San Diego Padres fans can’t expect Manny Machado to immediately turn them from a 66-win team into the NL West division champions, but they might want him to at least pretend the possibility exists.
In a recent interview during spring training, Machado admitted the Padres have little chance of winning the NL West and are already thinking about the Wild Card.
“We’re gonna try to win, maybe not the division, but we’re gonna go out there and try to fight for a Wild Card spot and you never know what can happen in baseball,” Machado said.
While Machado was simply trying to be realistic and temper expectations, Padres fans might not want to hear that. Their team just gave Machado a $300 million contract, and most players who sign deals like that talk about helping their new team win a championship.
Of course, this is the same Machado who made some questionable comments last season about hustling. His reputation took quite a hit around that time, so people are going to criticize him any chance they get.
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