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Padres veteran third baseman Manny Machado underwent surgical procedure to restore the extensor tendon in his proper elbow Tuesday, the San Diego introduced, through Bernie Wilson of the Related Press. Dr. Neal ElAttrache carried out the process. Machado’s timeline for restoration is estimated to be between 4 and 6 months, the early finish of which might permit him to be prepared in time for spring coaching whereas the later finish would have him able to return to shortly after Opening Day, however in fact he might nonetheless must construct up from there within the occasion he misses spring coaching. The information was hardly a shock, as Machado himself had previously indicated that elbow surgical procedure was in his future.
It was a relative down season for Machado, 30, who slashed .258/.319/.462 with a wRC+ of 114 in 601 journeys to the plate this season. After a standout 2023 that noticed him accumulate a whopping 7.5 fWAR and end second to Paul Goldschmidt in NL MVP voting, Machado was extensively anticipated to choose out of his contract this offseason and check the open market. Somewhat than danger that eventuality, the Padres opted to extend him by the 2033 marketing campaign, including an extra 5 years and $170M to the six years and $180M already assured to him in his authentic deal.
Now, Machado will run the chance of getting into the primary season of his new megadeal in San Diego on the injured record. The membership is already anticipated to cut payroll by around $50M on the heels of a disappointing 82-80 season, and with uncertainty relating to their franchise third baseman, the membership should do extra with much less in changing Machado’s manufacturing for the primary a part of the season, along with returning or changing pending free-agent stars Blake Snell and Josh Hader.
Happily, that could be simpler to do than one would possibly anticipate. Though the membership relied on depth choices like Matthew Batten and Eguy Rosario down the stretch this season in Machado’s absence, the Padres determine to boast a deep group of infield choices in 2024 even assuming the membership prefers to maintain Fernando Tatis Jr. within the outfield reasonably than transfer him again onto the dust. With Xander Bogaerts entrenched at shortstop and utility infielder Ha-Seong Kim greater than able to sliding over to cowl third base whereas Machado is unavailable, Jake Cronenworth might briefly return to his pure place of second base after spending a lot of the 2023 marketing campaign at first. That will open first base up for an exterior acquisition, a hypothetical return for deadline acquisition Garrett Cooper, and even veteran slugger Matt Carpenter, who struggled in 76 plate appearances this yr however holds a $5.5M participant possibility for the 2024 marketing campaign.
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