Comment Eleven days after accepting his 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, Fernando Tatis Jr. has spoken out. He spoke with his San Diego Padres teammates. He spoke to reporters. He had done neither of those things since news that he had tested positive for a banned substance stunned the sport a week and a half ago – unless you count his widely ridiculed statement blaming ringworm treatment for Clostebol’s introduction into his system. Padres General Manager AJ Preller had talked about it. He was disappointed. Tatis’ teammates had been asked about it. They were also disappointed. Even his father, former major leaguer Fernando Tatis Sr., had given an interview in which he blamed the haircut for giving his son a yeast infection that led to the positive test and railed against MLB for what he said was “ruining the image a player for something as minor as this.” But by Tuesday, Tatis, in street clothes because he can’t train with the team while suspended, slipped in front of a circle of waiting cameras and microphones to answer for himself. “I’m so sorry. I’ve let so many people down,” Tatis said Tuesday. “I’ve lost so much love from people. I’ve failed. I’ve failed the front office, the San Diego Padres, [chairman] Peter Seidler, AJ Preller. I have failed every fan in town. I have failed…my country. “I have disappointed my family, my parents. I am truly sorry for my mistakes. I have seen how my dreams turned into my worst nightmares in a matter of days, two months. But it’s nobody’s fault but myself.” Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. suspended 80 games for violating MLB’s PED policy Since Tatis burst onto the scene and blossomed into one of the sport’s most entertaining young stars, he’s stumbled into ignoble company. When a shoulder injury threatened his 2021 season, he opted not to have surgery to sit out the season, but he never looked the same. When he reported to spring training after the MLB lockout in March, he did so with a broken wrist suffered in one of what Tatis said were multiple offseason motorcycle accidents — something he was unable to tell the team about, according to lockout rules and cost him the first four months of this season. “I haven’t made the right decisions in the last week, month. Even from the beginning of the year. I made a mistake and I regret every step I took these days,” Tatis said, according to ESPN and other media outlets. “There is a long way to go.” Tatis has never been able to hide his emotions as well as some of his colleagues, so much so that when he and the Padres imploded as he dealt with a shoulder injury in 2021, his glum demeanor led to questions about morale — his and his his club. The team made a coaching change in the offseason in hopes that veteran Bob Melvin could help a star-studded roster become a winner with Tatis at its heart. But while Tatis has at times appeared casual in his approach to his profession, his body language suggests he has been shaken by what happened this month. “I will remember what this is like. And I’ll make sure I’m never in that position again,” Tatis said. “I know I have a lot of love to win back. I have a lot of work to do. It’s going to be a very long process to win back everyone’s trust, to win back the love that I’ve stabbed right into the heart of every baseball fan.” Perhaps, given the fact that his career has now changed dramatically since the 2022 season is over, it is to be expected that he will falter. But time won’t be lost entirely: Preller and Tatis have confirmed that he’ll undergo surgery on that troublesome shoulder that’s been stuck together for about a year now and spend much of the offseason rehabbing in San Diego. Tatis’ suspension will expire in May. “I’m going to do whatever I can, whatever I can, whatever I can do on the field, off the field to be a better teammate. My distraction is just something that is unacceptable, something that I have no excuse for, something that needs to be redeemed right now,” Tatis said. “I know there’s been a lot of talk out there, but it’s action. They are actions that I will start to take and actions that will speak for myself in the future.” Starting pitcher Joe Musgrove told San Diego reporters, including 97.3 FM, that Tatis showed “remorse” and offered clarity about what happened in a players-only meeting Tuesday, and Musgrove said the young star received “tough love”. “But people make mistakes, man. It’s something we’re definitely not going to hold over his head for the rest of his career,” Musgrove said. “I know there are fans out there who want to and people are going to feel how they want to feel, but one thing I stressed to him is that the most important people are the people in that room.” Fortunately for the Padres, one of the people in that room is Juan Soto, a 23-year-old star the team traded for before learning Tatis would be out for the rest of the season. Even with Soto, the Padres are clinging to a playoff spot, not cruising. They were ready to take the field Tuesday night, a game and a half ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the final National League playoff spot.
