SAN DIEGO -- For eight years, the National League Gold Glove Award at third base has been property of Nolan Arenado. The former Rockies star and current Cardinals standout has taken home the hardware in every season of his big league career.

Might it be headed for a new home in 2021?

When Manny Machado -- owner of two Gold Glove Awards himself from his time with the Orioles in the American League -- arrived in San Diego two years ago, it put Arenado on notice.

This season, Machado's defensive brilliance has reached a new level. Coming off an all-time great defensive series against the Dodgers earlier this week, Machado is making quite an early case.

"I know what my eyes tell me," Padres infield coach Bobby Dickerson said, "and he's the best defender in the league."

So, what do the raw numbers say? Machado's four Outs Above Average, per Statcast, are tops among NL third basemen. He has six Defensive Runs Saved, which trails only Colorado's Josh Fuentes.

Entering Saturday, Machado had committed only four errors in 175 chances. In short: Machado has made the routine plays routinely and made the difficult plays seem routine.

"He's just the most talented defensive player I've ever been around, and I've seen some really good ones," said Padres manager Jayce Tingler, who spent nearly a decade with the Rangers and watched Adrián Beltré man the hot corner. "His baseball IQ, his hand-eye [coordination], his timing ... his instincts off the bat. It feels like the bigger the moment, the better he is."

After the week Machado has had, it'd be hard to argue. He took over this week's series against the Dodgers with his glove, making a handful of incredible plays -- both at third base and when deployed in short right field in the shift. Machado ended the series by making a backhanded snare on an Albert Pujols liner, then throwing off-balance to second base for a game-winning double play.

"It's like [Michael] Jordan shooting a jumpshot to win the game," Dickerson said. "You don't see the miss. That ball could've been thrown into right field and two runs score to tie the game, and he's a donkey. But he aggressively makes that play, because he sees that, and he doesn't see the negative."

As for that Gold Glove, if there was ever a year to knock off Arenado, it'd seem to be this one. Arenado has been mostly excellent this year, but slightly below his incredibly lofty standards. He’s committed seven errors, and the advanced metrics have him pegged as merely above-average thus far.

There's still half a season to go, but Machado might be in line to pull off the upset.

Cronenworth powers up
Jake Cronenworth was a relatively complete player in 2020. He hit for average, reached base routinely and played elite defense en route to a second-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year Award voting.

If we're nitpicking, the only thing missing from Cronenworth's game was home-run power. This year, he has that in droves. Cronenworth entered Saturday having homered in four consecutive games, pushing his season total to 12, tied with Machado for second most on the team.

"It's just getting good pitches to hit and going after the right ones," Cronenworth said.

That simple, huh? Cronenworth's uptick in power is especially noteworthy, considering he'd never hit more than 10 homers at any level before this season.

"That's what growth and development looks like," Tingler said. "I just think he continues to get better. I'm not surprised to see the power. We've seen the power. You may not have seen it all the time through the 60-game [season in 2020], but we would see it in BP, in [Summer Camp] at-bats, things like that. As he continues to adjust to the league, he's getting more comfortable and just driving the ball a little bit more.

No rest for the weary
With 33 games in 34 days, the Padres' bullpen was seriously taxed heading into Thursday's off-day. Those relievers got a breather -- then were asked to cover 6 2/3 innings after Chris Paddack's short start in Friday's win over the D-backs.

No matter. Six relievers combined to hold Arizona scoreless over that span, lowering San Diego's bullpen ERA to 2.74, the second best mark in MLB entering Saturday.