The 2022 NFL Week 7 Roundup | Maybe There IS Crying in Baseball
Say It Ain’t So, Fernando!
So you’re just 22 years of age and have just signed a 14-year, $340M contract with the San Diego Padres. How do you celebrate and mark the occasion? For shortstop sensation Fernando Tatis, Jr., the decision was an easy one. He defiantly purchased a motorcycle — in cash — out of the eyes of the prying media and sent it to live at his off-Season home in the Dominican Republic where he dreamt of slicing through tangerine sunsets, pungent tropical winds brushing past as he confidently motored off into his glistening future. Just one small problem with this time-honored declaration of youthful material achievement: Fernando didn’t quite know how to drive a motorcycle. This minor miscalculation would go on trigger a grievous reversal in fortune for the silver slugger; an unfortunate journey that continues to play out in real-time where the sharp teeth of family, bravado, hubris, lies, and money violently gnash clandestinely. The aftermath is still uncertain for Fernando as he navigates the windy road to redemption. IN a game where once upon a time homeruns tended to float effortlessly from his Victus Pro Reserve bat forged of maple wood, at this tenuous stage in his life, Fernando will prophetically settle for a base hit. It remains to be seen if the first base coach is waving him in.
It really wasn’t so long ago that in 2015 at the age of 16 (!!!), the Chicago White Sox signed the then unknown as an international free agent out of the Dominican Prospect League. Less than a year later, the Padres, having sussed out Fernando’s explosive potential from scouting footage, made their now-famous seminal and audacious three-way trade for the young prospect. Fernando then spent the next few years honing his skills, bounding about in the Minor Leagues before debuting in the Majors as a full-fledged Padre in 2019. From the beginning, he was dynamite at first sight. At the end of the 2019 Season, the playbook recorded 22 homers, 61 runs and 106 hits nicely peppered across 84 games. Fernando also placed third in the 2019 National Rookie of the Year balloting. There are worse way to commemorate a 20th birthday. The 2020 Season picked up precisely where its 2019 predecessor left off. 17 home runs (2nd in NL), 42 RBI (4th in NL), 11 stolen bases (4th in NL) capped off with the highest exit velocity in all of Baseball clocking in at a rafter-shaking 95.9 mph. Fernando, with two expertly timed dingers, helped to propel the Padres into instant credibility and the NLDS with the perennially loaded Dodgers. The Padres would go on to be swept in three quick games but Fernando would escape the post season placing 4th in the 2020 NL MVP Award (behind only Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and fellow Padre Manny Machado). With all the well-deserved cacophony surrounding Fernando’s offensive onslaught, cracks stubbornly began to emerge in the star’s popular narrative. And it centered upon his defensive production at shortstop. Or lack thereof. In his debut 2019 season, Fernando ranked 33rd out of 35 ranked shortstops in the Majors, done in with 18 committed errors, 14 of which troublingly stemmed from throwing errors. The Team insisted it could look past the thorns of the rose and hired an infield instructor to coach Fernando defensively ahead of the 2020 Season. But first things first..
Realizing they had struck gold and were fortunate enough to be in the midst of a generational talent, the Padres in Winter 2021 unsurprisingly signed Fernando to a shiny, seismic $340M 14-year contract; at the time the third richest in the history of baseball. He pushed forward despite the glitz and glamour that accompanied such rarefied superlatives. On field that Season, Fernando, continuing to work with his infield instructor, demonstrated steady progress climbing 17 ranking rungs in little more than two years all the while continuing to slug for the record books. But defensive and offensive strain on Fernando’s body began taking their toll. After a fourth debilitating shoulder dislocation began chewing away menacingly at Fernando’s momentum, a decision was made to push the star to a less physically taxing outfield position. And that’s when the bottom fell out for Fernando. Self-doubt, peer review and Team admission of mere mortality synergized to send Fernando into a free-wheeling phase of uncharacteristic unease; a phase he has yet to fuller emerge from. The atmosphere was best encapsulated with the infamous Fall 2021 dugout argument in St. Louis that spilled out embarrassingly into public view and worse, on Twitter, where Fernando became an instant meme, frustrated with having struck out and resistant to constructive feedback. Shockingly vociferous and physical in equal parts, Fernando and his coach had to be separated by teammates before Manny Machado forcefully stepped in to dress the superstar down and force feed him a helping of humble pie. When times are good and the WINS roll in and on, it’s easy to paper over the unsightly. At last, with a Team reeling in a depressed slump, Fernando’s moodiness, immaturity and lack of accountability had come to a head. The Padres would go on to be eliminated from playoff contention shortly after the St. Louis fracas but Fernando concluded the Season by letting his stats do the talking: the most home runs in the NL and #3 in the 2021 NL MVP stakes. Crucially at the time, Fernando opted NOT to undergo off-season shoulder surgery much to the Team’s chagrin. The surgery would have addressed his multiple shoulder dislocations but Fernando feared never again being able to regain his full range of motion, and with it, his moneymaker. He was satisfied letting nature take its course and starting anew in the Spring of 2022. But new storm clouds gathered on the immediate horizon.
