Manny Machado is back after successful right elbow extensor tendon repair surgery last year. He played his first game in 2024 against the Milwaukee Brewers in spring training.Machado has expressed his excitement to join the Padres lineup after being limited to an offense-only designated hitter position in the later part of the season.“Feel good,” Machado said about his post-surgery situation on MLB Network. “Obviously healthy. Finally fixed something I've been dealing with for a couple years, so definitely feels a little bit different.”He has faith in the Padres' farm system and their young prospects to perform this year:“And then including our farm system with Polly (AJ Preller), you know, some guys are going to come up and help us. You know, we're confident in our guys, man. We got some gamers.”Despite losing All-Star Juan Soto to the NY Yankees this offseason, Manny Machado is pleased with the deal, as, in return, two veterans Micheal King and King Higashioka came to San Deigo, along with three young pitchers.“Yeah, we're losing them. But the guys we got in, King (Micheal King), Brito (Jhony Brito), Vasquez (Randy Vasquez), Heggy (King Higashioka), can be a big impact on our team,” said Machado.Manny Machado hoping to bounce back after Padres’ underwhelming 2023The San Diego Padres finished third in the NL West division. They were behind the LA Dodgers, who topped the division with 100 wins, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were last year's World Series runners-up, with 84 wins. Despite having a talented lineup that included Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Blake Snell, and Yu Darvish, they failed to qualify in 2023. During the interview with Yonder Alonso, Manny Machado also shared his verdicts on the Padres missing out on the playoffs last season.“Obviously, last year was a letdown with all the hype going into it with the team we had, and obviously, we didn't meet our expectations,” said Machado.“So this year, coming into camp, even in the offseason, just the conversations between the guys and our staff was we had the team to compete, obviously, and we just got to go out there and play baseball,” he added.In 10 games of spring training, the Padres have only won four, with Machado playing three of them. It remains to be seen if the Padres can secure victory in upcoming games with Machado in the lineup.