SAN DIEGO — Fernando Tatis Jr. spent his Friday out in the community, visiting children at a local elementary school and spending time with members of the United States Marine Corps as part of the San Diego Padres‘ goodwill tour throughout the city. The following morning, he was back inside Petco Park, taking part in a fan fest event that was attended by tens of thousands of the team’s most ardent supporters, signing autographs, snapping selfies and making the media rounds.
After an entire season away — and with the cloud of a steroid suspension still hanging overhead — Tatis was back, once again a celebrated member of one of the sport’s most star-studded teams.
“I missed it a lot,” Tatis said. “I missed a year of it, and I’m not looking forward to missing any more.”
Tatis, who will serve the remaining 20 games of his 80-game suspension at the start of the 2023 regular season, estimated being “90 percent” recovered from recent shoulder and wrist surgeries and has been taking part in baseball activities for about a month.
The Padres’ first full-squad workout will take place in 17 days, and Tatis plans on being a full participant from the onset.
But what position will he play?
“I got to talk to my manager,” Tatis said with a laugh.
The Padres went into the offseason with two premium shortstops in Tatis and Ha-seong Kim, who provided Gold Glove-caliber defense at the position in 2022, but they nonetheless signed free agent shortstop Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million contract.
With Bogaerts playing shortstop on a regular basis, Kim is expecting to play mostly second base, which means Jake Cronenworth will see a lot of time at first.
Tatis, meanwhile, projects to be something of a regular in either left or right field, with Juan Soto occupying the opposite corner.
“Whatever it takes, I’ll do it,” said Tatis, who has been taking both fly balls and ground balls this offseason.
Padres manager Bob Melvin is still noncommittal.
“Once we get to spring training, we’ll start moving guys around a little bit,” Melvin said. “But he’s ready to play the outfield if we need him to.”
Tatis is still only a month removed from his 24th birthday, with 12 years and $324 million remaining on a Padres extension that was once deemed a “statue contract.” Not long ago, he was widely hailed as the forthcoming face of baseball.
Then 2022 happened.
Tatis began spring training last year recovering from a wrist injury that likely stemmed from an offseason motorcycle accident, then tested positive for Clostebol, a synthetic form of testosterone, near the middle of August, just as he was finally making his way back from injury.
Tatis watched from afar as the Padres made a deep postseason run, beating the New York Mets and the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers before finally being eliminated by the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series.
“That gave me a lot of fuel, trust me,” Tatis said during an 11-minute media scrum, half of which was conducted in Spanish. “I don’t want to put too much words into it. I more just want to prove myself in the field, just get back to the field with my boys. I definitely miss that fire just being in the jungle with them.”
Bolstered by a franchise-record $240 million payroll, the 2023 Padres will boast a lineup featuring Tatis, Bogaerts, Soto and star third baseman Manny Machado, that will be backed by a pitching staff headlined by the likes of Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell and Josh Hader.
They’ll face the weight of grand expectations — and one of their biggest stars will face the vitriol of opposing crowds.
“It’s going to be one of the most emotional years, I feel like, in my career,” Tatis said of potentially being booed on the road. “I’m looking to embrace it.”
At full health, Tatis has proven to be one of the most electrifying players in the sport. In 273 games from 2019 to 2021, he batted .292/.369/.596 with 81 home runs, 52 stolen bases and 13.6 Baseball-Reference wins above replacement, finishing within the top five in NL MVP voting on two separate occasions.
But injuries to his back and to his left shoulder plagued him early. And in recent months, Padres coaches, players and executives have found themselves wondering if they can trust him with the responsibility of being the face of a franchise.
Tatis’ first step in restoring that trust came Aug. 23, when he spoke to his teammates and took questions from the media for the first time since his suspension. Shortly thereafter, he opted to surgically repair the left shoulder that bothered him throughout the 2021 season and also underwent a second procedure to further repair the fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist.
Soon, he’ll comply to a new position.
Then he’ll go about regaining trust on the field once more.