The segue between the 2021 and 2022 Seasons was best marked by the acrimonious 99-day work stoppage that had the sports world a-chatter all Winter. During this strike/lockout, disallowed was any channel of contact between players and clubhouses. This little fly in the ointment set the stage for Fernando’s inescapable denouement. Faced with the prospect of months without access to Team training facilities, professional coaching staffs and oodles of UNPAID time off, Fernando like all of his athlete peers went home. At the direction of the Union, Fernando conducted self-managed training and workout regimens with his all-star father. To blow off steam, Fernando always relished the memento he rewarded himself with in February 2021 upon signing his new $340m deal: that defiant motorcycle. He had it shipped to the Dominican Republic where it sat in cold storage, beckoning. Now living just feet away from temptation and with reams of free time on his hands, Fernando chose tangerine sunsets and creamy breezes. But he didn’t quite know how to ride a motorcycle of the caliber he purchased. And so he spent his off-training days attempting to teach himself the art of piloting a two-wheeled rocket. Things went just as well as you’d expect. On a warm early Sunday in December 2021, the world would learn of an accident involving MLB’s newest superstar. Early reporting on the incident was hard to come by, complicated by a complete communications blackout among teams and players. Fernando’s father initially dismissed injury to his son as little more than a scraped knee and hands; essentially “not a big deal”. Things only got murkier from there. Depending on whom you speak with, the accident could have occurred near Fernando’s home in San Pedro de Macoris, in resort town Punta Cana or 40 miles west in Higuey alongside the sinewy backroads that contour the region’s leafy tobacco fields. Fernando’s accident was a solo accident, was never reported to authorities and 911 was never dialed. He was taken to a private clinic where the truth resides in isolation to this day. Whatever the shady circumstances, Fernando’s wrist was damaged. One could imagine he thrusting his arms out forward, protectively and instinctively, having been thrown overboard off the out of control motorcycle, with his wrists taking the brunt of the force when crash landing. In Fernando’s later telling at a Spring Training 2022 press conference, he mentioned he had tripped over a hurdle in training at home after the accident; that that’s what caused his wrist injury. So then it’s settled! Amazingly, at the same press conference he continued to insert what was left of his foot into his mouth when he answered incredibly to a simple question about the motorcycle accident: Which one? The surrounding press core laughed in reaction, perhaps uncomfortably especially considering the mushrooming web of deceit now forming before their very eyes.
The true details and substance of Fernando’s left wrist condition were purposely held close to the vest throughout the Lockout for fear of invoking the Hazardous Activities Clause in Fernando’s $340M contract that forbids him from doing precisely just that. Luckily for him, the Padres never had ANY intention of enforcing the clause and clawing back a cent of his contract so as to keep the peace with the face of the franchise. It helps that he’s only getting paid $4.2M this year with sharp escalations over the life of the contract. Nevertheless, Fernando arrived hobbled at Spring Training with a wrist in rehab having undergone two intensive surgeries to repair a fractured scaphoid bone, a repair requiring the painful insertion of a stabilizing central screw. The rehab cost Fernando the better part of his 2022 Season before further DISASTER struck this past August. That’s when news of a positive PED test ricocheted across baseball. Initial skeptical explanations centering around ringworm treatment quickly gave way to — refreshingly — the truth. During an August 23rd presser, a meandering and halting Fernando finally admitted to taking PEDs/steroids in an effort to hasten his return to the Game he loved. He’d turned to banned Clostebol to quicken the clock. MLB, resultingly, had a different clock in mind. An 80 game suspension which will see his return to Game he loves six weeks into the 2023 Season. A swift, definitive and punishing statement and verdict. The loss of Adidas, Gatorade, Dairy Queen endorsement deals only served to compound the inevitable. Who ever said there’s no crying in baseball?
In sum, the worst possible outcome for a superstar talent with so much squandered goodwill. The heights Fernando soared to just three short years ago seem ancient by now, overwhelmed by his own contemporary humanity. In that time, Fernando has seen the adulation of triumph alongside the dangers of arrogance and repercussions of duplicity. But all is not lost. There is hope yet for Fernando with a surgically-strengthened left wrist, a reimagined appreciation for teamwork, constructive feedback AND a renewed attention to honest truth. And who among us can resist an comeback kid? Oh yes, and Fernando opted just last month to address that nagging shoulder problem that began this entire saga. So Fernando has a long, winding road to navigate in regaining our trust, respect and inspiration; if at all. Unless and until he hires a professional motorcycle instructor on a closed-circuit course, I’d say we’re in for quite the ride!
