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Fernando Tatis Jr. meets with A.J. Preller
SAN DIEGO — Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller met with Fernando Tatis Jr. on Thursday, sources said, marking the first time the two have spoken face to face since the star shortstop received his 80-game suspension last week.
Details of that meeting, which took place away from Petco Park, were kept private. It is expected that Tatis will meet with other members of the organization in the coming days.
Tatis received his ban after testing positive for Clostebol, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. In a statement last week, Tatis said he inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained the banned substance, and he apologized to his teammates, fans and the organization.
Preller was with the team on its recent road trip through Miami and Washington. Thursday’s game against the Nationals was the Padres’ first in San Diego since news of Tatis’ suspension broke.
It remains unclear how and when Tatis might formally address his teammates. Left fielder Jurickson Profar has encouraged Tatis to come to the ballpark and speak with the team in the hours before an upcoming game. Profar, one of Tatis’ closest friends, says he has been in regular contact with Tatis since the suspension was announced.
“He’s devastated,” Profar said.
Profar added: “I’m talking to him every day, and he’s feeling very bad. Everyone is talking bad, but that’s how it is in the world. You make one mistake, and everyone wants to crucify you. But not me. I’m there to support him and get him through this and get him back on the field whenever he’s eligible to come back.”
Tatis will miss the remainder of the season and any games the Padres play in the postseason as a result of the ban. He won’t be eligible to return until next season, and there are a number of questions that must be answered in the interim — namely: What are the next steps for Tatis?
At some point, Tatis will rejoin the team, likely next Spring Training. Tatis would be eligible to participate in camp next spring before he serves the remaining games on his suspension to begin the season.
“I don’t know,” Profar said, when asked how the team would respond to Tatis’ return. “For me, I’m going to welcome him with open arms.”
Right-hander Joe Musgrove was quick to note that the 2022 Padres have “moved on” from the news, and their focus is squarely on the National League playoff race. As for Tatis’ eventual return?
“A lot of things between now and then will dictate that,” Musgrove said. “But he’s our teammate, still. He’s going to be in our clubhouse. We’re going to have to find a way to get on the same page and move past this. I don’t know what that looks like yet, but as the time comes, it’ll be a little clearer.”
Fernando Tatis Jr. Suspended 80 Games For Performance-Enhancing Drug Violation
Fernando Tatis Jr.’s 2022 season is over. In a stunning development, Major League Baseball announced Friday afternoon that the Padres star has tested positive for Clostebol, a banned performance-enhancing substance. He’s been suspended for 80 games without pay, effective immediately. Tatis, who confirmed he’s already dropped an appeal he’d initially filed, goes on the restricted list.
Tatis released a statement via the MLB Players Association (Twitter link):
“I have been informed by Major League Baseball that a test sample I submitted returned a positive result for Clostebol, a banned substance. It turns out that I inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol. I should have used the resources available to me in order to ensure that no banned substances were in what I took. I failed to do so.
I want to apologize to (owner Peter Seidler), (president of baseball operations A.J. Preller), the entire Padres organization, my teammates, Major League Baseball, and fans everywhere for my mistake. I have no excuse for my error, and I would never do anything to cheat or disrespect this game I love. … I am completely devastated. There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be than on the field competing with my teammates. … I look forward to rejoining my teammates on the field in 2023.”
The Padres released a briefer statement of their own on the news:
“We were surprised and extremely disappointed to learn today that Fernando Tatis Jr. tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Prevention and Treatment Program and subsequently received an 80-game suspension without pay. We fully support the Program and are hopeful that Fernando will learn from this experience.”
Preller confirmed to reporters (including Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Dennis Lin of the Athletic) that the organization learned about the suspension this afternoon, around two hours before it was made public. The Padres baseball ops leader was forthright about his frustration, suggesting that “over the course of the last six or seven months, I think (trust has) been something that we haven’t really been able to have.” That’s presumably in reference to the motorcycle accident that fractured Tatis’ wrist. Preller continued, “I think we’re hoping that from the offseason to now, that there would be some maturity. And obviously with the news today, it’s more of a pattern and something we’ve got to dig a little bit more into. I’m sure he’s very disappointed, but at the end of the day, it’s one thing to say it. You have to start by showing it with your actions.”
