Uncategorized

Jackson Merrill’s Extension

Posted on by Paul

With today’s 5-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians to wrap up the first homestand of the season and a 7-0 record, the big news of the day was the Padres and Jackson Merrill announcing agreement on a 9 year $135 million extension.

There have been murmurs recently about how the Padres started discussion on an extension prior to Jackson’s rookie year (similar to what the Brewers did with Jackson Chourio) and have tried again since then.

But even though Jackson said he was looking for a fair deal, I wasn’t expecting a deal to happen this quickly. Mainly because the Padres may have missed the boat with the great year that Jackson had (when he should have been the NL Rookie of the Year) and I wouldn’t be surprised if any player after that type of rookie season would want to bet on themselves to get a larger payday when they could hit free agency after 6 full years.

Not to mention all that’s going on with the Padres ownership and questions about the team’s long-term finances (along with the many big contracts already on the books) so the chances of a Jackson Chourio team-friendly deal seemed unlikely or was going to be really expensive.

Figured they might talk again after this season, with money coming off the books (like Eric Hosmer’s last $13 million this season) and currently being over the second CBT threshold.

So it was a pleasant surprise waking up this morning and getting texts from family and friends about the news breaking of the 9-year, $135 million deal that starts next season. Even with the escalators and options to go possibly up to 10 years and $204 million, it’s still a great deal to be able to lock him up long term.

You’re getting 5 of his free agency years from 2030-2034 (if he didn’t sign an extension, he would become a free agent after the 2029 season) which would be his prime free agency years. Most teams signing players to 10-15 year contracts are basing it on getting most of the production in the first 5-7 years and then you’re just living with a large contract towards the end of the player’s career, like Albert Pujols or Justin Upton with the Angels.

So in this case, not only are you getting what you expect is great production from Jackson during the prime free agency years but also at a good deal at $15-$20.4 million per year when you think about where contracts are currently and how much you you’ll be paying in 5 years. I mean look at some of the deals other guys were getting recently. Cody Bellinger got a three-year, $80 million deal prior to 2024 and Tommy Edman got a five-year, $74 million this past offseason so you can see the salaries for veteran players who play centerfield get pretty high.

Of course, with any big contracts, even with younger players, there’s the risk that the player may not live up to it. I remember the Padres trying to do something on a much smaller scale with Nick Hundley, Corey Luebke and Cameron Maybin back in 2012 so they could buy out their arbitration years at much lower salaries if they became stars as they showed potential to. Of course, none of them became big stars so it wasn’t the bargain the team hoped for. But to me, the risk is worth it because as the baseball economies go up, even if he doesn’t pan out (which I would shocked at just seeing how he played in his rookie year), it’s not that large of a contract especially as MLB salaries keep going up (which now top on average $5 million for a season).

So all in all, really happy Jackson Merrill and the Padres were able to come to an agreement on this extension and excited that he’ll be a core part of this team until at least 2034.

Opening Series Thoughts

Posted on by Paul

With the Padres sweeping the Braves to start the season 4-0 for the second time in franchise history (1984 being the other year when the Padres went to the World Series for the first time), some thoughts from this weekend:

  • Luis Arraez being 0-13 to start the season was not on my Bingo card. He does have one walk so far and did start off 0-10 in his first two games last year.
  • Gavin Sheets continues to have good at bats as he was in Spring Training.
  • Xander and Jake had some nice hits this series (Jake’s HR to take the lead and ultimately be the difference is typical Jake coming up with big hits) but the strikeouts by both (Jake 6 strikeouts in 13 ABs and Xander 5 in 11 ABs) is reminiscent of last year.
  • Day games in April are pretty cold (only one true night game this weekend on Friday) and at least for me, preferable to summer day games when the sun is beating down on you pretty much the whole game on the first base side unless your seats are far back under the overhang. I get the Padres were on the first base side at Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium but wonder why they didn’t put the home dugout on the third base side considering that side is pretty much in the shade the whole time during day games.
  • For the jersey geeks like myself, during this homestand the home pinstripes and the Sunday camos are back to using the larger names on the back with the smaller arch like in 2023 and earlier after the whole 2024 jersey fiasco. If you look on the Padres Instagram, you can see this year’s camo jersey vs last year’s to see the difference. But interestingly, this year’s City Connect jersey still has the same smaller lettering and larger arch like last year. Maybe Nike doesn’t want to update the City Connect since this is the last year of using them? Which seems weird since it doesn’t seem that difficult to make the letters bigger and stitch them on like the other jerseys since they have to do them at a minimum for new players on the team.

Opening Day Musings

Posted on by Paul

Opening day is always a great day. Not only is everyone starting 0-0 (well except the Dodgers and Cubs since they played in Japan the week before) but it’s the first time back in the ballpark since late last year so there’s a freshness to it, especially with seeing what’s different at Petco Park since the last time I was here.

What really hits it for me is when you first hear the roar of the crowd on Opening Day, in this case when Jackson Merrill singled in Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado with two outs in the bottom of the 1st.

That roar really reminded me why I love baseball and look forward to going to games in person. Not only is Petco a great place to watch the game but there’s the energy in the stands that you can’t match watching it at home.

With that said, here are some thoughts from around the ballpark on the first day:

  • Still long lines to get into the team store even with the renovation. Granted it was Opening Day (and there usually was a line before the game the past few seasons when there were capacity crowds) but we tried going about 45 minutes before the game and the line snaked outside towards the Hall of Fame. Being that we wanted to get some food and catch the pregame ceremonies we decided to try again after the game when usually you can get in right away. However, going after the game the line was even longer so we just decided to try again on Friday.
  • The new Mini Donut Company stand (section 107 right next to Seaside Market) is definitely worth trying if you’re into donuts. They have 5 different flavors (churro, powered sugar, sprinkles with white frosting, sprinkles with chocolate frosting and plain) and were available in 6 and 12 packs.
  • The walkway where the Lexus Club and Padres Authentics stand is a major bottleneck after the game ends. Maybe because there’s also a merch stand and restrooms here too but it gets really bottlenecked if you’re on the first base side trying to make it over to the Western Metal Building after the game (such as going to the team store) or if you’re on the third base side trying to make it over to the Home Plate Gate. I’ve put in the survey to the Padres about this but if you can avoid going this way after the game (i.e. if you’re on the first base side and just want to exit go out towards the Home Plate or Park Blvd Gate or if you do want to go to the team store from the first base side walk around through right field and through Gallagher Square) as it takes a bit of time to get through.

But overall a great time, especially with the Padres coming back to win. Gavin Sheets continuing his Spring Training home run renaissance really started it in the bottom of the 7th as the place erupted when the ball cleared straight away center field as Michael Harris II tried jumping for it.

Will be back at the ballpark again at Tony Gwynn Opening Day and will post if there are any other musings.