Padres' Craig Stammen Admits He Needs to Better Manage Manny Machado

The first-year manager hasn't gotten a pulse for when to give the 34-year-old time off.

San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado (13) looks on against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the third inning at Chase Field on Aug. 6, 2026. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Manny Machado is 34. When a major league hitter reaches his age, a mountain of data predicts a steep decline in his production. 

Yet the San Diego Padres had little reason to expect a career-worst season from Machado in 2026, however. His 2025 season — when he played 159 games plus three more in the postseason — was in line with his production from the two years prior.

Padres manager Craig Stammen has been dealt some tough cards in his first season, and faced questions throughout about how well he's played the cards he was dealt. He recently acknowledged  that questions about how to manage Machado's workload have weighed on him, too.

“It’s also my job to take care of him,” Stammen said, via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He’s not gonna come up to me like, ‘Hey, I need a day off.’ … They don’t need to do that. I gotta be the person that understands situations a little better.”

The raw stats aren't flattering to Machado: a .214 batting average, .302 on-base percentage and .400 slugging percentage (all career-lows for a full season). Beneath that is a slowing but still-fast 74.8-mph bat speed, a well as a waning ability to square the ball up, per Statcast.

While Machado's minus-5 Defensive Runs Saved have punctured his pristine image as a premier defensive third baseman, Statcast's OAA still views him as the best in the business, at plus-6.

The key number for Machado is 158: the number of games he is on pace to play during the regular season. Only Jackson Merrill (23) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (27) have played as many games this year as Machado, and both are younger.

Stammed suggested to reporters that more DH days are coming for Machado down the stretch. A day off is possible, but the biggest change will come next year, when Machado will get more days off in the beginning of the season.

“I think, for me, like seeing how these games seem to be more important than the games — just like the perception, and in reality too, everybody starts looking at standings now — it’s very hard to give guys days off at this time of the year and feel good about not putting our best team out there,” Stammen said. “Now that I feel that in a different role, hopefully I can manage the season overall a little bit better.”

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