The Padres hope Fernando Tatis Jr. never have to play a game in a different uniform.
The team and the prodigy shortstop took a giant step toward the goal on Wednesday by agreeing, according to multiple sources, to terms for a 14-year contract.
The deal is worth $ 340 million and is the longest in MLB history. This is the largest contract awarded to a player who is not yet eligible for arbitration, and is the third richest overall behind the $ 365 million over 12 years that Mookie Betts received from the Dodgers last season and the $ 360 million for 10 years that Mike Trout received in 2019.
“If you try to stand out for a number of years, you never really know,” Padres general manager AJ Preller said last week when asked about the risks involved in signing such a young player for the long term. -agreement. “But if you’re going to bet on anyone, it’s probably this man.”
Tatis, who turned 22 on January 2 and has two years of service, has yet to play the equivalent of a full season. But he finished fourth in the National League MVP poll in 2020 after beating .277 with a .937 OPS (on-base plus plus percentage).
In 143 games since the start of the 2019 season, Tatis has a .301 average and .956 OPS. These are figures that compare favorably with the best players in history at that point in their careers. Tatis’ OPS, for example, is one point lower than Lou Gehrig through his first 143 games and ten points higher than that of Mike Trout.
His defense at the shortstop was spectacular from the start and became evenly matched last year. He led all the shortcuts and was second in the majors last season with seven outs above average, a measure that apparently measures how many outs a player has saved compared to an average player in his position.
The Padres and Tatis have been waiting for this agreement for several months. The parties agreed during the summer that they would start serious talks in the off-season.
Padres general manager AJ Preller visited the Dominican Republic shortly after the new year and told Tatis he would start talks with the player’s agent soon. The Padres made their first formal offer at the end of January.
Preller and Dan Lozano, agent of Tatis, spoke regularly over the next few weeks and discussed parameters and trading proposals. Tatis reported at the Peoria Sports Complex on Sunday and there was optimism around the sides close to a deal.
Finally, on Wednesday, after several proposals on the complex treaty had been sent back and forth, the Lozano team announced that the latest terms they had discussed were pleasant.
Tatis’ contract is much longer and richer than striking deals given to other top players in recent years. Most such contracts usually extend only two or three seasons into a player’s free year.
Ronald Acuña Jr. got a $ 100 million deal for eight years in 2019, when he was 21, after playing less than a season. Alex Bregman, then 25, got a five-year, $ 100 million contract in ’19 after playing two plus seasons. Trout (then 22) was awarded six years and $ 144 million in 2014 after playing two plus seasons.