Machado on his return and the relationships he built

While catcher Adley Rutschman continued his day at Camden Yards with rounds of batting practice, hitting balls over the flag court in right field, former Orioles infielder Manny Machado met with the media in the auxiliary clubhouse and tried to express his feelings at returning to the city for the first time since last summer's trade.

Machado wore a sleeveless T-shirt in Padres blue and a smile that kept reappearing as he reminisced about his time in Baltimore and the various influences that created a much easier path as an established major leaguer. The sound advice and the lasting friendships.

His departure won't rob him of the memories, won't tarnish his feelings toward the organization. No hard feelings on his way out the door. It was business and he understood.

The four-time All-Star is unsure of the reception that awaits him upon his first introduction tonight, in his first game at Camden Yards since July 15. He isn't particularly worried about it.

"Honestly I don't expect anything," he said. "I expect to go out there and play baseball and win and just enjoy myself like I do every day. You really can't expect anything. Whatever happens happens. You just take it in and enjoy every moment of it like every time.

"I know it's the first time coming back. I'm going to see a lot of fans that supported us for seven years that I saw at third base, that I saw on the on-deck circle, that I saw in the first row. Those faces will never be forgotten, those fans were always there for us every single day. To see them again is going to be pretty fun to see those faces again. Just enjoy myself out there."

Machado does know what he's eating for his postgame meal, having placed an order with L.P. Steamers for crabs.

"Can't leave Baltimore without crabs," he said, "so we'll be having some of that tonight."

Here's a sampling from Machado, who's batting third tonight and playing third base:

On what the day's been like: "A little weird, a little weird. This is a place I called home for a long time and coming in here, coming to the hotel and not my home, coming to the opposite side of the clubhouse, is a little different, but it feels good to feel like it's home. Excited to be back, excited to see the fans out there and take third base again like I did for a long time. It's exciting to be back here. It's something that I called home for seven years and just a lot of emotions running through me right now."

On what he did yesterday and whether he saw lots of fans: "Honestly it was a busy day for me. But just stayed in my hotel room, saw a couple people around the streets, saw a lot of 13s walking around. Just brought back a lot of memories. I was more excited yesterday and I'm more nervous today to come out here, but it's always exciting to come back to Baltimore."

On why he's nervous: "I'm never nervous, I know. But I don't know, I guess it's like a weird nervous in a way. It's just different, it's a different nervous. It's something that, it was always coming into that same clubhouse, walking into that same door, parking in that same parking spot, taking the same route to the baseball field every day and it was just all different today. It's a good nervous, though. It's a good nervous."

On what he thinks it will be like to walk on field for first time: "You know what? I don't expect anything. I don't know. We'll see what happens. I know it's going to be a lot different. Everything's been different so far. It's going to be exciting to take that field again. Playing baseball, going out there, it's going to bring back a lot of memories. I think the last time I was on this side of the clubhouse was 2010 with Jonathan Schoop, Connor Narron, Mychal Givens, Brandon Webb, Brian Graham, Mike Bordick. We were all doing a mini-camp, so we've come a long way since that day and just excited to take the field again today in Baltimore at Camden Yards."

On favorite memories: "There are so many. We had a lot of good ones here. Obviously the best one was my first game, my first career hit. My first home run. Winning the postseason that year. We had so many great memories while I was here with Adam (Jones), Schoop, (Chris) Davis, (Mark) Trumbo, with Nick (Markakis). We had so many great memories here that they're always going to be in the back of my mind and in my heart. It's a lot of great ones."

On whether the ending took away from first seven years: "No. Memories will always be memories. We had a lot of great times here. Built a lot of great relationships. There's always the business side of things that I've learned and those are the things that you can't control and you just have to learn from them. Just go about your business. We have endless relationships with guys that I played with here. Adam, Schoop, Markakis, Davis. I mean, there's so many relationships I built here that go above baseball, go above coming to the field every day. Those are the memories that you'll never forget, those are relationships that you grow with. Great friends that I still talk to to this day. I think that's more than baseball and those are the relationships and the things that we love about this game is you get to build those types of relationships."

