Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. Reportedly Undergoing Surgery on Wrist Injury

San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. is undergoing surgery on his wrist Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Dennis Lin.

Padres general manager A.J. Preller announced Monday that Tatis had fractured his wrist in the offseason and would require surgery. He could miss up to three months, leaving him unavailable for the start of the 2022 MLB season.

The circumstances behind the injury immediately became the story. 

The 2021 All-Star left the impression that he had been involved in multiple motorcycle accidents, one of which might have been when he fractured his wrist:

MLB Network's Jon Morosi noted that getting injured while riding a motorcycle might allow for the Padres to void Tatis' 14-year, $340 million contract but reported that's unlikely to be pursued:

Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters he thinks Tatis will refrain from getting on a motorcycle for the foreseeable future.

"He’s 22 years old, you have some fun," he said. "I don’t think anything was intentional here, but I think you learn from experiences, and I think this is one to learn from."

Principal owner Peter Seidler also attempted to downplay the situation.

"People get injured, and he’ll be back when his medicals clear," he told reporters. "But it’s part of sports. And the most important thing to me is, I believe in this young man, and I think once he’s medically cleared he’s going to have another great year and career with us."

Even if the injury doesn't speak to any long-term concerns, the practical impact is that the Padres will be without their best player on Opening Day and likely for the first few months.

Ha-Seong Kim will likely be operating at shortstop in place of Tatis. Kim batted .202 and slugged .352 as a rookie, so the drop in production at the position could be steep.

There are still some big dominoes to fall in free agency, and Tatis' injury might force San Diego's front office to get a little more active than it had otherwise planned to be at this point.