Fernando Tatis Returns To The Padres Thursday

By: Steve Atkinson

Fernando Tatis returns to the Padres on Thursday. Thank God! The Padres are 8-10 on the season so far which is really unacceptable. That lineup is loaded even without Tatis between Machado, Bogaerts, Croneworth, Soto, Grisham, etc. Even with their questionable bullpen and Blake Snell being garbage so far. The offense really should be better than what it is. With bats underperforming Tatis has been ripping the ball in Triple-A While he was in rehab. He hit  .515 with seven home runs in eight games. has rejoined the team and will travel with the team to Arizona after Wednesday’s game for a four games series with the Diamondbacks beginning on Thursday.

Padres Joe Musgrove Makes His Debut This Weekend

The second positive to come from this week is Joe Musgrove will make his season debut on Saturday. They need him too because their starting pitching hasn’t really been that good lately. Snell hasn’t even won a game yet but is pitching on Tuesday. Nick Martinez is 0-1 with a 5.60 ERA, Seth Lugo is better at 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA, and Yu Darvish pitched better the other night but he is 0-2 with a 3.44 ERA. Lastly, Michael Wacha who was 2-0 lost his last start and his ERA is now 6.06. With Musgrove coming back there should be stability in the rotation.

The Padres Schedule Has Been Tough

Their schedule hasn’t really helped them either. Started with going to Atlanta last week winning that series then lost two out of three with the Mets. They play a tough Brewers team this past week and lose three out of the four games played. They really can’t ask for a better time to get Tatis and Musgrove back as Arizona is in first place at the moment in the division.

The Padres Need Fernando Tatis Back In The Lineup

The one positive in the Padres lineup is Xander Bogaerts who is killing the baseball. He’s batting .362 with four home runs and 10 RBIs so far. It doesn’t matter where he hits in the locker room he gets on base. Xander doesn’t seem too worried about the slow start from his teammates.

“Manny Machado is not gonna have one home run when the season ends,” Bogaerts said. “Juan Soto won’t have three home runs when the season ends. These guys are guys that are established, guys who have track records. If there is one thing I know about this game it is you believe in a guy’s track record. That goes a long way, man, I’m telling you. These are not guys that it’s their first year in the big leagues. Nah. These guys are established stars.”

Manny Machado spoke after Monday’s game and isn’t too worried about the offense’s struggles.

“I’d rather this happen now than down the road.” Machado further said, “It’s just: Don’t jump on the bandwagon later on when we start f—ing raking and we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”

It’s early I think the Padres will have some added motivation when Tatis gets added to the lineup Thursday. Then when Musgrove starts in the rotation things should even out. After the series with Arizona, they play Chicago, then finish the month with the Giants. The Padres should be over .500 by the end of the month of April.