“I’ve really learned from what happened to me in the last year,” Tatis said. “I’m really looking forward to redeeming myself.”
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Austin Cindric celebrated his first win of the season by wearing Talladega’s Superspeedway traditional victory wreath all around the track.
A wreath like he just won the Indianapolis 500.
He thought so, too.
“Feels like I just won the Indy 500,” he said of Sunday’s NASCAR race. “I’m trying to walk on the plane with this.”
Cindric wasn’t even concerned how such a gesture might be received by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who raged on his radio after the second stage when Cindric didn’t push him and it allowed Bubba Wallace in a Toyota to win the segment and its valuable bonus points.
“Way to go Austin,” seethed Logano, who used multiple expletives in his anger over his Penske radio. “You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go … put that in the book.”
Cindric was unconcerned by the idea Logano might take issue with the wreath on the Penske plane.
“I think that would be very immature,” Cindric said. “I don’t see him doing that. We’ll see.”
It was a celebratory day for Cindric, who gave Team Penske its first NASCAR victory of the season by holding off a huge pack of challengers over the closing lap in a rare drama-free day at Talladega Superspeedway.
“Rock on, guys,” Cindric said over his radio. “Rock and roll. Let’s go!”
Ford drivers went 1-2, with Ryan Preece finishing second. But Preece and Logano were disqualified following postrace inspections because of spoiler infractions. Logano had crossed the finish line in fifth.
After the DQ’s, Kyle Larson moved up to second and William Byron third for Hendrick Motorsports. The two Chevrolet drivers pushed Cindric and Preece from the second row rather than pull out of line on the final lap and make a third lane in an attempt to win.
It was Larson’s best career finish at Talladega, where drafting and pack racing is required and neither suits his style. He said he wanted to make a move to try to take the win from Cindric but there was never any room.
“I wanted to take it but I felt like the gap was too big,” Larson said. “I was just stuck inside and just doing everything I could to advance our lane and maybe open it up to where I then could get to the outside. But we were all just pushing so equally that it kept the lanes jammed up.”
Noah Gragson ended up fourth in a Ford, while Hendrick driver Chase Elliott was fifth – two spots ahead of teammate Alex Bowman, with Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports sandwiched in between them. Wallace was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in eighth.
Cindric led five times but for only seven of the 188 laps in an unusually calm race for chaotic Talladega. The track last fall recorded the largest crash in the NASCAR history when 28 cars were collected in a demolition derby with four laps remaining.
On Sunday, there were only four cautions — two for stage breaks — totaling 22 laps. It was the fourth consecutive Talladega race with only four cautions, the two for stage breaks and the two for natural cautions.
But, Sunday featured season-highs in lead changes (67) among different drivers (23). Only five cars failed to finish from the 40-car field, and a whopping 30 drivers finished on the lead lap.
Cindric marked the 10th consecutive different winner at Talladega, extending the track record of no repeat winners. And, by the time it was over, Logano seemed to have calmed down.
“About time one of us wins these things,” Logano said of the Penske trio. “When you think about the amount of laps led by Team Penske and Ford in general, just haven’t been able to close. To see a couple of Fords on the front row duking it out, I wish one of them was me, in a selfish way. But it’s good to see those guys running up there and being able to click one off.”
Larson sets NASCAR record for stage wins
When he won the first stage at Talladega, it was the 67th of Larson’s career and made him NASCAR’s all-time stage winner. He broke a tie with Martin Truex Jr. with the stage win.
Stages were introduced in 2017 as a way to ensure natural breaks during races that allowed fans to rush to the bathroom or concession stand without missing any action. Cars typically make a pit stop during a stage break.
Teammate-on-teammate collision
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, who combined to win five of the first nine races this season, had a collision on a restart that ensured Bell would not win his fourth race of the season.
It happened in the first stage of the race with Bell on the front row next to Chris Buescher on his inside, and with Hamlin behind him. As the cars revved to get up to speed at the green flag, Hamlin ran into the back of Bell, which caused him to turn into Buescher and create the second caution of the race.
