PHILADELPHIA — For 96 games this season, Manny Machado played only shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles. A two-time Gold Glove winner at third base, Machado had insisted on playing short for the Orioles in his final year before free agency.
Yet four games into his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who acquired him during the All-Star break for five prospects, Machado was back at third, quickly grasping how much his new team values versatility.
“That’s been in my back pocket the whole time,” Machado said Monday at Citizens Bank Park after a victory here over the Phillies. “At this point, it’s go out there and try to do everything possible to win, whatever’s going to be best for the team. I came here for a couple of months, and it was to try to help this team win in whatever way I could — whether it’s third base, outfield, second, wherever it is.”
Machado was probably joking; he has never played second base or the outfield since the Orioles drafted him third overall from a Miami high school in 2010. He did play right field once, he said, at age 17 in a Connie Mack League.
“That was a long time ago,” he said. “I don’t think I can do it in the big leagues, though, but whatever.”
For the Dodgers, “whatever” can mean almost anything. At each position, they’ve had more than one player make at least 23 starts.
“The organization always talks about depth, depth, depth,” said Enrique Hernandez, who has started at seven defensive spots this season and even pitched here Tuesday, taking the loss in a 16-inning marathon.
“It tells you how much unselfishness there is in the clubhouse with all these guys willing to move around for the good of the team,” Hernandez added. “For Manny to come here and say, ‘I just want to win, I don’t care where I play, and if I have to move around, I’ll move around,’ that says a lot about him. He could easily just say: ‘Hey, I’m in a big market now. I want to be the shortstop for the Dodgers. I don’t want to move around. I want to build up my case for free agency.’ But I think playing short and third is only going to help him. The game is evolving, and versatility has a lot of value nowadays.”
The Dodgers put their regular third baseman, Justin Turner, on the disabled list Monday with a strained right groin. With Machado at third, Hernandez and Chris Taylor have been playing shortstop. Right fielder Yasiel Puig is also on the disabled list with a right oblique strain, and shortstop Corey Seager is out for the year after Tommy John surgery.
But the Dodgers are making it work, as usual, and reclaimed first place in the National League West just before the All-Star break. Adding Machado sent a powerful signal that they intend to stay there and win their sixth division title in a row.
“We’re spoiled, there’s no way of getting around that,” said Clayton Kershaw, the ace left-hander, who is healthy again after trips to the disabled list for biceps tendinitis and a lower back strain.
“Being in the city that we’re in, with the demand for winning there is, we’re spoiled in that we just expect that stuff to happen now, which is a great feeling to have. The expectations that we have to win, they are there and there’s pressure that comes from that. But at the same time, you see Manny and where he came from in Baltimore, the situation that team’s in, and you see how excited he is when he gets here. You can tell that he’s really excited to be a part of something that has a chance to win.”
Kershaw, who can opt out of his contract this winter, added that he wished more teams operated the way the Dodgers do.
“You see it throughout the league, even more so now with all these teams tanking, it’s just not good for the game,” he said. “So for me personally to be on a team that has won five consecutive division titles — I think I’ve been to the playoffs seven times out of 10 years — you can’t take that stuff for granted, and I know I don’t. I mean, I know we’re supposed to win and we need to win, but I’d rather be in this situation than what it could be.”
Kershaw nearly won his first championship last fall, dazzling in the first and last games of the World Series but struggling in Game 5 in Houston. By the time Kershaw entered Game 7 in relief, the Astros had flattened starter Yu Darvish, the Dodgers’ major trade acquisition last July, on their way to an easy victory.
Machado, 26, was the prize of this nonwaiver deadline. This has been his best season, with career highs in batting average (.311), on-base percentage (.385) and slugging percentage (.561) heading into this weekend’s four-game series in Atlanta. He is also striking out less and walking more.