Roberts: Machado’s throw into dugout ‘unsettling’
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO — The baseball that San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado threw toward the Dodgers‘ dugout Sunday night — triggering another heated back-and-forth between him and Los Angeles pitcher Jack Flaherty — landed in the vicinity of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Roberts, speaking before his team’s workout Monday, said he didn’t notice it initially but later reviewed an internal video of the throw.
“It was unsettling,” Roberts said. “Obviously I have a relationship with Manny from years past. There was intent behind it. It didn’t almost hit me because there was a net. And that was very bothersome. If it was intended at me, I would be very — it’s pretty disrespectful. So, I don’t know his intent. I don’t want to speak for him. But I did see the video. And the ball was directed at me with something behind it. But I don’t know what led to that.”
Major League Baseball has been in touch with the Dodgers’ security staff and asked for footage of the incident, sources told ESPN, though any punishment seems unlikely. A video showing what appeared to be the incident in question was posted to social media on Monday night by the San Diego Union Tribune.
After Sunday’s Game 2 — a 10-2 win by the Padres that evened the National League Division Series at a game apiece — Machado accused Flaherty of hitting San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. on purpose to begin the sixth inning, an accusation Flaherty vehemently denied. Two batters later, Flaherty struck out Machado and afterward yelled in his direction, telling him to “sit the f— down.”
Machado did not seem bothered by Flaherty’s reaction, instead chalking it up to “competition.” But the two exchanged words when Machado came back onto the field for defense in the bottom of the sixth, seemingly challenging each other to a postgame fight. Flaherty later revealed he was angry that Machado threw a baseball into the Dodgers’ dugout.
Machado initially dismissed the accusation, saying he constantly tosses baseballs into dugouts after pre-inning warmups conclude. But people on the Dodgers who either saw the throw or watched a video feed of it say it was thrown firmly, bouncing before hitting the netting that resides directly in front of where Roberts sits during games, on the home-plate end of the dugout. Machado downplayed the throw on Sunday night but also seemed to hint at his intentions when asked if it’s normal for him to throw unneeded baseballs into the dugout of an opposing team.
“Both dugouts,” Machado said. “They have foul balls, you throw the ball back in there. I mean, when you try to hit our best hitter. Right? Get him out. If you can’t get him out, don’t hit him. Right? They have the best player in the game, right? [Shohei] Ohtani? We don’t go out there and try to hit Ohtani. We try to get him out. Don’t go out there and try to hit my guy.”
“Obviously I have a relationship with Manny from years past. … If it was intended at me, I would be very — it’s pretty disrespectful. So, I don’t know his intent. I don’t want to speak for him. But I did see the video. And the ball was directed at me with something behind it. But I don’t know what led to that.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts
Before signing the first of two long-term contracts with the Padres, Machado played for the Dodgers in the stretch run of the 2018 season, coming over from the Baltimore Orioles to replace injured Corey Seager at shortstop. The Dodgers did not engage with Machado when he became a free agent the ensuing offseason.
Asked if he had any dialogue with Machado before he threw a baseball in his direction, Roberts said: “The only dialogue I had was he was chirping at Jack. And I looked at him and shook my head, making a point that we wouldn’t hit him on purpose to lead off an inning being down two runs.”
“I think he’s using it as fuel,” Roberts added. “As a baseball person, anyone understands that you don’t do that, intentionally put the leadoff man on base with 3-4-5 coming up behind. It just makes no sense.”
Flaherty struck an apologetic tone Monday, acknowledging that “things got out of hand” between him and Machado, adding: “I wish I would’ve just let it go.”
Machado addressed reporters before Roberts’ comments and was not made available afterward. Through a third party, Machado told The San Diego Union Tribune: “I spoke about this last night after the game. I’ve already turned the page, and I’m just looking forward to playing in front of our fans tomorrow and preparing for another tough battle against a very good team.”
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Mike Moustakas will retire with Kansas City after spending 13 years in the majors and winning the World Series with the Royals in 2015.
The Royals announced Moustakas’ retirement Monday. The 36-year-old infielder will sign a one-day contract with his first big league team on May 31, and he will be honored before Kansas City’s home game against Detroit that day.
