Tatis Jr. has made the Padres’ Opening Day roster, baseball team wants to win games

The consensus number-two prospect in all of baseball is not going to the minors but is making his team and it sucks.

Earlier, it was Eloy Jiminez signing an extension with the Chicago White Sox that demonstrated how some teams take care of their top prospects, on Tuesday night, it’s now Tatis Jr. making the roster right out of camp.

The San Diego Padres care more about their baseball team winning games than an extra year of control. Obviously, this is an insane concept to really comprehend.

Why would you want to win games and actually give some reason to your fans to watch games, when you could just frustrate them and hold off on letting your best player play?

Per FanGraphs, the Padres are projected to win 79 games in 2019, just three more than they project the Jays to have. They seem to be going against the philosophy of not really trying to win until your team is cemented as one of the league’s best, but the season is always a surprise.

Unlike Vlad, there were actual on-field reasons to keep Tatis Jr. down and avoid San Diego for a month or so. But the team has decided to completely avoid that and give him some early playing time, not caring about any potential free agency.

There are always extra conditions to think about – market size, financial benefits, etc. – but seeing the Padres just simply play their best players, is refreshing. Not even bothering with something that is actually illegal in the CBA.

It’s amazing for the whole sport, but it feels like the whole Blue Jays organization is missing out on something. At least everyone has to suffer from this narrative for only a few more weeks.