Fernando Tatis Jr. Goes To The IL As Padres Tread Water

Tatis Hits The IL

It's been a pretty frustrating season for Padres fans, and now, it seems like that is likely to grow even deeper with star OF Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting the IL this week with a stress reaction in his thigh bone. It's an injury that apparently has been lingering on him all season, but he is just now going on the 10-day IL and likely won't be back until after the All-Star break.

"I was playing through it, and I probably could have kept going, but the doctors recommended to heal it now so that way it doesn't get worse. It's just better that way" said Tatis.

His loss is a massive one for the Padres at a key point in their season, with a record of 43-41, just barely holding their heads above water. He leads the team with 14 home runs on the season and is a Gold Glove and Platinum Glove defender in right field. Without him in the lineup, the slugging of this team gets zapped, as he has been their main power bat.

Is It Time To Sell?

It is no secret that the Padres have been one of the biggest spenders over the last couple of seasons, dishing out hundreds of millions of dollars to free agents in an attempt to build a championship-caliber team. They have been very competitive for a while, but they haven't managed to reach a World Series, and now they find themselves at a crossroads.

The team has a $164M payroll, which has been cut largely after the departure of Juan Soto. However, almost half of that money is on the IL right now. About $75M of that is not actively playing for them right now, which is a big problem. Their two highest-paid players, Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, both have been largely disappointing this season. Machado is batting just .260 with eight homers and 40 RBI, but he's on an 11-year, $350m contract. He's even been moved down the lineup and no longer bats in the heart of the order. Bogaerts is on the IL as well but was batting .219 with four homers and 14 RBI in 187 at-bats. He's getting paid $280M over 11 years.

It's going to be difficult for them to sell these guys, as not many are going to want to pay that much for players over 30 years old. The same can be said for RHP Joe Musgrove, who is on a $100M contract through 2027, is also on the IL right now, and currently has a 5.66 ERA.

Padres Odds

Oddsmakers also think that the Padres are another one of those "dinner theater" teams this season. Those are teams that are good enough to have a winning record and bring in money, but not good enough to actually win anything meaningful. They are 55/1 to win the World Series at DraftKings, which is middle of the league right now. They are 25/1 to win the NL and 30/1 to win the NL West.

I guess that they have learned a bit of a lesson by handing massive contracts to guys and getting burned by it, and I wouldn't expect them to be huge spenders at the deadline like they have been in previous seasons. However, I'm not sure they will be selling either. They seem like a team that is content with being mediocre for a while because of their money constraints, while also giving the fans enough reason to come to games and spend money.