Moustakas hit .247 with 215 homers and 683 RBIs in 1,427 games, also playing for Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels. The three-time All-Star appeared in his last major league game with the Angels on Sept. 30, 2023.
Moustakas was the No. 2 pick in the 2007 amateur draft. He broke into the majors with Kansas City in 2011.
He became a key performer for the Royals during a memorable stretch for the franchise. He hit .284 with 22 homers and 82 RBIs in 147 games in 2015, helping the team win the AL Central. Then he drove in eight runs in the postseason as the Royals won the World Series for the first time since 1985.
Moustakas bashed a career-high 38 homers for Kansas City in 2017. He set a career best with 95 RBIs while playing for the Royals and Brewers in 2018.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Houston Astros are planning to play Jose Altuve mostly in left field this season, manager Joe Espada told the Houston Chronicle on Monday.
A nine-time All-Star, three-time batting champion and the 2017 AL MVP, Altuve has played all but two of his 1,767 major league games at second base. He won the Gold Glove in 2015, and in 2020, he led the American League with the fewest errors, with four.
“Right now the plan is for him to play the majority of his games in left field,” Espada said, adding that moving Altuve “back and forth is something that I am going to avoid.”
The idea of moving Altuve to left was first broached when the team was looking to keep third baseman Alex Bregman, who wound up signing with the Boston Red Sox. If Bregman had returned to Houston, it might have forced newly acquired Isaac Paredes to shift to second base and Altuve to the outfield.
“Whatever I have to do for [Bregman] to stay, I’m willing to do it,” Altuve said at the team’s FanFest in January.
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Alden Gonzalez
TAMPA, Fla. — New York Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil has been diagnosed with a high-grade lat strain in his right shoulder and will be out at least a couple of months.
Manager Aaron Boone did not disclose a specific timeline, but he said before Monday’s spring training game against Pittsburgh that Gil won’t throw for at least six weeks, after which he would need to fully build back up again.
Gil’s injury likely means Marcus Stroman — who entered camp seemingly as the odd man out in the rotation but also said he had no interest in going to the bullpen — will open the season as the team’s fifth starter. The Yankees also have veteran starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco in camp as a non-roster invitee, in addition to young starters Will Warren and Brent Headrick on their 40-man roster.
“You know these things are going to unfortunately come and pop up,” Boone said. “They do at different times of the year. Hopefully, overall, you can stay fairly healthy, but unfortunately these things are inevitable, and that’s why … every team tries to build in some depth. We feel like we’re in a good spot with who we have. It’s part of it.”
Gil, the reigning American League Rookie of the Year, experienced shoulder tightness during a bullpen session on Friday and underwent an MRI over the weekend that revealed the strain, though Boone said he still needs to undergo further examination. The hope is that Gil, 26, would return at some point in the first half, but that is unknown at the moment. Fellow starter Clarke Schmidt had a similar lat strain last year and missed about three and a half months, from late May to early September.
For optimism, the Yankees can look to last spring. Their ace, Gerrit Cole, missed the first two and a half months with nerve irritation and edema in his pitching elbow, but the rest of the rotation stepped up in his absence, posting a 3.47 ERA through the end of June and ultimately playing a big part in the Yankees winning the AL East. Now Cole, Stroman, Schmidt, Carlos Rodon and newcomer Max Fried must step up in similar fashion.
“It sucks, man; I don’t even know what to say to put it into words,” Stroman said after his Grapefruit League start against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, which saw him allow four runs and record eight outs. “He was a huge part of this team last year. Incredible, incredible season, and we’re going to need him. We’re going to need him at some point in order to go where we want.”
Gil spent most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery, then won a spot in the rotation the follow spring and put together a sensational 2024, going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 151⅔ innings. Gil walked 12.1% of the hitters he faced, by far the most among those with at least 150 innings, but he also compiled 171 strikeouts.
Most notable, though, was a significant workload bump for a pitcher who hadn’t previously reached 110 innings in pro ball and wound up pitching for a team that reached the World Series. Boone said it was “tough to say” whether that innings jump triggered injury.
“It’s pitching,” Boone added. “Different things crop up. It’s why we put so much value in what these guys do in their throwing programs and when they start, and we’re methodical in how they go about it. I feel like we’ve started to turn a corner there, but it’s certainly one of the things that is troubling in our game.”
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