Jake Cronenworth and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on a seven-year, $80 million extension, a source confirmed to ESPN on Friday night.
The deal, which will become official once it receives approval from Major League Baseball, would begin next year and keep Cronenworth with the Padres through the 2030 season, at which point he’ll be 36.
Cronenworth, 29, was set to become a free agent after the 2025 season. He will make $4.23 million this year, his first as an arbitration-eligible player.
Star third baseman Manny Machado and the San Diego Padres are finalizing an 11-year, $350 million contract extension, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.
Machado, 30, said earlier this week he intended to opt out of the final five years (and $150 million) of his current contract with the Padres following the season after preliminary negotiations on an extension broke down. While Machado had set a Feb. 16 deadline to reach a new deal, conversations continued between Machado’s agent, Dan Lozano of MVP Sports, and Padres general manager A.J. Preller. The deal is expected to be official soon.
The franchise cornerstone of an ascendant franchise, Machado is coming off arguably the best season of his career, hitting .298/.366/.531 with 32 home runs and 102 RBIs. He finished second in National League MVP voting and led the Padres to the National League Championship Series, where they were ousted by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Machado’s arrival in San Diego in 2019 on a 10-year, $300 million deal signaled a new era for the Padres, who have yet to win a World Series in their 54-year history.
Spreading out the cost of a superstar contract makes life easier on the team, as does pushing that payment into the future, when inflation and the perpetual economic growth demanded by our civic religion will actually make $27 million a year worth less in 2029 than it is now. But a reduction in non-inflation-adjusted dollars, as was de rigeur in the NHL a little over a decade ago? That happens rarely, and not to the same extent.
Darvish’s base salary peaks at $24 million and bottoms out at $14 million. Bryce Harper’s peaks at $26 million and bottoms out at $22 million at the end of the deal — a barely perceptible difference, and both players’ salaries are augmented by bonuses. The closest thing to an NHL-style long-term contract might be the eight-year deal Eric Hosmer signed with the Padres in 2018: five years of $20 million a year, followed by three years of $13 million a year, with a $5 million signing bonus. And with three seasons left on that deal, he hasn’t retired; the Padres are still paying the bulk of his salary.
So nobody’s gone Full Kovalchuk yet. And if they did, MLB would probably do what the NHL did: scramble to find a pretense to void the contract, institute post hoc penalties, and negotiate restrictions in the next CBA negotiation. But after significant digging, I haven’t found any black-letter, hard-and-fast rule against going Full Kovalchuk.
Which raises an obvious question: Why hasn’t some team tried it yet?
The Padres and left-hander Cole Hamels are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Presumably, Hamels will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training once the deal is finalized. The southpaw is represented by John Boggs & Associates.
Hamels, 39, is a wild card at this point in his career. He spent many years as one of the most reliable and consistent hurlers in the big leagues but has barely pitched at all over the past three seasons. From 2006 through 2019, he logged just shy of 2,700 innings with a 3.42 ERA in that time. He pitched at least 132 frames in all 14 of those campaigns and topped 180 in 11 of them. His ERA was never higher than 4.32 in any individual season and he kept that mark under 4.00 in all but three of those years. He also pitched in the postseason in eight of those campaigns, winning NLCS and World Series MVP honors in 2008 with the world champion Phillies.
The Padres, who play in Major League Baseball’s fifth-smallest media market, are taking in so much money that they expect to for the first time ever be a payor into the league’s revenue sharing program.
“I think it’s a validation of the approach that if you invest in the team on the field and you create a compelling and winning product, the fans will respond,” Padres CEO Erik Greupner said last week. “I think that was always in the forefront of Peter’s mind when he initiated that strategy.”
Padres Chairman Peter Seidler declined to comment this week. His thinking is that no one wants to hear him talk about money.
Seidler instead is putting his money where his mouth is.
The Padres will begin spring training this week in Peoria, Ariz.— the first of four report dates is Monday — with a payroll that ranks third in Major League Baseball behind only the two New York teams, the Mets and Yankees.
The Padres’ payroll ranked last in 2011, 27th in 2017 and 29th in 2019.
While teams do not make their finances public, multiple sources confirmed that based on projected 2023 revenue, the Padres anticipate contributing in ’24 to the fund that helps subsidize teams in smaller markets (clubs that due to their location ostensibly don’t generate as much revenue).
The San Diego Padres have further bolstered their rotation, agreeing to a deal with right-hander Michael Wacha, sources confirmed to ESPN.
