Nightengale's Notebook: PED suspension needs to be a wake-up call for Fernando Tatis Jr.

The Fernando Tatis Jr. apology tour began privately Thursday with the general manager and continued Saturday with the owner. Next up was a moment of reckoning, a talk with the people who could either forgive and accept him, or scorn and shun him.

Those would be his San Diego Padres’ teammates.

The Padres remain absolutely livid with Tatis for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs and getting suspended last week for 80 games, lasting the remainder of this season and the first month of 2023.

The Padres already canceled his bobblehead doll promotion, edited him out of their City Connect video, and scrubbed his face off the Petco Park mural.

Now, the Padres players are waiting for him to talk.

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Face to face.

“It’s very important,” Padres ace Joe Musgrove told reporters Thursday. “Everyone has got different feelings in here on the whole situation ...

“We deserve to hear from him and hear the truth of it from his mouth.”

Tatis and his family have claimed he used clostebol, an anabolic steroid, blaming it on everything from ring worm to a bad haircut to a doctor who prescribed the wrong medication.

Sorry, the Padres don’t buy it.

Or, in the words of GM A.J. Preller: “That’s his story.’’

Had Tatis come out and said he used PEDs to accelerate his slow recovery from his broken wrist – the one he claims he broke in a motorcycle accident but didn’t know until he arrived in spring training – maybe we would be talking about this differently.

What we know for sure is that Tatis cheated. His image is ruined and his young career disgraced.

There are those who have actually asked whether this will damage his Hall of Fame chances. Are you kidding?

Aside from the fact that he's never even played a full season, Tatis could win multiple MVP awards 10 years in a row, lead the Padres to multiple World Series titles, and he probably ain’t going to Cooperstown.

If Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez Manny Ramirez and Rafael Palmeiro aren’t in, this guy’s only chance of walking into the Hall of Fame is buying a ticket.

He cheated. He was caught. And he may have just cost his team a chance to make the playoffs.

Can you imagine if the Padres miss the postseason, their first berth in a full season since 2006, even after acquiring Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Brandon Drury and Josh Hader at the trade deadline?

It won’t matter if Soto doesn’t hit another home run, Bell doesn’t get another hit or Hader doesn’t get another save.

There will be only one man who’ll be blamed.

Tatis.

He will have to live with the guilt the rest of his career.

The Padres won’t say anything publicly, of course, but are now questioning just how shrewd it was signing him to a 14-year, $340 million contract last year.

They could have tried to void his contract this spring when he violated his deal by even being on a motorcycle. It was briefly discussed internally, but dismissed, particularly since he’s earning just $5 million this year. His big paydays don’t start kicking in until 2025 when he’s scheduled to be paid $20 million.

The Padres chalked it up to immaturity, but after the positive PED test, he’s now viewed as being tremendously talented, but just as immature and selfish.

“We were hoping that from the offseason to now that there would be some maturity,’’ Preller said last week, “and obviously with the news, it’s more of a pattern and it’s something that we’ve got to dig a bit more into.’’

The Padres were blindsided by the news of Tatis’ drug test but at least one of his teammates knew in advance, telling USA TODAY Sports that Tatis had informed him weeks ago, before deciding to drop an appeal.

Tatis knew he wasn’t going to win the case, and was going to miss at least the first month of next season, so why not get it out of the way?

Tatis and his family and friends have since tried to get everyone to believe it was a harmless accident, and there was nothing at all intentional about using an illegal PED.

But come on, just how many times have we heard these comical stories over the years?

The real fear the Padres have is that perhaps they really don’t know the real Fernando Tatis Jr.

Was this really the first time he used PEDs, or simply the first time he was caught?

Robinson Cano wasn’t the same after he was popped the first time for PEDs. Manny Ramirez disappeared. Alex Rodriguez was never again an MVP candidate. Ryan Braun badly faded.

Sure, they were all older than Tatis, who’s just 23, but there’s no guarantee he's going to continue producing the way he was, becoming the first player in history to hit 80 homers and steal 50 bases in his first 300 games.

Remember, this is the same guy who had four dislocated shoulder injuries last year. He missed seven weeks in 2019 with a stress reaction in his lower back. Why, he has played in only 273 of a possible 546 regular-season games in his big-league career.

Still, even with all of the injuries, he emerged as one of the young, charismatic faces in baseball, endorsing everything from Gatorade to Adidas to Dairy Queen.

Now, that may be gone.

“I don't think there was reason to destroy the image of a player over something as minor as that," Tatis’ father, Fernando Tatis Sr.. said on a show in the Dominican Republic. “This is a catastrophe what has taken place, not just for Junior, but for all of baseball.

"There are millions of fans who are going to stop watching baseball now. It's a total disappointment for Dominican fans, fans throughout the world, for something so insignificant that wasn't worth it.

“What has occurred is a catastrophe for baseball."

No, just a catastrophe for Tatis.

The game will go on with or without him.

The only difference now is how Tatis will be perceived the rest of his career. Can he repair all of the fractured relationships? Can he stop being self-absorbed – with teammate Manny Machado calling him out last year for being selfish?