On whether he knew he was playing his last game with Orioles after being removed: "Yeah, pretty much thought that was probably going to be the last time that I was going to be on that field. But at the end of the day you never know. I didn't know if I was going to come back or not. A lot of things can happen. I've learned in this game throughout my years that deals can be done and deals can be broken. You just never know. But at that point I was just out of the loop and didn't know what was going to happen."

On reaction to seeing the Orioles struggle so badly: "You know what? When I came up I think it was, what, 15 years before that that we hadn't made the postseason? We made it for the first time, the wild card game. It was great for the city, the city loved it. We had sold-out crowds for the next three or four years. Our fans came out and gave us everything and that's why we were who we were at that time. And Buck (Showalter) and the group that we had, we cared for each other and we grew as a group together. We kind of brought back that life of baseball to the city and we enjoyed every moment of it and those are things that will never be forgotten. I know fans won't, I know us as players won't. But there's always times that you have to turn the page and move on to the next type of process. They're in the process now of getting back to those prospects that we came up, like myself and Schoop. That's the process of baseball that you have to evolve with and continue to grow with. I'm putting on a different uniform today and stepping on that field on the other side, which his going to be different and weird, but I've got to try to win, try to take my young team that we have over there, a young group, to the playoffs like we did here in Baltimore. And I feel like we have that same group that when we came up. ... I'm in Adam and Markakis' shoes on this side of it. We have that same group and mentality to go out there and play baseball and try to win some games. We're in a good spot with the team we have now, so I'm sorry Baltimore, but we're going to have to try to win these next couple of games."

On whether he felt a lot of pressure coming up: "Honestly I didn't feel anything. When I came up here, first thing Buck said was, 'Hey, come play baseball. You're here to play baseball. Don't worry about anything else.' And I had a Gold Glover, All-Star right next to me, J.J. Hardy, who just said, 'Hey, don't worry about anything, don't worry about hitting, don't worry about anything in this game. Just catch the ball, just play baseball and enjoy yourself.' Markakis said the same thing. 'Hey, have fun.' Jonesy was saying, 'Have fun. Enjoy yourself.' It took a lot of pressure off you because you just go out there and every kid's dream is to be in the big leagues, so you're finally here. You don't even know what to think. Your mind's just racing and have guys who have been here a long time telling you to just have fun, it just takes everything off your shoulders and you can just go out there and enjoy yourself, which is the best thing. I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys while I was here to mentor me, to take me under their wings, to show me everything I know now. I'm truly grateful that this organization has done, for what the guys have done for me. It's just an endless count of relationships that we had in that clubhouse who made me the player that I am today."

On his advice for Rutschman: "Just soak it all in, enjoy it all. I wasn't a No. 1 overall pick, so it's different than one. But just enjoy yourself. It's an opportunity that he worked for his entire life to get to that situation. He finally got drafted by a ballclub. He's going to be playing professional baseball the rest of his career. The only advice I could give is continue to have fun, just enjoy yourself every moment of the way and just keep working as hard as you possibly can to reach your goals. Just because you got picked, one of those goals got scratched off, but there are so many more to be accomplished. Just keep working as hard as you can to be the best person you can possibly be and be the best player that you can be and everything else will just take care of yourself."

On whether it was easier to leave via trade instead of free agency: "I guess so, yeah. I would say so just because I didn't make the choice, it was made for me, so it makes it a little easier that they just ship you away and you're going somewhere else across the country. It's hard, but I don't think any of the choices are easy. When you're here for so long in a place you call home, you see the same faces every day, the same people, it grows on you. To leave like that halfway through the year kind of sucks, but either or, I think it's not easy at all."

On what it's like to see all the No. 13 jerseys: "The impact that we had here as a group, as a person, what we did between my agency, my wife ... We grew. We did so much for this community here and we left an impact here that was bigger than baseball. And to see walking around the streets, walking around the ballpark, seeing that jersey there ... This game is baseball for us, but there's more to that than just playing the game and we can impact lives in so many different ways. Just to see that is awesome."