better. I think we didn’t this year. That falls on us. that falls on me for not performing how I’m supposed to perform and the capabilities I’m supposed to be performing at. And when these things happen, this is the outcome."
Machado made it clear that he has heard the noise around the team, but chalked the Padres' lack of success to sub-par on-field performance.
“And these conversations start happening. ‘Oh, well, there’s no chemistry, there’s no leadership or there’s no this or there’s no that. The clubhouse is getting lost. The manager has lost the clubhouse, the front office this.’ There’s always gonna be stuff. And ultimately it comes down to one thing: We didn’t perform. I didn’t perform what I’m capable of performing. We didn’t perform. Because that’s just what it is. And you’ve got to take full responsibility (for) that. At the end of the day, it’s whatever you do in between the lines when you put on that jersey, and you go out there and you leave it on the field. So that’s the story. I don’t think there’s anything else that can be talked about.”
Machado was responding to not only the noise surrounding the team but also claims that his leadership style wasn't enough in 2023 -- it wasn't always what the team needed this season.
Key figures around baseball have come out in defense of the third baseman, and the numbers back up what he's said. He didn't perform and the team didn't perform up to capabilities.
