Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. leaves game with injury

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Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. leaves game with injury

2021-04-06 11:20 Last Updated At：11:30

Padres star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. hurt himself taking a hard swing Monday night and immediately left the game against the San Francisco Giants.

Tatis struck out swinging against Anthony DeSclafani and winced in pain as he fell to the ground. He cradled his left arm while he got up, and two trainers helped hold his left arm against his body as he was helped off the field.

The 22-year-old Tatis left a game late in spring training with left shoulder discomfort but was back two days later. Manager Jayce Tingler said then that Tatis had been dealing with left shoulder discomfort since his minor league days. Tatis later said he'd had it since rookie ball.

Tatis committed five errors through the first four games.

He signed the longest contract in big league history on Feb. 22, a 14-year, $340 million deal.

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Joe Schoen is returning as New York Giants general manager

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Joe Schoen is returning as general manager of the New York Giants, owners John Mara and Steve Tisch announced Monday, giving the executive they hired four years ago another chance to turn around the beleaguered franchise.

The team is 22-45-1 since Schoen took over, making the playoffs in the first year at 9-7-1 and missing the following three. Assembling talent by drafting receiver Malik Nabers, running back Cam Skattebo, pass rusher Abdul Carter and, most importantly, potential franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart paved the way for Schoen to keep his job and oversee the search for the next coach.

“The 2025 season has been deeply disappointing, and the results on the field have not lived up to the standard this organization and our fans expect,” Mara and Tisch said in a statement. “As previously stated, Joe Schoen will remain our general manager and continue to lead our football operations and the search for our next head coach. Continuity and stability in the front office is important to our progress.”

Schoen pointed to the talent already on the roster as the reason he believes he was retained, despite letting Saquon Barkley leave for NFC East rival Philadelphia in free agency and making several high draft picks that did not pan out.

"Early on, I made mistakes," Schoen said. “I’m fortunate to have great ownership here where you’re allowed to stub your toe and try to course-correct. Looking at where we’re going, where the build is, what the plan is moving forward and seeing the vision through is why I think that’s the case."

Dart said he has enjoyed making and building a relationship with Schoen, who has kept an open line of communication since trading up to draft him last year in the first round.

“There’s a lot of things to be excited for here," Dart said. "We are going to take the right steps necessary to make sure that we’re in the best position for next year, and I have all the confidence in him.”

Mara and Tisch gave Schoen a vote of confidence in November when firing coach Brian Daboll midway through the regime’s fourth season in charge. The Giants were 2-8 at that time, then lost five of their final seven games under interim coach Mike Kafka to finish with a 4-13 record.

Kafka is getting an interview but is not expected to be seriously considered for the full-time job.

“It’s been a pleasure and an honor to be in this position and in this role,” Kafka said. “It’s a privilege, not a right, and I understand that. The one thing thing I can say is I gave it everything I had.”

Schoen has a big task ahead of him finding a coach who can turn things around and restore relevancy for an organization more than a decade removed from its last Super Bowl win.

Candidates are expected to include offensive gurus to develop Dart, like Seattle's Klint Kubiak and Washington's Kliff Kingsbury; experienced former NFL head coaches like Mike McCarthy and Vance Joseph; intriguing defensive coordinators such as Indianapolis' Lou Anarumo, Green Bay's Jeff Hafley and the Los Angeles Rams' Chris Shula — along with anyone who comes available during this cycle.

That includes Kevin Stefanski, who was fired by Cleveland on Monday, and Raheem Morris, who was let go by Atlanta in a full house-cleaning Sunday night.

“We’re going to cast a wide net,” Schoen said. “We are going to try to find — or we are going to find — the best leader for the franchise.”

Skattebo downplayed his broken right fibula and dislocated right ankle, saying the gruesome injury “wasn’t too bad” and didn’t feel that painful until after surgery Oct. 27. He spent eight weeks in a walking boot and called his recovery “on schedule.”

The fourth-round pick out of Arizona is targeting a return by July, if not spring workouts.

“Training camp’s obviously the goal,” Skattebo said. “That’s the long goal. Hopefully get back by OTAs, but if not there’s no rush to it. Training camp’s for sure a goal.”

Nabers tore the ACL in his right knee on Sept. 28 and had surgery to repair it and other damage a month later, one day after Skattebo's operation. He said his recovery is “right on track” but he is “not really sure” about being ready to play in the season opener.

“If my body doesn’t feel right, then I’m not going to go out there,” Nabers said. “My target date is when my body feels able to be out there. I can continue to be who I am, and my body feels able to do the things that I was doing on the field."

The 22-year-old walked with a cane Sunday at MetLife Stadium, which he said was a precaution to make sure the injury heals properly.

“I had a lot messed up in my knee, which I was told,” Nabers said. “Successfully healed, successfully operated on, but it’s going to take a little bit of time for everybody. My injury is different than somebody else’s. My body reacts different.”

Asked about playing next season, veteran QB Russell Wilson revealed he played Sept. 14 at Dallas after tearing a hamstring on the last play of practice two days earlier and did not tell team medical staff.

“Luckily it was the last play of practice, though, so nobody could know,” Wilson said. "I couldn’t tell anybody. I had to go play on it just because I knew the circumstances. I had to play on it, no matter what. I actually ended up going to the Dallas Mavericks’ facility training and just kept it quiet, just tried to get treatment on it and just knowing that I probably couldn’t run from the goal line to the 10-yard line if I wanted to, but I feel like, ‘I got to play this game.’”

Wilson was 31 of 40 for 450 yards and three touchdowns, ran three times for 23 yards and also threw a costly interception in overtime that contributed to a loss that dropped the Giants to 0-2. He never appeared on an injury report and got one more start before getting demoted in favor of Dart.

Wan’Dale Robinson made 11 catches for 113 yards in a 34-10 victory at Las Vegas on Dec. 28 to eclipse 1,000 in a season for the first time in his career, and he did so after breaking a rib in the first half.

"I was just trying to finish the game," said Robinson, who missed the season finale because of the injury but expects to recover by February. “Once everything wore off, I knew it was a little bit worse than I expected.”

Robinson, who turned 25 on Monday, is a pending free agent who said he'd take winning, coaching, money and other factors into account.

“I would love to stay, but business is business the way this league is,” Robinson said. "You never exactly what’s going to happen.”

Tight end Theo Johnson caught some heat on social media for attending a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden after being ruled out of playing Sunday because of illness. Kafka explained that Johnson had an infection but not something like the flu or COVID-19 that could put others at risk.

“I don’t even know why it was discussed,” Johnson said, adding it was important to him to take his brother to his first NBA game to celebrate his Dec. 31 birthday. “I’m not playing, and I don’t know why it’s a big deal that I went to a basketball game.”

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