After seven seasons with the Cardinals, this will be Wacha’s fourth team in four seasons. He had middling seasons with the Mets and Rays before rediscovering his form with the Red Sox last season. He went 11-2 with a 3.32 ERA in 23 starts.
Right-hander Yu Darvish and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on a six-year, $108 million contract extension, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Thursday.
The deal, which contains a full no-trade provision, starts this season and runs through 2028, when Darvish, 36, will be 42 years old.
The average annual value of the deal is $18 million, which is $3 million less than he previously earned annually. The structure helps the Padres, who have the third-highest payroll in baseball, against the luxury tax.
Darvish was set to be a free agent after this season.
Veteran slugger Nelson Cruz has agreed to a one-year, $1 million deal with the Padres, a source told MLB.com’s Shaun O’Neill on Wednesday, adding a little more thump to a lineup that has brought Xander Bogaerts and Matt Carpenter aboard this winter. The club has not confirmed the move.
For years, Cruz held Father Time at bay more effectively than almost any player in baseball history. A late bloomer who didn’t establish himself in the Majors until his late 20s, Cruz made up for lost time by bashing 292 home runs from ages 33-40—more than anyone other than Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro and Babe Ruth. He also earned five of his seven career All-Star selections in that time, as well as all four of his Silver Slugger Awards.
The Padres and infielder/outfielder Matt Carpenter are in agreement on a deal for the 2023 season that includes a 2024 player option, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (Twitter link). That’s effectively a two-year pact for Carpenter, who’ll give the Padres a lefty bat to slot in at designated hitter or multiple corner positions.
Carpenter, who turned 37 last month, enjoyed one of the more remarkable rebound campaigns in recent memory in 2022. A three-time All-Star with the Cardinals, Carpenter’s career looked to be on the downswing when he batted a combined .176/.313/.291 in 418 plate appearances with St. Louis from 2020-21. Last offseason, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic detailed the manner in which Carpenter reinvented himself, taking a data-driven approach to hitting and enlisting feedback from the likes of Joey Votto, Matt Holliday and a private hitting coach as he revamped his swing and his entire approach at the plate.
The San Diego Padres and right-hander Seth Lugo are finalizing a two-year contract, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Monday.
The deal is worth about $15 million, with an opt-out after 2023, according to The Athletic.
Lugo, 33, pitched primarily out of the New York Mets’ bullpen over the past seven years but had been drawing interest as a potential starting pitcher on the free agent market and might fit into the Padres’ rotation next season.
Shortstop Xander Bogaerts and the Padres agreed to an 11-year, $280 million contract late Wednesday, sources confirmed to ESPN, a monumental move that brings the longtime Boston Red Sox luminary to a team already laden with star talent.
The stunning deal, consummated as an especially active winter meetings came to a close, adds Bogaerts to a Padres team that already includes Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Boston, meanwhile, was left lamenting the loss of a homegrown talent who made his major league debut at 20 years old and leaves at 30 after opting out of the final three years of his contract.
Bogaerts won a pair of World Series and made four All-Star teams, including in 2022, when he hit .307/.377/.456 with 15 home runs and 73 RBIs in 150 games. The expectation is he will remain at shortstop, with Ha-Seong Kim—who took over at the position in 2022 when Tatis was injured and suspended for a positive performance-enhancing-drug test—moving to second base, incumbent second baseman Jake Cronenworth sliding over to first, Tatis shifting to right field and Soto going to left field.
Xander Bogaerts is part of a loaded shortstop class, and a number of teams have checked in with his representatives at the Boras Corporation. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports the Diamondbacks and Cubs have expressed interest, while adding that previously-reported suitors like the Phillies and Dodgers are in the mix. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reports Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller recently checked in with Scott Boras about Bogaerts’ willingness to play a position other than shortstop. Boras, however, flatly rejected the possibility; the agent tells Rosenthal “Xander is playing shortstop” and denied that San Diego would prefer to move him off the position.
San Diego’s interest in Bogaerts isn’t a new development. Marino Pepén listed the Padres as a suitor last week, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post has suggested they’re involved in the top of the shortstop market more generally. The Friars are seemingly serious enough in their pursuit to gauge Bogaerts’ amenability to move off the position.
Five days after opting out of his contract and becoming a free agent, Nick Martinez agreed to a three-year, $26 million contract that could be worth as much as $42 million.
