Padres shelf Fernando Tatis Jr., whose season hangs in the balance

As the Friar Faithful awoke on Tuesday morning, we all felt a sense of uncertainty as we awaited an update on the status of Fernando Tatis Jr. Well, we have our update, and, personally, I can’t say I feel any more certain than I did 12 hours ago about the Padres superstar.

The initial evaluation uncovered slight labral tearing in Tatis Jr.’s left shoulder. The team is attempting to let the inflammation subside over the next week or so before attempting to determine next steps.

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At this point, San Diego isn’t anticipating losing him for the year because of surgery and called the results of his MRI ‘pretty positive’. There was no bone damage uncovered in the exam – but you can bet fans and the organization itself will be paying extra close attention to that ailing shoulder should he return this year.

All told, it’s as positive of news as we could have expected, I guess. It’s certainly not anything to get your hopes up over – but AJ Preller could have come out and said he was done for the year today, too, but that didn’t happen. For now, we wait – something Padres fans are so good at doing.

Padres add Brian O’Grady to the roster

In the meantime, Brian O’Grady will take the open spot on the 26-man roster. Ha-Seong Kim, who really struggled this spring, will likely get the bulk of the reps at shortstop. The Padres are seemingly hoping for a short learning curve for the KBO import, who signed a four-year deal with the team this offseason. 

As for O’Grady, he’s one of many insurance policies the team has in place early on this season. He’ll get reps in the outfield and this will free up someone like Jake Cronenworth or Jurickson Profar to get time in the infield when needed. He turned in a solid spring, playing a team-leading 25 games and batting .250/.389/.455.

For now, fingers crossed. The team seems optimistic and that’s all we have at this point. Let’s hope Bebo rests up and we see him back here in a couple weeks.