Tatis will go the entire 2022 season without appearing in a major league game. (Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that he’ll also be barred from representing the Dominican Republic in next spring’s World Baseball Classic). The star shortstop sustained a fracture in his left wrist in an offseason motorcycle accident, an injury that was revealed when he reported to the team in Spring Training. He underwent surgery and was out of action for months. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel, with Tatis sent to Double-A on a rehab assignment last week. He’d played in four minor league games and was set to rejoin the big league club within a couple weeks. That’ll no longer be the case.
The Padres have 48 more games on the regular season schedule. That’ll leave him in position to miss as many as the first 32 games of the 2023 season as well, although Tatis’ suspension would be reduced for any playoff games he misses (if the Padres reach the postseason this year).
It’s a crushing blow to a San Diego team that enters play Friday night in possession of the National League’s final Wild Card spot. They’re just a game clear of the Brewers, setting the stage for a tightly contested pennant race. If they’re to get to the postseason, the Friars will have to do it without the elite midseason reinforcement on whom they’d been counting.
That’s not to say the Padres are doomed. They’ve been without the two-time Silver Slugger winner all season, and they’re nevertheless 12 games above .500 with a +40 run differential. The deadline blockbuster to add Juan Soto and Josh Bell looms larger than ever now. San Diego still has a fearsome middle of the order anchored by Soto, Bell and Manny Machado, while Jake Cronenworth and Jurickson Profar have each hit at above-average levels.
There’s no way to replace a player who owns a .292/.369/.596 slash line through his first three big league seasons, but the Padres are in as good a position as a team can reasonably be to weather Tatis’ absence. They’ve gotten strong play from Ha-Seong Kim at shortstop in his second MLB season. The former KBO star is hitting .247/.324/.371 through 392 plate appearances, exactly league average offense by measure of wRC+. Public metrics have pegged Kim as one of the sport’s top defensive shortstops, making him a more than adequate fill-in for the remainder of the season.
Perhaps the greater roster ramification is that San Diego now has little recourse to replace scuffling center fielder Trent Grisham. Tatis had been slated to play both shortstop and center field on his rehab assignment, and he may well have gotten more time in the outfield down the stretch. While Kim has held down shortstop effectively all year, Grisham owns a .195/.292/.357 line over 411 trips to the plate. He has continued on as the primary center fielder, although Wil Myers has gotten the nod the past three times the Friars have faced a left-handed opposing starter. Skipper Bob Melvin figures to stick with at least a soft platoon arrangement for the stretch run.
While the team will feel the strongest repercussions down the stretch this year, Tatis’ lack of availability in 2022 has to be alarming to the organization over the long term. He’s under contract for another 12 seasons beyond this one under the extension he signed in February 2021. That $340MM deal is the fourth-largest in MLB history, and there’s arguably no one more important to the franchise’s long-term future.
That deal is backloaded. Tatis’ forfeited salary during the suspension, while substantial, isn’t nearly as significant as it would have been had he tested positive a couple years from now. He’ll lose the remainder of this year’s $5MM salary (approximately $1.5MM) as well as around a month’s worth of next year’s $7MM salary. The extent of his salary forfeiture is dependent on how many games he loses next season, which is subject to how far into the playoffs the Friars get this year. He’s likely to miss around 20% of the schedule, which would translate to around $1.3MM in lost salary next year.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that Tatis had failed a PED test and was facing a suspension.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Padres GM Preller says they need to get to a point of trust with Fernando Tatis Jr.
Just a week and a half ago, the Padres had to be feeling pretty good about themselves. They were in playoff position and had just had a huge trade deadline, landing multiple big-name players, including 23-year-old superstar Juan Soto. Friday, though, the team suffered a bit of a gut punch. Fellow young star Fernando Tatis, Jr. has been suspended for 80 games for violating the league’s drug policy, as he failed a PED test.
Keep in mind that Tatis suffered a fractured wrist in a motorcycle accident during the offseason. When asked the date of his accident, Tatis replied with a question: “Which one?”
