Padres' Admirable Plan to Rest Manny Machado More Frequently Never Materialized

Plans are great because, generally, they give you an outline of your intentions and how you will carry them out. They don’t always work, with varying degrees of success, but they certainly help when multiple people are involved. For the San Diego Padres, the plan for superstar third baseman Manny Machado, stated in spring training by manager Craig Stammen, was to rest him more through days off and being the designated hitter in order to have him fresher for the stretch drive.

Well, that plan never really took shape and the Padres will be left to deal with those consequences.

Entering this weekend’s series against the Tampa Bay Rays, there were only three times Stammen, the Padres' first-year manager, has not penciled Machado’s name into the starting lineup. Two of those came in April, the other came in July. Between April 28 and July 8, the last two days Machado sat, he played in 61 straight games. His streak before this weekend was 42.

There are certainly at least two things at play here. Machado, who turned 34 in July, has been in a season-long slump, which has likely made him want to stay in the lineup to hit his way out of it. The other was the Padres’ poor play beginning in late May and lasting until they righted the ship two months later.

Both are completely reasonable, especially considering Machado’s status as the Friars’ unofficial captain as a Hall of Fame-caliber veteran in his 15th season. But the Padres entered the series vs. the Rays with 28 games remaining. While there have been plenty of important games as the Friars have gone from three games below .500 to currently holding the No. 3 NL Wild Card, keeping Machado's production up by keeping him fresh would have been a nice accomplishment.

Production, however, is what the Padres have been missing from Machado. He is going to finish 2026 with the worst slash line of his career, yet he still leads the team in home runs (24) and RBIs (72). His slash line entering the weekend was .214/.301/.402, a far cry from his career mark before this season of .279/.338/.486. Machado has battled various minor injuries this season, the latest being a bruise on his right index figure that flared up in Monday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. His reaction was almost like he had sustained a serious injury, but he remained in the game. Not exactly surprising stuff.

While you can’t exactly give Machado the iron man label, you do have to remember that he came up as a can’t-miss shortstop in the Baltimore Orioles’ system following the Cal Ripken Jr. era, moving to third base because the O’s had J.J. Hardy at shortstop. Still, the desire to be in the lineup is admirable. Machado has played in more games than any other MLB player since the start of the 2015 season and is one of only two to appear in more than 1,700 games in that span.

Prying him from the starting lineup is tough to do. But as Stammen continues to establish his management presence as opposed to his prior relationship with Machado as a teammate, he is going to have to force his third baseman to take more time off. In May, for instance, Machado put up a .127/.202/.324 slash line. A day or two off may have been beneficial. But there hasn’t been a terrific backup at third base, which also complicates the matter. Miguel Andujar is really more of a left fielder or designated hitter and has been out since July 20, while Sung-Mun Song is good defensively, but was just optioned because he hasn’t been able to put together consistent at-bats to get his offense going.

The metrics show what Machado isn’t doing when compared to 2025, when he had a .275/.335/.460 slash line with 27 homers and 95 RBIs, as well as 14 steals (he has three this year). Machado’s numbers are down notably from 2025 in several categories: exit velocity from 92.9 mph (93 percentile) to 90.5 mph (73rd), barrel rate from 12.9% (80th) to 9.7% (72nd), hard-hit percentage 51.5% (92nd) to 44.7% (72nd) and bat speed 74.5 mph (84th) to 74.8% (80th).

How has that manifested besides the career-worst slash line? One major way is Machado is tied for second in MLB in grounding into double plays with 19 (tied with Kansas City’s Salvador Perez and behind Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero’s 23). Machado had 16 last year and an MLB-worst 25 in 2024. His strikeout rate has also climbed to a career-worst 21.6% after sitting at 19.3% the previous two seasons.

Alas, Machado’s reputation is built on two things: Posting every day and producing.

“Yeah, he’s good at portraying the tough man,” Stammen said this spring. “That’s who he is. It’s a badge of honor for him. But we’ve also got to get the best out of him for a full season, not just in April and May.”

Said Machado: “I’ll rest when I’m in the ground.”