Back in 1999, Fernando Tatis looked like the Next New Thing in baseball.

The power-hitting third baseman smacked 34 home runs, drove in 107 runs, hit .298, stole 21 bases and posted a .404 on-base percentage. At the age of 24, appeared ready to become a multi-dimensional offensive weapon for years to come.

And then . . . nothing. After a so-so 2000 season with the Cardinals, he moved to Montreal with Britt Reames in a fruitful deal for Dustin Hermanson and Steve Kline. He struggled as an Expo, then drifted out of baseball in 2004 and 2005.

He battled back to the majors in 2006 as an extra Orioles offense, but he never got past Class AAA New Orleans last season. This spring he is fighting for a utility role with the Mets.

What went wrong?

“The hardest thing in baseball for a player is to get hurt,” Tatis told the New York Post. “When you get hurt, that’s it. You’re just not going to be the same player. That’s what happened to me.”

Even in his best days, Tatis struggled with his conditioning. As an Expo, he made four trips to the disabled list and never relocated his stroke.

“It felt like it was one thing after another,” he said. “It was a very frustrating time.”

Tatis lost millions of dollars when his career collapsed. Now he would eagerly accept modest wages as an extra player in New York.

“I’ve been healthy for two years - no pain, no nothing,” he told the Post. “If they give me this chance, I’m going to make the most of it.”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if Todd Wellemeyer and Brad Thompson can hold the fort this spring:

Is Anthony Reyes is feeling like a red-headed stepchild these days?

• Who could have guessed that Mark Prior would open the season on the 60-day disabled list? Or that Jim Edmonds would be hobbled by a muscle strain?
• So how is that whole “breaking up with my manager” thing working out for Cory Spinks?
• So why did Christian Backman wake up AFTER his trade to the New York Rangers?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Jerry Greene, Orlando Sentinel: “Denver Broncos WR Brandon Marshall, a product of UCF, has a serious arm injury that he told NFL.com happened when he slipped on a McDonald’s wrapper and put his hand through the glass of a TV entertainment center. The NFL Network reported without citing sources that Marshall severed an artery, vein and nerve in his right forearm and also damaged some tendons. The Network cited reports that he told teammates it happened while wrestling with other members of his family. No comment from Ronald McDonald.”

Steve Rosenbloom, ChicagoSports,com, on MLB’s Japanese excursion: “Baseball would send two major-league teams to play at your kid’s bar mitzvah if you had enough people projected to buy ballcaps.”

Frank Fitzpatrick, Philadelphia Inquirer: “NASCAR is right. It has become big-league in the last decade, especially when it comes to corporate sponsorships. In 1998, the race at Martinsville was called the Goody’s Headache Powder 500. This weekend, when the circuit returns to that tiny Virginia town, it will run the Goody’s Cool Orange 500. Now that’s progress.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Recent NBA score: Raptors 96, Heat 54. How can that be? They give you 25 points for writing your players’ names correctly in the scorebook.”

Bill Simmons, ESPN.com: “Did we ever figure out what’s going on with the Phoenix medical staff? Shaq spent most of the season plodding around like a mummy, spent two weeks in Phoenix and became more invigorated than the entire cast of “Cocoon.” In four years, that Suns medical staff has saved Steve Nash’s back, Grant Hill’s ankle’s and Shaq’s entire body. What the hell? Did BALCO move its headquarters to Phoenix and nobody told us? Let’s hope this doesn’t led to Armen Keteyian and the ‘Real Sports’ crew infiltrating the Suns’ medical room with hidden cameras.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Bobby Knight said in his new ESPN analyst role that the NCAA Tournament should increase from 65 teams to 128. Seriously. Like we needed another reason to hate Bobby Knight?”

MEGAPHONE

“Age is like a black cloud over me. I hate it. It’s cost me millions of dollars—not that I need it, but money is money. And it’s cost me opportunity.”

Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, on his quest to play forever.