COVID-19 comes for the Padres
The San Diego Padres will be without half of their lineup for a while after Fernando Tatis Jr. and Wil Myers tested positive for COVID-19.
In case you missed the news yesterday…
The five players the Padres put on the COVID 19-related list are:
Fernando Tatis Jr. (positive test)
Jurickson Profar
Jorge Mateo
Wil Myers (positive test)
Eric Hosmer
Myers and Hosmer were actually pulled from last night’s game after the results of Myers’ test came back. Profar, Mateo, and Hosmer are all on the list due to contact tracing, which means they can come back a little bit faster than Tatis and Myers.
Let’s take a quick look at the Padres everyday lineup after these guys are removed:
Trent Grisham
F̶e̶r̶n̶a̶n̶d̶o̶ ̶T̶a̶t̶i̶s̶ ̶J̶r̶.̶
Manny Machado
E̶r̶i̶c̶ ̶H̶o̶s̶m̶e̶r̶
W̶i̶l̶ ̶M̶y̶e̶r̶s̶
Jake Cronenworth
J̶u̶r̶i̶c̶k̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶P̶r̶o̶f̶a̶r̶
Austin Nola
In case you’re just terrible at math, that is half of the Padres everyday starting lineup that the team will be without for a while.
And it might be getting worse:
But, as if it wasn’t bad enough to lose at least half your lineup in the same day, the San Diego Padres are scheduled to play a double header in Denver today against the Colorado Rockies. You know, the exact situation in which you need as many players are possible on your roster to help you grind through 14+ innings.
The new faces
The Padres had to add three warm bodies to the roster yesterday with the losses of Tatis, Mateo and Profar. They came in the form of:
Nabil Crismatt, RHP
Tucupita Marcano, UT
John Andreoli, OF
Crismatt and Marcano are probably destined to spend the whole season shuttling back and forth between San Diego and El Paso, but welcome to the team John Andreoli!
With Myers and Hosmer needing to be added to that 10-day IL today, we should see two more guys added to the team from El Paso today. Brian O’Grady made his case last night:
It’s not all bad
Did I mention the Padres won last night? By a score of 8-1? They did! And there was other good news, too!
Dinelson Lamet pitched two innings, giving up that 1 run in the 1st inning, and looked pretty good! His fastball velocity basically stayed the same in the 2nd inning, although he threw a lot more sliders in the 2nd than he did in the 1st.
Miguel Diaz, who looks fantastic so far this season, then came in and pitched three shutout innings. He gave up just 1 hit and walked nobody. His ERA remains at 0.00 in 2021. He was followed by Craig Stammen, Pierce Johnson, and Tim Hill. They all dominated a pretty terrible Rockies lineup in the freezing cold weather.
And the Padres lineup, already hurting from COVID, lit up the Rockies. Specifically, Manny Machado had himself a game with a 2-run HR and a 3-run triple.
Tommy Pham, forced back into the starting LF job with Profar out of the picture, looked particularly fired up. He went 2-4 with a walk, showing off pretty good speed by scoring a run from third on a groundball to the short stop (see above), and played good enough defense in the spacious Coors Field outfield.
In case it wasn’t apparent by now, the Colorado Rockies are a really terrible baseball team. They’re the main reason why the Giants are on 1st place in the NL West, as the two teams have played a lot so far. Today’s double header would be a nightmare against most MLB teams but somehow seems manageable against the Rockies.
Possible silver lining?
When looking at the five guys that will miss the next few games, you can squint and find some silver linings.
For one, the defense should improve. John Andreoli is reportedly a plus defensive outfielder, so him and Pham should be an upgrade over Profar and Myers.
Ha-Seong Kim would probably win a Gold Glove this year if he played regularly, but his offense hasn’t been good enough. He’ll get a chance to show off his glove once again during this period, and Jake Cronenworth will likely represent a big defensive upgrade at first base.
Secondly, Tatis and Myers have both been grinding through minor injuries. Tatis’ shoulder is still bothering him to some degree, and Myers had a balky knee even before he crashed into the outfield wall last night and injured his elbow. This time off will be good for both of them.
The Padres play the Rockies, Cardinals, Rockies, Mariners, and Brewers over the next two weeks. The Cardinals and Brewers are good, but the Padres should be able to hold their own against the Rockies and Mariners with what they have left. That’s pretty lucky timing for an outbreak like this to happen.
Oh, and the best news of all? Fernando Tatis Jr. is asymptomatic, and I’m going to assume Wil Myers is as well, since he was literally playing in the game last night when his test came back positive. Hopefully, there are no long-term health complications for either of them and the worst part of their COVID-19 experience is simply some time missed.