Sports Time Radio

On the day of Major League Baseball’s trading deadline, it was the San Diego Padres that stepped up and sent multiple top prospects to the Washington nationals for outfielder Juan Soto. The acquisition of Soto gave San Diego a version of the NBA’s ‘Big 3″ with Soto 3rd baseman Manny Machado and hopefully shortstop/centerfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

Well, unfortunately for Padres fans they won’t get to see those three players in the lineup together this season and for part of next season.

Tatis Jr. hasn’t played this season due to an injured wrist, but it seemed as he was close to returning as it had been reported that he was beginning to take batting practice. Even with Tatis Jr. coming back it was doubtful that the Padres would catch the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West race, but San Diego is in position for a wild card spot and having Tatis Jr. back in their lineup would make them a threat to any team in the playoffs.

Now the Padres will have to figure out what they going to do without Tatis Jr. for the remainder of this season and into the start of next season as it was announced yesterday that Tatis Jr. had been suspended for 80 games for failing a random drug test. It’s unclear right now how many games Tatis Jr. will have to miss next season as any post season game that San Diego plays counts towards his suspension.

Tatis Jr. tested positive for the performance enhancing drug called Clostebol. His suspension started immediately, so last night game against ironically Soto’s old team the Washington Nationals was game one of that suspension.

Here’s the statement that Tatis Jr. released yesterday after the suspension was announced.

“It turns out that I inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol,” Tatis said. “I should have used the resources available to me in order to ensure that no banned substances were in what I took. I failed to do so.

“I want to apologize to [team owner] Peter [Seidler], AJ [Preller], the entire Padres organization, my teammates, Major League Baseball and fans everywhere for my mistake. I have no excuse for my error, and I would never do anything to cheat or disrespect this game I love. I have taken countless drug tests throughout my professional career, including on March 29, 2022, all of which have returned negative results until this test.”

It seems like every athlete that’s every tested positive for a performance enhancing drug has taken “inadvertently” like Tatis Jr. did. I’m not saying that Tatis Jr. or anyone else intentionally took a performance enhancing drug, but that there are a lot of players that seem to make this mistake.

Now that the Padres know that they’ll be without Tatis Jr. for the remainder of this season and through any playoff run they might make the question now is who plays shortstop?

San Diego had a top prospect C.J. Abrams who had played 32 games at shortstop and there was talk of moving Tatis Jr. to centerfield full-time and allowing Abrams to be the full-time shortstop. Well, Abrams was part of the Soto trade, so he’s unavailable.

At the start of his career Machado was a shortstop, but it’s doubtful that the Padres would ask him to move over from 3rd base even though they did acquire Brandon Drury from the Cincinnati Reds at the trade deadline, and he could take over at 3rd base if Machado was to move over.

Jake Cronenworth has been a good utility man to San Diego and has played some shortstop during his career including five games at that position this season, but it’s doubtful that Cronenworth could be the answer full-time.

That leaves the Padres with Ha-Seong Kim. Now Kim has played 87 games at shortstop this season. He’s committed five errors as the Padres shortstop and has a fielding percentage of .984, so he’s a solid option for San Diego and this appears that this will be the route that they go.

Kim was San Diego’s starting shortstop last night in their 10-6 win over the Nationals. Kim went 2 for 5 in the game and drove in a run. One of Kim’s hits was a double and he also stole a base. Kim however did commit an error.

With the trade deadline past there really isn’t a move the Padres can make, so what do you think they do? Will they use Kim as the everyday shortstop? Is it possible that Machado moves over to shortstop? Or is there another option you see San Diego trying?

Don’t forget to look me up on Twitter @Burketime.