Fernando Tatis reportedly meets with Padres GM, will meet with teammates after suspension
San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis met with general manager A.J. Preller on Thursday, and he’s expected to speak with his teammates later this week following his 80 game suspension, according to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez.
Major League Baseball announced last week that Tatis had tested positive for an anabolic steroid, and that he’d be suspended for 80 games. The 23-year-old had yet to make his season debut while recovering from a wrist injury, but he was expected to be a key part of their postseason push.
“He’s devastated,” teammate Jurickson Profar said, via ESPN, adding that he speaks with him every day. “He feels really bad.”
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Tatis will address his teammates for the firs time since the suspension by the end of the week, according to ESPN, but nothing has been scheduled.
Tatis has faced significant criticism since his suspension was announced, especially considering both his and his father’s explanation. Tatis said he was careless and that he “inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm.”
A few days later, Tatis’ father told reporters in the Dominican Republic that his son had got the fungal infection on his neck from a haircut and they used a spray called Trofobol to treat it.
Either way, Tatis won’t be able to play again until next season. He’s now tasked with trying to repair his relationship with his teammates, something it sounds like they’re at least open to at this point.
"We just wanna hear him be genuine and honest in here," Padres outfielder Wil Myers said Thursday, via ESPN. "What happens in here stays in here. As far as the trust being broken — I think that's obviously true in the respect of what happened, but that's not to say that from a teammate perspective that can't be won back."
He has 80 games, and a full offseason break in between, to get that done.
"He's our teammate still, and he's gonna be in our clubhouse, so we're gonna have to find a way to get on the same page and get past this,” Joe Musgrove said, via ESPN. “I don't know what that's gonna look like yet, but as the time comes it'll be a little clearer."
