Padres 3rd baseman Manny Machado has been one of the most durable players in Major League Baseball. Manger Bob Melvin has talked at length about Machado's pain tolerance and desire to stay on the field.
But there's a limit to what anyone can endure, even Manny. Before their final homestand of the year on Monday night Machado gave us a rare look at just how much his injured elbow has hampered him this season.
"Not doing too great. I kind of like to stay away from the media about my injuries and just play through pain but I think we're kind of past that point," says Machado. "I've been dealing with the elbow for about three or so months ... actually, if you really want to think about it its been two years."
Machado is not being specific about how the injury happened or what made it flare up this season, or even what it really is. He says he's been doing all he can to avoid surgery for the last couple of seasons.
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"We've done shots, we've done therapy, we've done recovery, some rest. None of those have worked," says Machado. "The next alternative is surgery. We've tried to avoid it as much as we can but unfortunately it's just put us in that situation and you know what? It's probably going to make me better."
Manny says he's going to stay in the Padres lineup as the designated hitter until his club is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention (you know, the kind of thing a leader does). Then he'll go under the knife and hopefully be at full strength for the start of the 2024 season.
"Probably about a six to seven month recovery and hopefully that puts me in line to start the year next year."
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