Which motorcycle accident? In the same offseason?
And now on top of that, Tatis has been suspended into next May. He’ll miss all of the 2022 season, essentially due to poor decision-making. There’s a phrase I learned from a coach long ago that has stuck with me for years. “Control what you can control.” You can’t control the umpires, you can’t control the weather, you can’t control how the opposing team plays. You can control your decision-making, though, among other things.
Tatis got in a motorcycle accident last offseason and apparently decided to keep riding the bike. His wrist was injured and he didn’t tell anyone about it until reporting to camp in March. These are bad decisions that kept Tatis out of the Padres’ lineup into August. And now, on top of that, we learned that more issues with his decision-making have resulted in him being out another 80 games.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller had some words that were much more stern than we’re used to seeing from from office execs when addressing one of their stars.
“I think we’re hoping that from the offseason to now, that there would be some maturity,” said Preller, via The Athletic. “And obviously with the news today, it’s more of a pattern and something we’ve got to dig a little bit more into. I’m sure he’s very disappointed, but at the end of the day, it’s one thing to say it. You have to start by showing it with your actions.”
“I think what we need to get to is a point in time where we trust,” Preller said, via San Diego Union-Tribune. “Over the course of the last six or seven months, I think that’s been something that we haven’t really been able to have.”
Harsh? Probably, but it’s pretty spot on. Starting pitcher Mike Clevinger had similar feelings on the matter:
Tatis is only 23 years old, but his father played in parts of 11 seasons in the majors. The concept of being a responsible big-league player shouldn’t be new.
As one of the most talented players in baseball, Tatis should be responsible to his teammates. Remember, they were in playoff position last year and collapsed down the stretch. They have played well in his absence and were gearing up to add a major talent in pursuit of a deep playoff run and maybe the Padres’ first World Series title. Instead, they’ll have to do without him.
He’s also on the second year of a 14-year, $340 million contract, which means he needs to be responsible to management and ownership. As Preller alluded to, Tatis hasn’t come through on this one so far.
The best bet here is the PED suspension scared Tatis straight and he’ll grow a lot between now and when his suspension has been served, moving into the future with better decision-making. Then again, shouldn’t the first motorcycle accident have been the wake-up call?
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San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. suspended 80 games after testing positive for PED
San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for Clostebol, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
Tatis’ suspension, announced by MLB on Friday, is effective immediately, meaning the All-Star shortstop cannot play in the majors this year. In a statement, Tatis said he is not appealing the ban as it was his “mistake” that was the cause of the positive test.
“It turns out that I inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol,” Tatis said. “I should have used the resources available to me in order to ensure that no banned substances were in what I took. I failed to do so.
“I want to apologize to Peter, AJ, the entire Padres organization, my teammates, Major League Baseball, and fans everywhere for my mistake. I have no excuse for my error, and I would never do anything to cheat or disrespect this game I love. I have taken countless drug tests throughout my professional career, including on March 29, 2022, all of which have returned negative results until this test.
“I am completely devastated. There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be than on the field competing with my teammates. After initially appealing the suspension, I have realized that my mistake was the cause of this result, and for that reason I have decided to start serving my suspension immediately. I look forward to rejoining my teammates on the field in 2023.”
Tatis, 23, is one of the biggest stars in MLB, the centerpiece of multiple marketing campaigns and is in the second season of a 14-year, $340 million contract.
Tatis is currently on a minor league rehabilitation assignment after missing the first four months of the season with a broken left wrist and will now be on the restricted list for the final 48 games of the Padres’ regular-season. Any postseason games the Padres play this season will not count toward Tatis’ 80-game total. The remaining 32 games of the suspension will be served at the beginning of the 2023 season.
After emerging as a star in his rookie season at 20, Tatis, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound shortstop whose power, speed and penchant for the spectacular won him legions of fans, finished fourth in the National League MVP voting in his sophomore campaign. Last year, he was even better, signing the record deal, finishing third in MVP voting and solidifying himself as one of the game’s finest players.