As we review Week 7 in the NFL, it just seems the collective mood is that the whole enchilada lacks razzle dazzle this year. Really a feeling of Teams stuck in neutral — with exceptions — especially when the only undefeated Team takes a bye week. The exceptions to this funk include the otherworldly Giants who roll on to their 4th victory in a row bringing their record to an unbelievable 6–1. On Sunday, the Jags rolled out the red carpet for their New York competitors but ended up getting clotheslined on the velvet ropes. JAX QB Trevor Lawrence threw for a 300+ yard game but nothing quite stuck offensively. He allowed yet another by-now signature NYG Q4 comeback highlighting just how powerful the Daniel Jones-Saquon Barkely pairing has become. At this point, Coach Brian Daboll is the uncontested Coach of the Year, fueled by a playbook that has heads turning all around the NFL. The OTHER exception includes the OTHER New York team in the Jets. For fans accustomed to constant disappointment, the Jets delivered nervous smiles yet again this time by sliding past Denver, 16–9. Zach Wilson on center will certainly have his work cut out for him considering a critical Q4 injury to locomotive RB Breece Hall and the torn ACL he suffered. He was carted off the field and with him the probability of a frothy Jets push into January especially considering cornerstone right tackle Alijah Vera-Tucker similarly exited the game within six minutes of Breece’s departure, this time to surgically repair a triceps injury. Thankfully, Open Enrollment is here.
Over on the West Coast at Levi’s Stadium, the 2nd best rated Defense in the League SPLIT like a cheap pair of, errr, jeans. The always-dangerous Chiefs thundered into town and hammered the at-home 49ers 44–23. Patrick Mahomes reeled off another trademark showout (25/34 423yds 3TDs 1INT) and with that physical show of force it’s no wonder SF crumpled. Opposing QB Jimmy G admirably did his best to mind the shop in the face of gale-force winds but the Chiefs cleverly deployed a kite in shouting down their declaration for the Post-Season. Down in Charlotte, Tom Brady and his Bucs limped into Bank of America stadium to plumb the depths of humiliation. In what should have been a gimme with a depleted Panthers squad (having just fired Head Coach Matt Rhule and traded star Christian McCaffrey to SF), the Bucs incredibly lost 3–21. Tom Brady isn’t connecting, isn’t being protected by his offensive line and is certainly rethinking EVERYTHING. Heck, he’s only 2 sacks away from becoming the most sacked QB in history. Sure he’s been around for decades, but still, NOT a decoration he needs but one which he’ll dubiously earn next week against the Ravens. Two losses in row and 4 out of the past 5 games bodes ill for Tom’s much-talked-about farewell tour. You know what they say about second-guessing an initial intuition; we’re seeing that play out before our very eyes. Equally stunning is Green Bay’s tall plummet from grace. Aaron Rodgers and his Packers arrived at FedEx the odds-on favorite to rival Washington. The Commanders astonishingly turned Aaron Rodgers away, hands in his pockets and downtrodden face revealing everything words could not. Familiar WAS QB Taylor Heinicke suited up for an injured Carson Wentz and managed the impossible. Though the Team’s narrow 23–21 W explains more about the gaping fault lines with GB’s offense than it does WAS’s prowess. The Commanders are still a terrible Team but this week they enjoyed their day in the sun.
Onto our Round Robin where there remain plenty of sunshine and clouds to go around for everyone else. The Raiders finally threw one up on the board against the rudderless Texans, 38–20, and Falcons at Bengals reminded us of just how much promise and poise Joe Burrow maintains. He delivered an air game that amounted to nearly 500 yards and 3 TDs. Granted this came against a defensively poor ATL but Cincinnati revels in winning 4 out their last 5 matchups in what’s to be a hoped-for AFC North spoiler run. The Hawks knocked off the injury-laden Chargers, 37–23 while Dak Prescott returned to his Cowboys and together promptly — and thoroughly — declawed the visiting Lions, 24–6. TEN’s dismissal of the Colts was remarkable for the tale of woe that is IND QB Matt Ryan. Unfortunately for him he was anointed at this Season’s turnover king while also incurring a grievous shoulder separation AND a benching for the remainder of the Season in favor of understudy Sam Ehlinger. It wasn’t so long ago that Matt was making waves; now waves made by others threaten to push him out to sea. And finally, the Ravens bounced back to winning form — barely — while the Pats flirtation with QB Bailey Zappe is evolving into a full-flown affair where Bailey was put-in for a floundering Mac Jones and gained immediate traction and TD. NE still lost handsomely to Chicago, 14–33, but at least they might have found their sea legs — and Achilles heel.