Bell went to the garage, where he joined Ryan Blaney, Buescher and Brad Keselowski, all betting favorites who were done for the day before the end of the first stage.
“What in the hell? Man, apologies if that’s on me,” Hamlin radioed. “We weren’t even up to speed yet. I don’t know why that would have wrecked him. When he shot down to the bottom, I wasn’t even sure I was actually on him.”
Up Next
NASCAR races next week at Texas Motor Speedway, where Elliott scored his only win of the 2024 season last April.
However, Duran said Sunday that a fan in the front row near the Red Sox dugout in Cleveland said “something inappropriate” to him after the All-Star left fielder flied out in the seventh inning of a 13-3 victory over the Guardians.
Duran stayed on the top step of the dugout and glared at the fan as the inning played out. During the seventh-inning stretch, before the singing of “God Bless America,” Red Sox teammates and coaches kept Duran away from the area as umpires and Progressive Field security personnel gathered to handle the situation.
The fan tried to run up the aisle but was caught by security and taken out of the stadium.
“The fan just said something inappropriate. I’m just happy that the security handled it and the umpires were aware of it and they took care of it for me,” Duran said.
After the game, the Guardians released a statement apologizing to the Red Sox and Duran. The team said it had identified the fan and was working with Major League Baseball on next steps.
Duran said it was the first time he was taunted by a fan about his suicide attempt and mental health struggles since the Netflix series “The Clubhouse: A Year With the Red Sox” was released April 8.
“When you open yourself up like that, you also open yourself up to the enemies. But I have a good support staff around me, teammates, coaches. There were fans that were supporting me, so that was awesome,” he said.
Boston manager Alex Cora was in the opposite corner of the Red Sox dugout but lauded security for how the incident was handled.
Cora was even prouder of Duran’s restraint. Duran was suspended for two games last season when he directed an anti-gay slur at a heckling fan at Fenway Park when the fan shouted that Duran needed a tennis racket to hit.
“There’s a two-way street. That’s something I said last year. We made a mistake last year, and we learned from it. We grew up, you know, as an individual and as a group,” Cora said.
Sunday’s incident dampened what had been a solid game and series for Duran. He went 4-for-6 with an RBI and had at least three hits in consecutive games for the second time in his career.
In Saturday’s doubleheader nightcap, Duran had Boston’s first straight steal of home plate in 16 years.
Duran went 7-for-15 with three RBIs as Boston took two of three games in the weekend series. Six of his hits in the series came against lefties after Duran was just 3-for-31 against southpaws coming into the weekend.
“I’ve been getting some good swings on lefties lately, just hitting it right at guys. I’m trying to stay with my process, and it just happened to work good for me this series. So, I’m just going to keep at it,” said Duran, who has hit safely in 13 of his past 14 games and is batting .323 (20-for-62) with eight extra-base hits, including a home run, and six RBIs during that span.
Tkachuk’s hit, in the third period of his team’s 5-1 loss, received a five-minute major. According to sources, the NHL Department of Player Safety determined that was enough, considering Guentzel had recently touched the puck and Tkachuk didn’t make contact with Guentzel’s head.
The department also believed that the force in which Tkachuk hit Guentzel was far lesser than the hit Tampa’s Brandon Hagel made on Florida captain Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, which earned Hagel a one game suspension.
The plays led both coaches to trade jabs in the media. After Barkov went down in Game 2, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said: “The only players we hit are the one with pucks.”
Barkov missed the end of the third period, but played in Game 3. Game 4 is Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.
At his postgame press conference, following Tkachuk’s hit on Guentzel, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper deadpanned the exact same line as Maurice.
Tkachuk leads the series in scoring with three goals and an assist through three games. Guentzel has two goals and two assists for Tampa Bay.
The Battle of Florida is living up to the billing as one of the most contentious rivalries in hockey; either Tampa or Florida has made it to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last five seasons.