The Padres collapsed down the stretch but held high hopes for 2022 after hiring Bob Melvin as their new manager. During the lockout that delayed spring training, Tatis fractured his wrist in a motorcycle accident that required surgery. San Diego vowed to take his rehabilitation slowly and was teeming with anticipation of a lineup with Tatis leading off, new acquisition Juan Soto hitting second and third baseman Manny Machado third.
Tatis’ contract remains fully guaranteed for the next dozen seasons, during which he’s owed $324 million. Tatis has a full no-trade clause through 2028. In 273 career games, Tatis is hitting .292/.369/.569 with 81 home runs, 192 RBIs and 52 stolen bases.
Driver of Suspected Stolen Tow Truck Jumps Onto Motorcycle, Leads Pursuit Through San Fernando Valley – NBC Los Angeles
A driver of a possibly stolen tow truck evaded police by jumping onto a motorcycle and escaping in an underground parking lot of an apartment complex in North Hollywood Monday night.
A citizen first reported the stolen tow truck shortly after 10 p.m. which prompted a pursuit, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
During the pursuit of the tow truck, the driver came to an intersection where a motorcycle was parked in the middle of the road.
It was unclear if the motorcycle belonged to someone else or if someone had left the motorcycle for the driver to escape on.
Once the pursuit driver got onto the motorcycle, police ground units stopped following the driver and only the police air unit continued.
The driver was traveling at speeds of up to 100 mph on the motorcycle through areas like Tujunga, Sunland, Sun Valley until reaching North Hollywood.
Once in North Hollywood, the driver went inside an underground parking garage of an apartment complex located on Otsego Street and Fair Avenue.
It was unclear if officers located the driver.
Fernando Tatis Jr. To Begin Rehab Assignment
7:16pm: Manager Bob Melvin said Tatis will begin the assignment either tomorrow or Sunday (via Dennis Lin of the Athletic). He’s expected to play both shortstop and center field in the minors.
6:35pm: Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. is getting closer to a return, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter link) that he’s en route to Double-A San Antonio. He’ll soon begin a rehab assignment there, the final step before he makes it back to Petco Park.
It has been a long time coming for Tatis, who fractured a bone in his left wrist over the offseason. He underwent surgery in mid-March, with the club expressing hope at the time he’d be back by the middle of June. That obviously proved not to be the case. While there were no reports of meaningful setbacks, Tatis didn’t recover at the pace he or the team had hoped. He’s been gradually building through various baseball activities in recent weeks, and he’s now positioned to get into games for the first time this year.
Position players are allowed up to 20 days on rehab assignments. Once Tatis formally begins his assignment in the next few days, he can spend just under three weeks in the minors before the team has to bring him to the majors or shut him back down. They wouldn’t be sending him out if they anticipated the latter outcome, so the club is obviously of the belief he’ll be ready by the middle or end of this month.
Tatis’ forthcoming return will add another star to a lineup already loaded with firepower. Manny Machado is in in the MVP conversation, and the Friars brought in Juan Soto and Josh Bell in one of the most monumental trades in MLB history. Add Tatis — owner of a .292/.369/.596 line through his first three seasons — to the mix, and the Padres will deploy an eye-popping top of the lineup for the stretch run.
With Tatis out of action, the bulk of the shortstop work has gone to Ha-Seong Kim. The former KBO star has overcome a rough rookie MLB season to hit at a roughly league average level (.248/.329/.370) while playing Gold Glove caliber defense through 98 games. With Bell, Jake Cronenworth, Machado and another deadline acquisition Brandon Drury all around the infield, San Diego will have an embarrassment of riches on the dirt. Tatis has expressed a willingness to move from shortstop to the outfield if necessary, with center field seemingly the likeliest spot in that case. Soto has right field accounted for, and Jurickson Profar is having the best year of his career in left. Trent Grisham, who has stumbled to a .197/.293/.365 line in just shy of 400 trips to the plate, seems as if he’ll be the odd man out most days once everyone is healthy.
Fernando Tatis Jr. meets with surgeon, ramps up on defense
PHOENIX — Fernando Tatis Jr. arrived in Arizona this week and quickly received good news.
