"Manny Machado can't carry whole team" - Ex-Padres star sees Mike Trout's plight in San Diego's de facto captain

Despite not being the official captain of the San Diego Padres, Manny Machado has been the team's de facto leader. Similar is the case for Mike Trout with the Angels. However, that is not their only similarity.

Trout has won three American League MVP titles, and many believe he deserved more. However, the Angels didn't have any success beyond the regular season, and Trout played just three postseason games.

Former Padres All-Star Heath Bell compared this aspect of Trout to that of Machado's with San Diego during his appearance on Monday's "Friars Territory" episode co-hosted by Kyle Glaser.

"Manny Machado cannot carry the whole team," Bell said [From 5:55]. "I mean, you see that in Anaheim, you know, with the Angels, Mike on his best years. Yeah. Doesn't matter. You can't carry the whole team with just one person.

"So, you got to have a whole team. And the Padres do have,I feel like they've got four or five guys that can carry the team offensively, but they always got to hit."

Bell pointed out that the Padres find it easy when sluggers, possibly Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, Xander Bogaerts and Luis Arraez regularly score. He mentioned that they stunk for some time but have found life in the recently concluded series against the Phillies, which they won.

Ex-Padres All-Star highlights weakness of Manny Machado and Co.

Heath Bell played 11 seasons in MLB, but achieved his best success with the Padres, with whom he played from 2007 to 2011. During his time in San Diego, Bell was one of the best closers in the game. Moreover, he was also an All-Star in his final three years with the franchise.

In the "Friars Territory" episode, Hell pointed out that the Padres' pitching staff, both the starting pitchers and the bullpen, is top-level. However, he found a major weakness in the offensive department.

"The thing with the Padres is the one weak link that we all knew is they just don't have depth in the hitting, you know, in the hitting department. And it's kind of showed," Bell said [From 5:21].

On the other hand, Bell is confident that if the team's main guys hit, the team can easily emerge victorious.

"And because the pitching staff is capable of carrying them pretty far, but you can't win games unless you score," Bell added. "So if your main guys are not scoring any runs or getting on base, you know, you can't win games."

The Padres have a good pitching staff, as evidenced by three bullpen pitchers, Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon and Robert Suarez, who earned 2025 All-Star selections.

They have good sluggers, as Manny Machado is the starting third baseman for the All-Star game. Fernando Tatis Jr. is on the reserves. Notably, the Padres had four positional players in last year's All-Star Game.

Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar were starters while first baseman Luis Arraez and outfielder Jackson Merrill were on the reserves.