Fernando Tatis Jr. extension is in the works

This past Sunday, general manager AJ Preller said on MLB Network Radio that the Padres “wanted to focus during the beginning part of the offseason on improving (their) ballclub and then get to the new year” before they started working on a contract extension for Fernando Tatis Jr.

“We’ve had preliminary-type conversattions just letting each other know that there’s interest there. Hopefully we’re on common grounf to work something out at some point before the season.”

Well, Preller did just that by making a trio of big-time transactions, including trades for pitchers Blake Snell and Yu Darvish. Now, it’s time to lock down the franchise’s best player for the foreseeable future.

CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa also offered his two cents on what the potential extension could look like for the 22-year old phenom. He believes a good starting point is the six-year, $100.6 million extension signed by Astros IF Alex Bregman in March of 2019 since, like Bregman, Tatis is currently four years away from hitting free agency.

“Six years and $120 million or so may be the sweet spot for both sides,” says Axisa. “The Padres would gain cost certainty over Tatis’ arbitration years and buy out two free agent years. Tatis would lock in an enormous guaranteed payday and still be able to hit free agency at age 27, which is far younger than most free agents. He could take the $120-ish million now and still be looking at $300-plus million as a free agent in six years. Maybe it’ll be $400-plus million by then.”