If you had the Padres in the pool for the first team to award two $ 300 million contracts, go collect.
San Diego and its superstar shortstop, Fernando Tatis Jr., agreed on a $ 340 million 14-year deal. It is the third-largest contract ever awarded (after Mike Trout and Mookie Betts) and the seventh-ever awarded of $ 300 million or more, including Manny Machado, third base man.
The Yankees have two of the $ 300 million-plus players, Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton, but Stanton got his contract from the Marlins. Plus, it’s the Yankees. These are the Padres, now worth just under $ 200 million for luxury tax purposes in 2021, screaming again:
1. They do it to win it. San Diego exchanged for starters Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. They now have an infield (Tatis, Machado, Ha-Seong Kim and Eric Hosmer) with $ 812 million invested in it. The Chargers are long gone, making the Padres the only major sports team in San Diego, and they trade in a large market as they try to outdo the defending champion Dodgers. These are probably the two most talented rosters in the majors, playing 19 times in 2021 to decide the NL West – and maybe a lot more.
2. Tatis didn’t even qualify for arbitration until the next low season. He turned 22 last month. But he’s already proven himself to be one of the best players in the game (fourth in the NL MVP vote last year) – and most marketable. He is said to have been a free agent at the age of 25. This allows the Padres to secure a brilliant player for an average of less than George Springer during his 35-year season.
3. Think how much the Braves saved by signing Ronald Acuna to an eight-year $ 100 million pact in April 2019 after just one season. Now imagine what Juan Soto will cost the Nationals. Soto is also only 22 and is also looking at an agency with no age of 25. He may already be the top hitter of the majors.
4. Tatis got the biggest short-stop contract ever. The previous one was $ 252 million for Alex Rodriguez (he also got $ 275 million as third baseman). It sets a benchmark for Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager and Trevor Story’s amazing upcoming shortstop free agent class. They are all older than Tatis, but they also have a longer track record. Would Lindor, say, seek 10 years of $ 350 million (or more) from the Mets to sign up for a free agency?
5. Did we mention this is San Diego’s financial power? The Padres are raising their salary for the fourth year in a row, roughly doubling since 2017, at a time when most other clubs are cutting back. The Padres, under GM AJ Preller, built a powerful ranch system to position themselves to trade off-season, but the best trade for these Padres was June 4, 2016, when they shared fading starter James Shields to the White Sox for a 17- year old in his first season in professional ball.
On Wednesday they guaranteed the now 22-year-old 340 million dollars.