Manny Machado Breaks Silence on Padres Ownership Lawsuit

Disappointment was the theme of Saturday's FanFest at Petco Park and nobody was louder than third baseman Manny Machado.

Machado spoke up about the lack of action from the front office this offseason and how the front office turmoil has affected the team.

“Are we disappointed we haven’t made any moves? Yeah,” Machado told reporters on Saturday. “As a team, we do kind of look up there, and you’re a little disappointed that we let some of the guys that were (part of the) core group here go elsewhere.

"But we can’t control that, right? We control it with the group of guys that we have here, and we’re going to get ready for a long season. … Our goal is to win a championship and win the World Series. Come spring training time with the guys that we have in that clubhouse, we’re gonna go out there and we’re gonna battle.”

Machado reflected on his close bond with the late team chairman Peter Seidler and shared that he remains close with Seidler’s widow, Sheel.

Sheel is currently suing two of Peter Seidler’s brothers over their management of his trust, which could determine both control of the trust and ownership of the franchise.

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“That’s out of our hands,” Machado said. “It’s out of our control. We just want to go out there and perform and play baseball at the highest level.”

The lawsuit has cast a dark cloud over San Diego and has been a big reason why players are choosing to sign elsewhere. Roki Sasaki signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jurickson Profar went to the Atlanta Braves, Ha-Seong Kim is now with the Tampa Bay Rays, and Kyle Higashioka is in Texas.

Manager Mike Shildt had an interesting take of the offseason that differed from Machado.

“We’ve had a really productive offseason,” he commented on a team that has so far signed just one free agent — a part-time catcher on an affordable one-year deal — and has yet to make any trades involving major league players.

“What we have is pretty darn good,” Shildt added. “… I’m really excited. You hear my voice, right? We all should be excited, but I can’t help everybody else and how they feel. But I can just tell you I couldn’t be more pumped.”

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