All-Star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres had surgery on his broken left wrist Wednesday.
General manager A.J. Preller said earlier this week that the $340 million superstar is expected to miss three months. Tatis led the NL with 42 homers in 2021 and was third in NL MVP balloting.
It's unclear how the electrifying player broke his wrist, but there were reports in December that he had a motorcycle accident in his native Dominican Republic. Preller said Monday that the team believed the injury occurred early in the offseason but that Tatis didn't start feeling it until he began taking swings about a month ago in preparation for spring training.
The 23-year-old Tatis had a series of injuries to his left shoulder last year and also was on the COVID-19 injured list at one point. He batted .282 with 97 RBIs and 25 stolen bases.
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Kim Ha-seong is expected to replace Tatis at shortstop. Kim is entering his second big league season after starring in his native Korea.
Tatis signed a $340 million, 14-year contract with the Padres during spring training last year.
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In other news, the Padres signed right-hander Nick Martinez to a contract that could be worth at least $25.5 million over four seasons and as much as $31.5 million.
Martinez gets a $2 million signing bonus, half payable May 1 and half June 1, and a $4 million salary this year.
His deal includes $6.5 million player options with $1.5 million buyouts for 2023, 2024 and 2025. He can decide the following year’s option at the end of each season.
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For any year in which he makes at least 20 starts, his salary would escalate by $1 million in all subsequent seasons.
Martinez and the Padres were closing in on an agreement Dec. 1, but it wasn’t finished before the Major League Baseball lockout began that night.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Martinez, left-hander Adrian Morejon was placed on the 60-day injured list.
The 31-year-old Martinez has been pitching in Japan since 2018 and went 10-5 with a 1.62 ERA in 23 games last season for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He had 146 strikeouts in 149 2/3 innings.
Martinez also won a silver medal last summer with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, going 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA over 11 innings in two outings during the tournament. He started the gold-medal game against Japan and gave up one earned run in six innings.
Martinez last pitched in the majors for the Texas Rangers from 2014-17. In four big league seasons, he is 17-30 with a 4.77 ERA in 88 games, including 68 starts.
