Machado dealt with lingering tennis elbow during the 2023 campaign as well as that offseason and then last winter was recovering from surgery to repair the elbow. This was the first time he was able to have a normal offseason routine since prior to the 2022 season and that year he slashed .

Manny Machado frequently leans on the baseball mantra about how no player is “100%” after the first day of spring training. But he hasn’t even been that in a couple years. He injured his elbow early in 2023 and had surgery that October.