“I love the city,” Martinez said Wednesday morning. “The fans were incredible. The support, the love. I feel like they have the same desire to win as the team does. Obviously, you talk about the clubhouse, how great the group of guys are, it was really a no-brainer.”
Robert Suarez agreed last week to a five-year, $46 million deal with the Padres after opting out of hRis deal three days earlier.
Martinez, 32, signed a four-year, $26 million deal in March that gave him the ability to opt out after each of the first three seasons.
The new deal guarantees him $10 million in 2023, $8 million in ‘24 and $8 million in ’25. He can opt out after ’23, and the deal contains performance bonuses. Should he perform well as a starter, thus increasing his value, the team has $16 million options for both ’24 and ’25.
Viewers were perplexed as the sequence unfolded with Grisham seemingly giving himself up rather than the Padres having two outs to play with and the go-ahead run on base.
Melvin explained after the game that Grisham was bunting for a hit.
“Grass is wet. Tough lefty on the mound… I talked to him before it,” Melvin said. “First baseman’s back, drag it over there and we’ve got a chance, with a righty up behind him, to potentially knock in the go-ahead run too. So I think it’s a decent play for sure.”
Grisham, who hit .184 in the regular season, played hero for the Padres in the first two rounds of the postseason, batting .381 with three home runs and five RBI in seven games against the 101-win Mets and 111-win Dodgers. He went 0-for-18 with nine strikeouts in the LCS against the Phillies.
“Look, this is what we thought was best for it,” Melvin said. “He’s a good bunter, and it got us in a position to potentially, like I said, knock in the winning run.”
Ryan Ludwick and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to a $2.5 million, one-year contract Monday, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday night because the deal was pending a physical and no announcement had been made by the team.
An All-Star in 2008 with St. Louis, the 33-year-old Ludwick was traded from San Diego to Pittsburgh at the July 31 deadline last season. He batted a combined .237 with 13 homers and 75 RBIs.
Ludwick could give the Reds the right-handed bat they’ve been seeking to complement lefty sluggers Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. He figures to see playing time in left field, a spot filled mostly by Chris Heisey down the stretch last season after Cincinnati traded Jonny Gomes to Washington in late July.
Major League Baseball has been embarrassed in recent years by financial debacles surrounding the ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. And baseball is determined to avoid being burned again, Forbes.com reports.
That’s the real reason owners tabled approval of the sale of the San Diego Padres to Jeff Moorad at last week’s owners meetings, the report says. Commissioner Bud Selig is not convinced of the net worth of Moorad’s limited partners and is putting them “under a microscope,” Forbes reports.
Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.
Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.
With the Hall of Fame results being announced today, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and dig up some old scouting reports from the Baseball America archives on some of the ballot’s notable candidates. . .
8. Barry Larkin, ss, 21, 5-11, 175, R-R
Larkin looked right at home in AA, hitting .267 for Vermont. He didn’t show power (one home run in 255 at-bats), but that will come. The key for him was just getting his feet on the ground, and he was not overpowered by the high level of competition (21 strikeouts in 255 at-bats). He will have good power for a shortstop.
6. Edgar Martinez, 3b, 25, 5-11, 175, R-R
Martinez’s discipline will produce runs. He’s averaged 70 RBIs the last four years. In the field, he’s solid, with good reactions and the soft hands of a middle infielder.
Theo: You’re looking good, Riz.
Rizzo: Eat your heart out.
Theo: And sloppy seconds are my style!
The Cubs acquired first baseman Anthony Rizzo and right-hander Zach Cates from the Padres on Friday, sending right-hander Andrew Cashner and outfielder Kyung-Min Na to San Diego.
The 22-year-old Rizzo batted .331 with a 1.056 OPS, 34 doubles, 26 homers and 101 RBIs in 93 games for Triple-A Tucson last year… Rated the top first-base prospect in the league by MLB.com, Rizzo struggled during his brief time in the Majors last season batting .141 with one home run and nine RBIs in 49 games…
Cates, 22… made his professional debut last year, posting a 4-10 record and 4.73 ERA in 118 innings over 25 starts for Class A Fort Wayne. He struck out nearly a batter an inning and allowed only four home runs on the year.
Cashner, 25, went 2-6 with a 4.29 ERA in 60 big league appearances with the Cubs, including one start, over the last two years….he was limited to just seven outings in the Majors last season due to a right shoulder strain.