On Tuesday, the Padres shortstop met with the surgeon who performed the March 16 operation to repair the fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist. Manager Bob Melvin said Tatis was cleared to “ramp up what he’s doing on the defensive end.”
The star was with the team prior to the series opener vs. the D-backs at Chase Field.
“I know he’s excited about the fact that he’s going to be on the field with us, no restrictions as far as taking ground balls, throwing and so forth,” Melvin said. “Hitting’s going to be the last thing.”
After his meeting with the surgeon, Tatis didn’t wait long to accompany his San Diego teammates to the field. He joined them during batting practice to scoop grounders and work through defensive drills. Prior to this, he had been playing catch, fielding ground balls hit directly to him, taking some light dry swings and hitting briefly off a tee with a fungo bat.
Tatis still isn’t swinging a bat at full speed quite yet, but he’s expected to potentially do so in about two weeks. At that point, he’ll need to work through a hitting progression and then go on a Minor League rehab assignment after that.
So it doesn’t appear likely that Tatis will be back until after the All-Star break, possibly around late July or early August, depending on how things go once he begins to hit. Melvin doesn’t have an exact timeline, and he won’t until Tatis adds that final piece to his recovery plan.
“It depends on how we kind of configure it before he starts playing games. And then how he feels during the rehab process,” Melvin said. “You certainly want him coming back when he feels good about how he’s swinging the bat. More days with us is probably better than less days with us. But he doesn’t have a Spring Training, so it will be literally a day-to-day process, even though once he starts [hitting], we’ll probably have it mapped out and then go from there on how he feels.”
Latest On Fernando Tatis Jr.
The Padres continue to await the return of Fernando Tatís Jr., who hasn’t played this season while recovering from an offseason fracture in his left wrist. The club’s franchise shortstop underwent his latest set of imaging yesterday, and the results were mixed.
Tatís’ latest CT scan didn’t reveal the level of healing for which the team had been hoping, writes Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He has still not yet been cleared to swing a bat, although he hasn’t suffered any sort of setback. “Another MRI scan continues to show healing, but it was not quite at the level for … a full green light,” president of baseball operations A.J. Preller told reporters (including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). “Basically we’re in a spot where we’re going to progress week-to-week.”
That’s certainly not an ideal development, particularly given how long Tatís has already been sidelined. When announcing the injury and subsequent surgery in mid-March, Preller indicated the All-Star infielder could be out for three months. We’ve now hit that timetable, and the continued “week-to-week” treatment plan for Tatís to pick up a bat means he’s still not on the verge of an imminent return. As Acee points out, it’s difficult to imagine he’ll be ready to play in a major league game before the July 18-21 All-Star Break, since he’ll certainly need a rehab stint in the minor leagues even after building back into game shape physically.
At the same time, Tatís has continued to make incremental progress. He was cleared to play catch today, the first time he’s been able to snag balls out of the air after previously being limited to taking grounders (video provided by Annie Heilbrunn of the Union-Tribune). Asked how he feels about his current status, Tatís conceded “It’s a little of both. A little bit happy because I’m still progressing. And a little bit sad, because it’s not what everybody wants, including myself” (Cassavell link).
As Tatís was quick to point out, the team hasn’t missed much of a beat in his absence. Despite losing one of the sport’s top players, San Diego enters play Tuesday with a 38-24 record. They’re the top Wild Card team in the National League at the moment, and they sit just percentage points behind the Dodgers in the NL West. That’s largely on the strength of the pitching staff, though, as the Friars place 13th in the majors in runs scored (272) and 21st in park-adjusted hitting (94 wRC+). San Diego shortstops have an awful .170/.271/.257 slash line on the season, as Ha-Seong Kim has cooled after a strong start and top prospect C.J. Abrams struggled badly enough he was optioned back to the minor leagues.
Whenever Tatís is able to return, the position should go from a weakness to an unqualified strength. Preller unsurprisingly indicated the club isn’t feeling any pressure to make an outside addition over the coming weeks, telling Acee and others “we’re expecting to have him back, it’s just a matter of when. I don’t think (the recent imaging) changes anything to where we need to do something form a roster standpoint.“