MACHADO HAPPY FOR HIS OLD TEAM
The Orioles shipping Manny Machado off to the Dodgers at the 2018 All-Star break was the start of Baltimore’s rebuild. They selected Adley Rutschman with the No. 1 overall pick the following summer. They grabbed Heston Kjerstad with the second overall pick the following year, Colton Cowser with the fifth overall pick in 2021 and Jackson Holliday with another No. 1 overall pick last year.
Yet the Orioles on Monday walked into Petco Park with the best record in the AL, a three-game lead over the Rays in the AL East and even bigger leads over the usual suspects in New York and Boston.
Yeah. It’s a lot quicker than Machado thought that process would be as he left Baltimore five years ago.
“It’s definitely fast,” Machado said Monday afternoon. “I’ve never seen a team rebuild that quickly. … This year they’ve shown that they could take the East, so it’s impressive to see that in such a short period of time what they are doing over there.”
Indeed.
After forging postseason trips in three of Machado’s seven years in Baltimore, the Orioles’ string of 100-loss seasons — 115 in 2018, 108 in 2019 and 110 in 2021 — was interrupted by the COVID-shortened season before an 83-win campaign made them wild-card contenders deep into the 2022 season.
This year, they went 18-9 in April, have won at least 13 games every month this season and are 8-4 in August in stoking confidence throughout his old stomping grounds.
The Padres’ struggles aside this year, Machado is happy to see his old team off and running.
“It takes me back to when I played there,” he said. “Winning baseball and obviously they brought back the culture.
“It’s been a big sports city for a long time, so to see them going (from) clean house and rebuild in a short period of time to where they are today, it’s pretty impressive.”
Choi to IL
Ji-Man Choi initially strained his left rib on a diving play at first base last week. Subsequent swings have hindered his recovery to the point that the Padres will place the 32-year-old veteran on the 10-day injured list on Monday.
Outfielder Ben Gamel was called up from Triple-A El Paso to replace Choi on the active roster.
“He tried to play through it,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said of Choi’s injury. “The last couple of days it hasn’t responded very well. It’s gone backwards. So we’ll put him on the IL and hopefully it’s not a long IL.”
Choi was 0-for-11 with five walks since he was acquired from the Pirates at the trade deadline.
Gamel was hitting .314/ .402/.600 with five homers and two steals in 18 games at Triple-A El Paso. He’s played both corner spots in the outfield with El Paso, as well as first base.
The 31-year-old Gamel hit .232/.324/.369 with nine homers in 115 games with the Pirates last year and is a .253/ .333/.385 hitter across parts of seven seasons in the majors.
Managing Carpenter
With Choi hitting the injured list, the Padres needed to make a 40-man move to add Gamel to the roster.
It was not at the expense of Matt Carpenter, who has not appeared in a game since July 24.
Instead, right-hander Drew Carlton was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Carlton had been sidelined since July 1 with elbow inflammation.
As for Carpenter, Melvin indicated that Choi’s absence could lead to opportunities for Carpenter while also acknowledging the rust he’d have to knock off.
The 37-year-old Carpenter has a .166/.296/.302 batting line in the first year of a two-year deal with the Padres.
“It’s tough getting him in there right now,” Melvin said, “and the longer he’s out the tougher it is. But right now he continues to be the pro that he is and guys go to him for knowledge and he’s all in as far as the team goes. Maybe with Choi out, if we can get him some at-bats here and there maybe he can be a productive guy for us still. But he still works his butt off and is big in our clubhouse.”
Notable
RHP Michael Wacha (shoulder) is expected to be able to throw between 80-90 pitches today when he comes off the injured list to make the start.
He threw five simulated innings in Arizona on Thursday to complete his rehab assignment. His only start during the progression was throwing two shutout innings for Triple-A El Paso on Aug. 5.