Na, 20, hit .268 with 10 doubles and 22 RBIs in 83 games between four different teams in the Cubs’ Minor League system last year.
DL: Should you pitch more to contact in Petco than in other ballparks?
BB: I think that you can, but there are a couple of ways to look at that. You don’t want to lay the ball in there. But I do think that it can help you mentally — knowing that if you throw the ball to certain spots — you can feel good about it. When you’re behind in the count, you can throw to certain spots, as well.
More than anything, if you’re a strike-thrower… that helps you at Petco. If you’re an extreme fly ball pitcher, that helps you at Petco. When the ball gets hit into the air, it hangs up and maybe doesn’t travel as well because of the coastal situation we have — the heaviness of the air. It’s not unlike San Francisco or Dodger Stadium.
Some pitchers might be hurt because they’re fly ball pitchers. That doesn’t apply to us as much because we play 81 games in our park, plus nine more in both San Francisco and Los Angeles.
DL: Do you want fly ball pitchers on your staff, as opposed to guys who tend to keep the ball on the ground?
BB: Not necessarily. It’s whatever a pitcher has results with. It’s simply that a fly ball pitcher isn’t effected as much in Petco as he would be in a place like Cincinnati, Philadelphia or Toronto.
As Byrnes put it, “We twa hae run about the braes after being hit by a pitch, and pu’d the gowans fine.”
The Padres just announced that they have acquired outfielder Carlos Quentin from the White Sox for prospect right-hander Simon Castro and prospect left-hander Pedro Hernandez.
There is a whole lot of talent changing hands here.
The Reds and Padres announced a five-player deal Saturday, as Cincinnati sent right-hander Edinson Volquez and three of its top 10 prospects to the Padres for right-hander Mat Latos.
Along with Volquez, the Padres acquired right-hander Brad Boxberger, infielder Yonder Alonso and catcher Yasmani Grandal. All were recently named among Cincinnati’s top 10 prospects by MLB.com (Alonso second, Grandal fifth and Boxberger sixth).
System In 20 Words Or Less: Not star-studded but loaded with depth, as you could jumble numbers one-to-seven in any order and not get a big argument.
Four-Star Prospects
1. Rymer Liriano, OF
2. Robbie Erlin, LHP
3. Jedd Gyorko, 3B
4. Cory Spangenberg, 2B
5. Joe Wieland, RHP
6. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
7. Casey Kelly, RHP
8. Austin Hedges, C
9. Joe Ross, RHP
Three-Star Prospects
10. Keyvius Sampson, RHP
11. Donavan Tate, OF
Nine More:
12. Jaff Decker, OF: Outfielder with power, walks and the athleticism of a beer-league softball player.
13. Reymond Fuentes, OF: Outstanding defender in center with speed; big questions about bat and power.
14. James Darnell, OF: Great year at Double-A, but it was a level repeat and he’s no longer an infielder.
15. Blake Tekotte, OF: Hard not to love for effort; good fourth-outfielder skills.
16. Edinson Rincon, OF: Scouts like the bat, but power is debatable and defense is ugly.
17. Jonathan Galvez, 2B: Gap power and speed, but bad approach and poor defense.
18. Matt Lollis, RHP: Right-handed has the size of a defensive end, but needs to harness his stuff.
19. Adys Portillo, RHP: Progress is disturbingly slow, but upside is still there.
20. Simon Castro, RHP: Has gone backwards from big prospect days, as fastball is only dependable pitch.
UPDATE: Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports that it’s a done deal, with the Padres assuming “most” of Street’s contract and sending the Rockies a player to be named later in exchange….
Olney describes the talks as “ongoing” and Street has been linked to several other teams at various points this month, with the Rockies now preferring Rafael Betancourt in the ninth inning.
He’s pricey at $7.5 million with a $9 million option or $500,000 buyout for 2013, but Street is still just 28 years old with a 3.11 career ERA that includes a 3.50 ERA and outstanding 170/33 K/BB ratio in 167 innings for the Rockies. Toss in the fact that going from Coors Field to Petco Park would solve his issues keeping the ball in the ballpark and Street could really thrive in San Diego as Heath Bell‘s replacement.
Page {e2c518d61874f2d4a14bbfb9087a7c2dcurrent_page} of {e2c518d61874f2d4a14bbfb9087a7c2dtotal_pages} pages {e2c518d61874f2d4a14bbfb9087a7c2dpagination_links} | Site Archive
