Machado: Some players will be 'angry and pissed' over rule changes
San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado is expecting some chaos this season due to MLB's new rule changes.
"You're going to have some players who are going to be freakin' angry and pissed off," Machado said Thursday, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. "You're going to have players pissed off at the umpires, who are just following the rules. We're going to be seeing some crazy (expletive) for sure."
The league will be implementing pitch clocks, shift bans, and larger bases for the 2023 campaign. There will also be pickoff and timeout limitations and a mandate to enforce a crackdown on balks.
"Some of us older players, we don't like change too much," Machado said. "We earned the right to be who we are. Now, there's going to have to be a lot of adjustments. MLB is going to have to be the ones to make adjustments on the fly if things aren't working.
"If they do that, then I think everybody will be OK with it. But they're going to have to be lenient and tweak some things."
Machado saw the new rules firsthand when he was given an automatic strike for taking too long to get in the boxer's box during the first game of spring training Friday:
Manny Machado just started the count down 0-1 before a pitch was ever thrown because he took too long to get in the box pic.twitter.com/8aEX4GRAS6
— Barstool Sportsbook (@BSSportsbook) February 24, 2023
The six-time All-Star also believes MLB will have to be open to communicating with major leaguers if there are issues.
"Rob (Manfred) said that he wants to listen to the players. Well, you got to listen to the players and make adjustments during the season if things start spiraling out of control. You can't just say, 'This is how it is. It's this way or the highway.'"