Every so often you'll hear some guy on Twitter with no life and an American flag in his profile picture going on about how Trevor Bauer shouldn't be pitching in Mexico right now considering that he didn't do anything and that he should be on an MLB roster right now. And...while that's a really dicey issue that I feel like it's unwise to really weigh in on, it got me thinking about what our collective bar is for MLB players with controversial off-the-field antics. Just this year alone we've seen the Mets retire Darryl Strawberry's number, the resurrection of the Pete Rose Hall of Fame campaign after the Ippei Mizuhara incident, the banning of multiple MLB players, including Tucapita Marcano, Michael Kelly and local product Jay Groome, and the rehabilitation of both domestic abuser Marcell Ozuna and HGH abuser Fernando Tatis Jr.
Tatis, for the record, is in full 'scandal? what scandal?' mode a couple years after the suspension, and is having another strong season in San Diego. He's currently hitting .280 with 14 home runs, 36 RBIs and an .822 OPS. This is the standard of hitting Padres fans expect from him, and with Machado down and Soto gone, he's fulfilling the expectation. So far he's also got a nice amount of All Star Game votes, and could be starting for the NL this year. I think that enough people have accepted that the doping Tatis did wasn't to the extent of others before him, and was an accidental breach of banned substances. Like nowhere near Manny Ramirez disavowing the rules, or people doing intentional steroid abuse or anything. This was a foresight by a young kid, so say the MLB viewing public. I still think it's slightly dubious, and would love to see some proof that he's learned his lesson, but I guess we'll all have to see together.
That's also the tactic Marcell Ozuna's using. He's hitting like hell, having his best season than years [even better than 2023], proving his worth, and Braves fans are mostly going 'well at least SOMEONE'S hitting'. It's very similar to the Nelson Cruz thing, where, yes, there's a mar on the record, but with the extent of production it's impossible for fans to completely dislike him. Yes, he probably did some bad shit at home, but Ozuna is reportedly behind that, and is also nowhere near as detestable as some other recent abuse cases [Domingo German, Aroldis Chapman, etc]. And so I think people are kinda letting him off the hook.
I think for the Padres, because they truly need a central figure like Tatis, it's harder for them to cut off any support for him. He's still in his prime, he's trying to get them back to glory, he's still fun to watch. And even people like Luis Arraez and Jackson Merrill have been bowing to him this year. Without him, there's no strong through line for the lineup. Ozuna is similar, but in that case it's mostly due to the injuries of people who would be more central.
I think Tatis is due for a nice resurgence, even if I'm not even sure he can get to the heights he was headed towards in 2019 and 2020. Hopefully he can still bring the Padres some good luck this year.
Coming Tomorrow- Surprisingly, one of the early favorites for AL Rookie of the Year.
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