If you had the Padres in the pool for the first team to award two $ 300 million contracts, go get it.
San Diego and its superstar shortstop, Fernando Tatis Jr., have reached an agreement on a $ 340 million 14-year contract. This is the third largest contract ever given (behind Mike Trout and Mookie Betts) and the seventh ever given of $ 300 million or more, which also includes the man who plays the third base next to Tatis, Manny Machado.
The Yankees have two of the more than $ 300 million players, Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton, but Stanton has received his contract from the Marlins. Besides, it’s the Yankees. This is the Padres, which in 2021 is now just under $ 200 million for luxury tax purposes and is shouting again:
1. They are in it to win it. San Diego traded Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove for starters. They have now invested $ 812 million in an interior (Tatis, Machado, Ha-Seong Kim and Eric Hosmer). The Chargers are long gone, and the Padres are the only major sports team in San Diego, and they are performing in a big market while trying to outsmart defending champion Dodgers. These are probably the two most talented rosters in the majors and they will play 19 times in 2021 to decide on the NL West – and maybe much more.
2. Tatis was not even eligible for arbitration until next season. He turned 22 last month. But he has already established himself as one of the best players of the game (last year fourth in the NL MVP poll) – and the most marketable. He would have been a free agent at 25. This enables the Padres to earn, on average, a brilliant player on average less than George Springer at the age of 35.
3. Think of how much the Braves saved by considering Ronald Acuna in April 2019 after just one season on a $ 100 million contract. Now imagine what the Nationals’ Juan Soto is going to cost. Soto is also only 22 and is also looking at the free agency of 25 years. He may be all the majors’ best hit.
4. Tatis got the biggest contract ever for a short stop. The previous one was $ 252 million for Alex Rodriguez (he also got $ 275 million as a third baseman). This creates a benchmark for the large-scale emerging shortstop free agent class of Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager and Trevor Story. Everyone is older than Tatis, but they also have longer records. Would Lindor, we say, ask ten years for $ 350 million (or more) from the Mets to sign up for free agency?
5. Did we mention that San Diego has a financial capability? The Padres increase their payroll for a fourth consecutive year, doubling it since 2017. This is at a time when most other clubs are cutting back. The Padres, under GM AJ Preller, built a powerful farming system to position themselves to trade this off-season, but the best trade for these Padres was on June 4, 2016, when they won the fading starter James Shields for a white 17- yearling in his first season in probal.
On Wednesday, they guaranteed the now 22-year-old $ 340 million.