Padres' Peter Seidler on Fernando Tatis Jr.: 'I believe in him'

PHOENIX — Fernando Tatis Jr. met with his boss, San Diego Padres chairman Peter Seidler, about a week after drawing his steroid-related, industry-rattling suspension. It started off poorly — and Seidler interpreted that as a positive sign.

«I could see in his body language how bad he felt,» Seidler told ESPN in a sit-down interview on Thursday. «Some humans, when this happens, they don't feel bad. They feel like they're the victim in some way. Fernando owned it. He felt bad because he knew he let people down. And when we started talking — he loosened up at some points — we talked about how, 'This is a big one, but people bounce back from these things.' And I knew he would. I told him that. It was too fresh for him to really form a ton of thoughts, but I could see it. He knew what had happened. And he was gonna figure out the best path forward.»

Seidler watched Tatis' highly anticipated return to baseball up close on Thursday night, while seated directly behind the Padres' first-base dugout from Chase Field in Phoenix.

Two years earlier, in February of 2021, Seidler rewarded Tatis with a 14-year, $340 million extension, an unprecedented number for someone who at that time was only a month removed from his 22nd birthday. It was widely hailed as a «statue contract,» a clear indication of the space Tatis promised to occupy within the organization's history. The press conference to celebrate it began with Seidler saying, «It's a rare chance to wake up the next day after we agreed to the contract and there's no doubt in your mind.»

The following year provided plenty of reasons to doubt, first with the wrist injury that was caused by an offseason motorcycle accident, then by the positive test for an anabolic steroid just as