Yahoo Sports senior MLB analysts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman discuss San Diego’s signing of its center fielder to a nine-year, $135 million extension – securing last year’s runner-up for National League Rookie of the Year through 2034. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
Jackson Merrill and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on a 9 year $135 million contract extension.
Sources say the deal, which can max out at $204 and includes a $30 million club option for a 10th season that can convert to a player option, I have to say this number is lower than what I thought it was gonna be, 9135.
I still think we need to know more about how it goes from 135 to 204.
Is there a signing bonus?
Yeah, all these things will kind of change the overall full value of the deal.
On the one hand, what you just said, which is all this seems like, speaks to how good this guy was as a rookie last year and to hit his way to the big leagues for the Padres to just throw him in the deep end of the pool at the start of last season and say, hey, dude, go play center field even though you’ve never done it before.
For him to figure that out, for him to legitimately challenge Paul Skeans for Rookie of the Year and already continues to look great.
This is exactly the kind of player.
That you can imagine the Padres under Peter Siler would be super interested in giving a massive extension.
And this one makes way more sense than the other extensions that they are handing out to the likes of 37 year old Yu Darvish, or a 30-year-old Jay Croninworth or a 32-year-old Manny Machado.
Like we’ve talked about how much money the Padres have put towards their roster in, not to mention Xander Bogart, of course, giving super long contracts to some of these players.
Giving one to a 22 year old makes all the sense in the world to con to guarantee that this guy who, if he, you know, had Scott Boris or was committed to getting a free agency, could have gotten a free agency when he was 26, 27.
And maybe he would have been the player that signed for a billion dollars, whatever.
I mean, again, I’m, I’m getting carried away.
But instead, what is very clear is that the Padres believe in Jackson Merrill.
Jackson Merrill believes in the Padres.
Jackson Merrell loves being a Padre, and this was something that even with the new ownership, I have to imagine the organization recognized the opportunity to secure someone who is already one of the best players in the league for a decade.