“We just want to hear him be genuine and honest in here,’’ Padres outfielder Wil Myers told reporters. “As far as the trust being broken, I think that's obviously true in the respect of what happened, but that's not to say that from a teammate perspective that can't be won back."

The Padres want to see whether he’s authentic or a fraud. They want answers.

“Part of being a man is owning up to it and dealing with what you have to deal with and move on,’’ Musgrove says. “Some people are never going to forget this and some people are going to forgive him. He’s our teammate still and he’s going to be in our clubhouse. So we’re going to have to find a way to get on the same page and move past this. I don’t know what that looks like yet but as the time comes it will be a little clearer.”

This is a team that wants to sign Soto to a contract extension before he’s a free agent after the 2024 season, but even if they wanted to trade Tatis to clear some payroll space, it’s too late now.

“He’s untradeable now,’’ one Padres official said, “but all we can do is hope that he can learn from this and grows up. Really, we’ve got no choice.’’

Even if players want him gone, no one is going to say it publicly. It’s up to Tatis to use the time and return next year as a different, mature person.

“I think what we need to get to is a point in time where we trust,’’ Preller says. “Over the course of the last six or seven months, I think that's been something we haven't really been able to have there.’’

Perhaps this will be a wake-up call before a promising career is wasted.

“You hope he grows up and learns from this,’’ Padres pitcher Mike Clevinger says, “and learns it’s about more than just him.”

He’s still awfully young, of course, but consider this:

The last time he played in a major-league game, he was 22 years and 275 days old.

He’ll be at least 24 years and 119 days old when he returns.

Time moves fast. And it’s not about to wait for anyone, no matter how talented you might be.

Around the basepaths...

– There have been nearly two dozen candidates who have surfaced for the vacant Detroit Tigers’ GM job, but executives say that one name to keep an eye on is Peter Woodfork, MLB’s senior vice president of minor league operations and development.

Woodfork, a Harvard graduate, has worked at Major League Baseball since 2011, but has close ties to Tigers manager A.J. Hinch from their days together in Arizona when he was an assistant GM.

Hinch, the Tigers’ manager, is expected to play an integral role in the hiring process.

– Bruce Bochy, 67, who last managed in 2019 for the San Francisco Giants, is a top candidate for several managerial openings, including the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers.

And, yes, he’s interested in returning as manager even though he’s eligible for the Hall of Fame in a year.

– Joey Votto, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery, has one final year left on his 10-year, $225 million contract. He’s scheduled to earn $25 million next season with a $20 million club option or $7 million buyout in 2024.

– Fernando Tatis Jr. is the 58th player to receive at least a 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use, and the 33rd player who was Dominican-born. It’s gotten worse in recent years with 16 of the 20 suspensions being Dominican players.

– Atlanta has become a mecca for players wanting to stay put, and now are focusing on retaining Dansby Swanson before he’s eligible for free agency in November.

Considering they have spent $452 million locking up players to extensions since March, they’re not about to stop now.

“They’re just really good at getting good guys to stay here,’’ said rookie center fielder Michael Harris, who signed an eight-year, $72 million extension, “because a lot of people want to play here. We have a great group of guys that want to play with each other. I feel like it just helps with players making decisions long-term and actually wanting to be here and play baseball here.”

Atlanta now has Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Harris, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies signed through at least 2027, with Riley until at least 2032.

In 2027, the quintet will earn a total of just $77 million.

“Obviously we’re trying to win each year, but the most important thing is how do we sustain it?’’ Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos said. “And it’s important that guys want to stay here. If we can become one of the best places to play, then obviously we’ll be able to keep players, we’ll be able to sign players and the fans will certainly enjoy it.”

Atlanta has produced a major-league leading 79 home runs by players 24 years or younger this year.

– It’s safe for the Seattle Mariners to start ordering those cases of champagne for the day they end their 20-year playoff drought. They have been steamrolling the opposition for two months, going an American League-best 37-15 since June 21, and entered Saturday with a 2 ½-game lead in the American League wild-card race.

They have the easiest remaining schedule in baseball, and finish the season with 20 games against teams with losing records.

“I told y’all,” Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford told the Seattle Times. “We knew the guys we had in here, we all knew what we’re capable of, I told y’all we were gonna be fine. We finally found our identity and how to play as a team. You get a bunch of new guys, and it takes a little bit to find out what type of team you are. As you can tell now, we’re rolling.”

See ya in October.

– Remember when the Yankees had a 15 ½-game lead in the AL East and were 38 games over .500?

They’ve since gone 12-24 and their lead has been sliced in half with an offense that has gone AWOL.

“I don’t give a crap about the lead,’’ manager Aaron Boone said Friday night. “Play better. We’ll handle it. If we play like this, it’s not going to matter anyway.’’

– St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina raised eyebrows in the organization when he left the team after Friday night’s game to fly to Puerto Rico to be with his Vaqueros de Bayamón basketball team, which won the league championship on Saturday night.

