The San Diego Padres got a visit from a familiar face ahead of their Friday matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Ha-Seong Kim, despite not yet logging an appearance with the Rays due to recovery from offseason shoulder surgery, gave hugs to some of his old teammates ahead of his new team kicking off a series with the Friars. He spoke on the new feelings that come with now being on the opposing side of Petco Park after his only MLB experience was in San Diego.

More news: Padres Manager Reveals Why Team Shockingly Optioned Starting Pitcher

“It definitely feels new, because I was always on the home side and now I’m on the away side,” Kim said. “But it definitely feels like coming back home.”

The decision to return to his former home also made logisitcal sense, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff Sanders. Kim was having his shoulder checked out by Dr. Neal ElAttrache up north in Los Angeles the day prior and made the trip down to exchange pleasantries with his old teammates.

As for why Kim isn’t back in 2025, he declined a mutual $8 million option this past offseason and signed a two-year, $29 million deal with the Rays in January. When asked about what the Padres offered before the start of 2025, Kim was unsure if there was even an offer.

More news: Former Padres Infielder Announces Sudden Retirement From MLB

“Not really sure. That’s something my agent handles, so I’m not really sure if there was any contact.”

Manager Mike Shildt still gave a ringing endorsement for the infielder both organizationally and the love recieved from the fan base.

As a fan-favorite for the Friars, Kim batted .242/.326/.380 with an OPS of .706 over those four seasons and even earned Golden Glove award honors in 2023.

“There’s a lot of sincere love and appreciation, not only from us, but our fan base with Kimmy,” Shildt said. “He’s a guy I easily love because he’s such a good teammate, clearly a good player who helped us to win a lot of games here, but he also is a guy that everybody can appreciate because he plays the game hard. … The way he plays the game creates a lot of love and appreciation.

“We have nothing but love for him.”

More news: Another Padres Player Suffers Injury in Loss to Rays

For more Padres news, head over to Padres on SI.

There’s a reason Verdi’s “La traviata” is the most-performed opera in the world. The music is gorgeous and instantly recognizable, the plot and characters are interesting and the story is told economically in a little over 2-1/2 hours.

As a result, if you cast the three principal characters well, you’re more than halfway home. And that’s the case for San Diego Opera’s season-closing production of the 1853 classic that opened Friday with a sold-out performance at the San Diego Civic Theatre. The three-day run closes Sunday.

On Friday, soprano Andriana Chuchman gave a ravishing vocal performance as Violetta, the dying Paris courtesan who sacrifices everything for the man she loves. The coloratura work in her first-act aria “Sempre Libera” was fearless and exuberant, and her finale, “Addio, del passato,” was delicate and haunting.

Playing her impulsive lover Alfredo in his company debut, tenor Boris Borichevsky gave a warm and appealing vocal performance that  was most pleasing in the middle range of his voice, shining best in the third-act aria “Parigi, o cara, noi lasceremo.” And bass-baritone Hunter Enoch was outstanding as Alfredo’s disapproving father, Germont. Enoch has a huge and perfectly pitched voice that easily filled the 3,000-seat Civic Theatre and his performance of the beautiful second-act aria “Di Provenza il mar” was a show highlight.

“La traviata” is an opera where the San Diego Opera Chorus, directed by chorus master Bruce Stasyna, plays an active part, both vocally and dramatically, and they did it here with aplomb on Friday. And San Diego Opera Principal Conductor Yves Abel’s subtle and nuanced leadership of the San Diego Symphony musicians Friday was exceptional, particularly in the two party scenes and finale.

Because “La traviata” has been staged so many times by San Diego Opera, there’s usually not much new in its theatrical staging. But director/choreographer Kyle Lang has brought some new ideas to the production.

First, during the melancholy overture, he creates a cinematic-style graveyard scene where performers moved backward, rewinding the action so the rest of the story becomes a flashback memory tale. There’s also a bold ballet for six dancers where a courtesan-style ballerina is symbolically manhandled and flipped around on her back by a group of tuxedoed male dancers. And when the chorus turns on Alfredo in the second act ball scene, he’s literally beaten and bloodied.

The physical production features lavish rented costumes from Washington National Opera and projections and minimal scenic elements by Tim Wallace.

San Diego Opera has downsized in recent years, with less money spent on large scenic designs. Those gigantic set pieces from yesteryear were visually stunning (and sometimes generated their own applause when revealed), but they took 15-20 minutes to change between scenes. For this production, the audience could watch through a semi-transparent scrim curtain as three stage crew workers moved and rearranged the stage platforms and stairs n just a few minutes. This kept the mood and the show moving along at a good pace.

‘La traviata’

When: 7:30 p.m. April 26; 2 p.m. April 27

Where: San Diego Opera at the San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown

Tickets: $35-$260

Online: tickets.sdopera.org/events

Homeowner John Horwath has spent 29 years rolling his trash bins onto and off his Normal Heights street. While he understands why the city is preparing to begin charging the monthly fee, he voted against the change a few years ago and has “mixed feelings” about it now.

“You know, that $47.50 doesn’t seem like much, but on a fixed income, it sure is,” said Horwath, a retiree living on a fixed Social Security income. “Grocery store, where I’m headed right now, it’s going to be a hundred and a quarter. I mean, everything is just going up. So, $47.50 does mean something.”

On Friday, the San Diego County Taxpayers Association opposed the effort. Back in 2022, voters approved Measure B, which gave the city the green light to charge for trash pickup.

In 2022, voters approved a ballot measure that suggested the fee would be between $20-$30 a month for trash pickup. An updated estimated charge of $53 received ample pushback from constituents earlier this year, though, and, under pressure, the city lowered the anticipated fee by about $5, to the current $47.50.

Some residents of San Diego are now expressing concerns that they’re being asked to pay more than they expected when they cast a vote.

“It is unfair to charge residents and ratepayers additional funds if the city government isn’t able to balance its budget through its other programs,” said Garrison Ham, who sits on the taxpayers’ association board.

The city, however, maintains that the fee, which would be imposed on most single-family homeowners, is necessary to balance the budget, which faces a $258 million shortfall, and Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed budget draft relies on the revenue the trash fee would generate.

Horwath’s neighbor, Nik Hawks, is not keen on the fee, either.

“One option is we just put our trash out on the street and make a protest, but that just sullies our own street,” Hawks said.

There is a cleaner way to protest: Per state law, homeowners who would be responsible for paying the city of San Diego’s new trash collection fee can send in a written protest, and if more than 50% of them do so, the city cannot enact the controversial change. In fact, the city this week is sending out a mailer about the program which includes a form that can be filled out to protest the fee.

In a statement, a city spokesperson said, “Residents in every other city in San Diego County pay for their trash services, as do all the City of San Diego residents who live in apartments, condos and on private streets – about half our population… What the City is proposing will free up millions of dollars in the City’s operating fund to pay for priorities like parks, libraries, police and firefighters, and road repair.”