Nick Castellanos’ stint as Friar lasted only 39 games, as he failed to return to his two-time All-Star form. One day after Castellanos received a video tribute on his return to Citizens Bank Park, the Padres designated him for assignment. The sudden move has left his teammates at the San Diego Padres shocked and devastated. During a recent media interaction, Manny Machado opened up about the impact of Castellanos’ release inside the Friars’ clubhouse.

“It was tough. Obviously, he was a big part of our team…the news got everybody by surprise,” remarked Machado, per Marty Caswell. “I don’t try to put myself in a GM’s shoes and know why they’re doing the decisions. Obviously, we just care about Nick and what he meant for us at the clubhouse. So yeah, we’re kind of devastated by it.”

The move came just ahead of the series against his former team, the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies pulled a sweep over the visiting team, the second one in about a week. In the series finale, Phillies ace Zack Wheeler shut out the Padres hitters until the sixth. He gave up a two-run home run to Manny Machado; however, the Padres could not execute a rally. It was Machado’s only homer in the series.

With Nick Castellanos gone, the Padres called up Samad Taylor from Triple-A to replace him on the 40-man roster. He played his first MLB game this season against the Phillies on Wednesday. However, Taylor did not record a hit in his two at-bats. The Padres signed Castellanos on a league-minimum contract for one year in February after the Phillies released him. Manager Craig Stammen has reportedly revealed that he had to “earn his playing time” as a Friar.

“We had conversations with him when we signed him that he was going to earn his playing time,” Stammen told ESPN. “It was probably going to be a different role for him. It wasn’t going to be an everyday role that he had been accustomed to the last 12, 15 years of his life playing baseball.”

Castellanos was slashing .191/.221/.339 with four home runs when the Padres released him. While Machado revealed how deeply Nick Castellanos’ sudden release has affected the team, he also spoke against the multitude of metrics baseball uses to evaluate a player’s performance.

Manny Machado is tired of stats in baseball

Stats are the easiest way to highlight the struggles of Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres’ hitters at the plate. A glance at some advanced metrics can help the Padres’ star identify his problem areas. But Machado is not a fan of the numbers, and he has made it abundantly clear. Machado has demanded a change in terms of using statistics to evaluate a player.

During a recent media interaction, Machado explained how too many stats are used in baseball. With baseball’s continuous growth, new technologies are introduced to measure a player’s performance. However, Machado has no interest in those, and the hitter would rather have them gone, calling the numbers ‘crazy’ to keep up with.

“I just wish we could get the analytics out of the way, there’s too many stats out there,” remarked Machado, per Marty Caswell via Baseball Is Dead on X. “Too many stats. Way too many numbers. I don’t even know half of the stuff that goes up there.”

The Padres are just a game behind securing an NL Wild Card spot despite their six-game losing streak. During their recent skid, the team has dropped to the league-worst in runs scored and hitting average, as stars like Manny Machado failed to step to the plate.

Machado not being a fan of the analytics is understandable, especially now, with the numbers tracking his poor form. He is hitting only .175 this season for an OPS of .617, nowhere near his career average (.276 BA, .817 OPS). In 249 plate appearances so far, Machado has recorded a .178 BABIP, much lower than the league average. If he does not start hitting soon, his bad play will ruin San Diego’s season.

Instead of taking blame for his slump, Machado complained about specific pitching metrics. He specifically targeted a stat called FIP, which stands for Fielding Independent Pitching.

“It’s crazy, dude. The pitching staff, like FIP or something like that. What is that?” asked Machado to the reporters. “So why would you have that stat in baseball? It takes a team to win a ballgame, and not just one person.”

Machado might not understand FIP, but team executives certainly do. The idea started as “DIPS,” created by an analyst named Voros McCracken in 1999. Later, an expert named Tom Tango made the simpler FIP formula used today. FIP measures a pitcher’s true skill by only looking at things they can control, like strikeouts, walks, and home runs. It removes fielders from the math to show if a pitcher was actually good or just lucky.

However, Machado is not the first rich star to complain about math when he plays poorly. Former Padres player Eric Hosmer refused to use data to fix his swing, which ruined his time in San Diego. Angels star Anthony Rendon also complains a lot about modern stats and the long baseball season.

But in a game, a pitcher will always have help from the fielders. Hence, he is questioning the use of such a metric. Machado may not like the numbers that hold him accountable. But they are not going anywhere anytime soon, and he can only focus on improving his records.