SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres were incredibly aggressive at the trade deadline, adding Juan Soto, Josh Hader, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury. That was with the expectation of star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. returning to the team from injury shortly, but that was shattered on Friday when Major League Baseball announced Tatis is being suspended 80 games for violating its performance enhancing drug policy.
Now the Padres, who are sitting in the second slot of the NL Wild Card race, half a game ahead of the Phillies and 1.5 ahead of the Brewers, will have to battle for a playoff spot without their star infielder.
Locked On Padres podcast host Javier Reyes joined the daily Locked On Sports Today podcast on Monday to talk about how the loss of Tatis for the second half will affect the Padres chances at the playoffs or a potential World Series run.
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“After the news broke, you saw comments from guys like Mike Clevinger and AJ Preller the GM and Manny Machado. The players themselves are like, ‘we got this.’ And to a degree, I believe them,” Reyes said on Locked On Sports Today. “I think they have a really good team. They have Juan Soto. I think it’s more of losing the energy and mojo and spark plug that Tatis would have been…You of course want everything you can to face a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers. It sucks the life out of the fan base a little bit.”
Reyes pointed to the Atlanta Braves, who lost players like Ronald Acuna Jr. before eventually making their title run, saying this doesn’t count the Padres out of a potential World Series run.
“A lot of this for San Diego heading into a potential playoff run is just play to what your ability is. I know that’s a cliché answer but I look at it and say, Padres fans should keep in mind that the rotation has been very good. Yu Darvish has returned to his elite form. Blake Snell over the last month has been phenomenal. I think the team just needs to play to their usual strengths. Juan Soto has been amazing so far. Brandon Drury has been very good. Ha-Seong Kim has been a great defender and he’s developed into a more consistent hitter. If you’re going to have Tatis out, that’s a pretty good secondary plan in Kim. The chemistry is very good between him and Machado.”
“It’s still a really, really good team," Reyes continued. "You just have to hope the lack of depth doesn’t rear its ugly head considering you did give up a lot of assets to get those star players. If dominos start to fall, your backup plans are limited. Once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen. The Braves won the World Series last year without their best player.”
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