San Diego Padres dynamo Fernando Tatis Jr hit with 80-game drugs ban - The Guardian

San Diego Padres dynamo Fernando Tatis Jr, one of the brightest, freshest stars in all of Major League Baseball, was suspended 80 games on Friday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance and won’t play this season.

Any postseason games the Padres play would count toward the 80 that Tatis must sit out, and he’ll serve the rest of the suspension at the start of next season.

“Shocked everybody,” Padres star Manny Machado said after a 10-5 win over Washington.

MLB said the suspension also will prevent Tatis from playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic next March.

Somebody that from the organization’s standpoint we invested time and money into,” Padres general manager AJ Preller said at Nationals Park, where San Diego played Washington.

Flashy at the plate and in the field, Tatis was an All-Star last season when he led the National League with 42 home runs.

He was set to soon rejoin the Padres to boost a lineup that added star outfielder Juan Soto this month right before the trade deadline.

In a statement released by the players’ union, Tatis said he was “completely devastated” and apologized to Padres management, his teammates, MLB and “and fans everywhere for my mistake”.

Preller said he found out about the suspension late Friday afternoon.

Tatis became one of the biggest MLB players suspended for PEDs since testing with penalties started in 2004, joining Rodriguez (2014 season), Ramirez (50 games in 2009 and 100 games in 2011), Robinson Canó (80 games in 2018 and 2020 season) and Miguel Tejada (105 games in 2013).

They figured a roster that included Soto, Tatis and Machado could give them a better chance at the first World Series championship in team history – now, they’ll have to make that try without one of those key pieces.

“Hearing that he’s going to get suspended for 80 games and not be a part of what we’re trying to accomplish here is something you don’t want to hear before a game and don’t want to hear overall.

He will lose approximately $1.39m of his $7m salary for the first 32 games of next season, with the exact number to be determined by how many days he misses.

“There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be than on the field competing with my teammates,” Tatis said.

Preller said the team had about 15 minutes to talk about Tatis’ suspension before taking the field

“We haven’t had (Tatis) for this season, so it’s not like we’ve had him in the lineup and now we won’t,” Preller said