Tear-off labels and visible changes: Is it Manny Machado 2.0 now? – MLB – Baseball

Manny Machado’s career has always seemed to be compared to Bryce Harper.

At the time of the draft, he was the third overall pick in the first round. The number one pick was the genius boy who appeared in “Sports Illustrated” at the age of 16; when he entered the free market, he signed a record-breaking 10-year contract of $300 million. , but the record was broken by the other team within a few days; following the two experienced an adaptation period for the new team, they met fatefully in the National League Championship this fall. In the end, Harpo won the series MVP and became the winner once more.

The spotlight is not as good as Harbo, and Machado, who has not had less negative labels than the opponent in recent years, has also gradually transformed from a hot prodigal who provoked troubles into a team’s spiritual leader.

Carry the priest on one shoulder

Turning over the Padres’ opening roster this year, Machado, 29, is the fourth-oldest fielder in the team, and the oldest catcher, Austin Nola, is only 32 years old. In fact, Machado originally hoped that the team might net Nelson Cruz in the market in the offseason, so he mightn’t hide his disappointment to see the 41-year-old heavy artillery finally choose the Nationals.

In 2014, the Orioles signed Cruz on a one-year contract. He had the league’s highest 40 hits that year, but more importantly, the powerhouse that later won the division king ushered in a lounge leader, Machado and Shi. Gopp (Jonathan Schoop) was right next to Big Brother, watching how he struggled to stay in top form for 162 games during a long season.

“I learned a lot from him in 2014, including how to deal with various situations every day. You want to have such teammates around you, so that you can admire and learn.” Therefore, Machado said that he desperately wanted to promote Cruz and Cruz in the offseason. Due to the fate of the priest, I hope that the two can form a terrifying connection between the old, middle and young generations with Fernando Tatis Jr.

What Machado didn’t expect was that not only did he fail to find Cruz, but little Tatis, who was injured while cycling in the Dominican Republic in the winter, not only missed most of the season due to injury, but later also violated the doping regulations. The season immediately came to an end.

Although it was originally expected to carry the team together to watch the cricket stars fall into the off-field storm, Machado did not let the Padres collapse. After winning the 10-year contract, the best performance in the Padres so far, the WAR value of the “FanGraphs” version is 7.4 Not only does he top the National League, but a player with such output in team history can be traced back to Ken Caminiti, who was the National League MVP in 1996.

As a result, Machado has once once more entered the discussion of this year’s National League MVP. It is not as good as other powerhouses such as Nolan Arenado with Paul Goldschmidt and Freddie Freeman beside them. Mookie Betts and Pete Alonso can play alongside Francisco Lindor. Although the Padres exchanged for the national “genius boy” Juan Soto following the trade deadline, but His attack index dropped below 0.8 in the second half of the quarter, so it’s almost safe to say that the Padres would have gotten this far this year without Machado.

When asked regarding this year’s MVP, new coach Bob Melvin said that of course he would prefer Machado, “It really depends on everyone’s definition of MVP, is it the league MVP or the MVP of a specific team? If you want to Looking at how much a person contributes to a team, I can’t find anyone more suitable than him, Gao Smit’s stats are beautiful, yes, but he has Arianado behind him. Regardless of the final result, I think Machado is the player who brings the most to a team.”

The so-called contribution, in addition to the performance on the court, the more basic is to be able to play. Machado, who has never been on the injured list since 2014, sprained his ankle at Coors Stadium in June this year, and finally missed only 9 games. Just return to the team and deduct the shortened season in 2020. Since 2015, he has been able to play at least 150 games per season.

Right-hander Mike Clevinger, who spent most of his time in the treatment room because of his injury this year, saw Machado struggling to get back in shape when he was injured, “He’s definitely a ‘Mr. Mr. Durability)’ because he’s playing so much, everyone ignores that,” said the pitcher, who had two TJ surgeries. A good influence.”

In order to properly take care of the ankle injury, Machado chose not to take a plane to visit the Dodgers following visiting the Diamondbacks with the team to avoid swelling of the ankle. Instead, he took a 7-hour car to Los Angeles. After the long journey, Returned to the starting lineup in the series opener with the Dodgers.

These are details that cannot be revealed by the data. In fact, when Machado first returned to the team, the attack also fell into a low ebb. The attack index in July was less than 0.7, but at that time the team had not yet found combat power through trading, and he was urgently needed. Contribution on the field.