SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Fernando Tatis, Jr. -- Padre for life. It has a nice ring to it.
After months of negotiation, sources close to the deal confirmed a 14-year, $340 million contract that will tie Tatis to the Padres until his 36th birthday.
Padres General Manager A.J. Preller traveled to see Tatis and his team in the Domincan Republic during the offseason, and negotiations proceeded from there. No official announcement by the Padres is expected until next week, after Tatis and the rest of the team's position players report to Spring Training in Peoria, Arizona.
What does this mean for the Padres? If Tatis stays healthy and continues to perform at a level close to what we saw in 2020, then a dozen All Star Game appearances, an MVP award or three, and multiple World Series rings aren't out of the question. Granted, health is always a question mark for a baseball player, especially one who plays with the speed and intensity of Tatis.
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Still, this isn't really even much of a gamble for the Padres, who didn't even want to contemplate a future in which Tatis became a free agent in four years and hit the open market. A contract then could have been staggering, and while $340 million isn't chump change, that deal could look like a bargain for the Padres down the road, and allow them to continue to complement Tatis with talented teammates.
If it wasn't made clear by the offseason acquisitions of Blake Snell and Yu Darvish, the signing of Tatis leaves no doubt -- these aren't your padre's Padres. They're one of the top teams in baseball, and intend to go on being one of the top teams in baseball for a long time to come -- maybe even 14 years.