The Cardinals placed Molina on the restricted list and have the right not to pay him until he returns.

The timing is rather peculiar considering the Cardinals are in the middle of a pennant race and Molina is an integral part of the team.

– Class act: Boston Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy, along with GM Brian O’Halloran and assistant GM Eddie Romero, and Tampa Bay Rays president Erik Neander, flew across country to attend the emotional and beautiful memorial service for Nicole Hazen, the wife of Arizona D-backs GM Mike Hazen.

– Pittsburgh Pirates manger Derek Shelton is definitely returning in 2023, GM Ben Cherington says.

– Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is not joining the movement that MLB retires Roberto Clemente’s No. 21 uniform jersey number, but instead desires everyone to preserve his legacy as a humanitarian and Hall of Fame player.

“I love the movement to retire 21, but what are we doing to keep the legacy back home?’’ Cora told reporters after visiting the Roberto Clemente museum in Pittsburgh. “His dream was to help the youth from Puerto Rico. Some of us are a product of that. ... I don’t think we have done enough to keep the legacy going.”

– At the trade deadline, the St. Louis Cardinals picked up starters Jordan Montgomery and Jose Quintana.

They have made six starts and the Cardinals have won all six games, with the duo yielding a 1.60 ERA over 33 ⅔ innings.

They are now 13-3 since the trade deadline, opening a season-high four-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Meanwhile the Yankees, who gave up Montgomery and acquired Frankie Montas from Oakland, are going the the mirror opposite direction, going 3-13 entering Saturday.

Montas is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts, yielding 18 hits, six walks and 14 earned runs in 14 innings.

The Yankees badly wanted Luis Castillo, who went to the Mariners, but the Reds had no interest in outfield prospect Jasson Dominguez.

– Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander, 39, says he still wants to pitch until he’s 45 years old, and reaching the magical 300-win club where only 24 men have gone, but also won’t just hang on to reach the milestone.

“I think I’m more like ‘the game will tell me when it’s time to go,’” Verlander told the Houston Chronicle. “I definitely don’t want to be the guy that’s hanging on for dear life at the very end. I guess there’s a caveat to that: if I was really close to some really cool numbers, I may hang around to try to achieve something.”

– One of the most under-the-radar pickups at the trade deadline was Atlanta’s acquisition of outfielder Robbie Grossman.

Grossman hit .205 with a .595 OPS and two home runs and 90 strikeouts in 273 at-bats with the Tigers.

He is hitting .286 (8-for-28) with two homers and a .965 OPS with Atlanta, including home runs in back-to-back games against the Mets.

– The Cleveland Guardians’ secret this year offensively simply is putting the ball in play, 81% of the time, leading all of baseball according to FanGraphs.

They have had 14 players make their major-league debut this season, and are only the fifth team since 1902 to have that many players make their debut and still produce a winning record.

Cleveland could once again be dominating this division with their young, emerging talent.

– MLB better have an ironclad rules interpretation on the home-plate collision rule involving catching blocking the plate with eight calls overturned this year.

– The new playoff format, with the elimination of a travel day in the NLCS and ALCS, should benefit those teams with deep starting rotations and bullpens.

It makes the Dodgers and Astros just that much stronger.

“Having the starting depth,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says, “is going to be paramount.”

– Kudos to Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman for donating $500,000 to his former high school, El Modena High in Orange, Calif., to upgrade its baseball facilities. It’s the largest private donor amount in the history of the school district.

– Aaron Judge is hitting .095 (2-for-21) since his last home run a week ago. Judge has 46 homers in his bid to break the Yankees’ franchise record of 61 homers set by Roger Maris in 1961.

– Detroit Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez made his first start in three months on Saturday after being on the restricted list with marital issues, costing him $5 million. He forfeited $74,866 in salary for each day he spent on the restricted list on the first year of his five-year, $77 million contract.

– Austin Meadows was a stud in Tampa, hitting 60 homers with 195 RBI for the Rays in their last two full seasons.

But after being traded to Detroit just before the season opener?

He has no homers and 11 RBI, playing just 36 games, none since June 15, with his recent rehab stint shut down because of general soreness.

– Has there been any player in recent baseball history who has created more paranoia than Astros third baseman Alex Bregman? Opposing pitchers have twice intentionally committed balks to move him from second base to third base to prevent him from stealing signs.

– If you’re the Dodgers, are you really going to trust veteran Craig Kimbrel to close out games for you in October?

“With his track record, he’s earned the right to get a longer look,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says. “But as we get into September, the best pitchers are going to pitch. That’s just the way it has to be, and I think that’s the only right way you manage it.”

– Future Hall of Fame catcher Yadier Molina says that he will manage in Venezuela when his career ends after this season.

– Outfielder Joey Gallo on his move from New York City to Los Angeles: “No offense to New York, but I was living in a small apartment for the same price. So it’s pretty nice to be by the beach and have some waves and some sand and people walking around in flip-flops and whatnot.’’

Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fernando Tatis Jr'.s PED suspension has lost him the Padres' trust