The San Diego Padres are off to a roaring start this season, sporting a 6-0 record that would be the best in baseball if it weren't for those damn Dodgers in Chavez Ravine.
No matter. Even with a flawless record in the first week of the season, the Padres got their biggest win of 2025 on April 2, inking star center fielder Jackson Merrill to a nine-year extension.
BREAKING: Jackson Merrill and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on a nine-year, $135 million contract extension, sources say. The deal, which can max out at $204 million and includes a $30 million club option for a tenth season that can convert to a player option, was…
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) April 2, 2025
The deal is a bit more complicated than most, but effectively, it'll serve as a decade-long binding agreement between the almost-22-year-old and San Diego.
Getting the youngster's name in ink on the contract is a big move for a team with a heavy accounting book and questionable future finances. If he continues to evolve as he reaches his prime, Merrill will be the face of this franchise before long.
Jackson Merrill gives Padres hope their future isn't just bad contracts
Merrill's deal doesn't start until 2026, but when it does, he'll become the eighth player on the roster with an AAV over $10 million (ninth if you round up Robert Suarez's $9.2 million AAV).
Excluding Merrill, only ONE of those players is currently younger than 31 years old: Fernando Tatis Jr. The superstar right fielder should make for a heck of an outfield tandem partner with Merrill, though even his deal runs until 2034, when Tatis will be 35.
Manny Machado ($31.8 million AAV) is 32 and has nine years left (including 2025) on his deal. After notching a 152 wRC+ in 2022, he's posted a 117 wRC+ between the 2023-24 seasons.
Xander Bogaerts ($25.4 million AAV) is also 32 and has the same length remaining on his deal as Machado. He was worth 6.0 fWAR in his final season in Boston in 2022. Last year in San Diego? Bogaerts accrued just 2.0 fWAR, his lowest mark in a full season since 2014.
On and on it goes down the Padres' payroll. Stars of yesteryear playing like really good role players while getting paid for their mid-20s production. Tatis himself is injury prone, but at least the current face of the franchise is still young and exceptionally productive when he's on the field.
And that's why Merrill's deal is so crucial for this aging roster. In his rookie season last year, he provided the Padres with 24 home runs and a 130 wRC+, all while providing excellent defense and stealing 16 bases. He was the 18th-most valuable player in the sport according to his 5.3 fWAR.
Just a few weeks shy of his 22nd birthday, Merrill should only go up from here. Though it's a very small sample, through six games (20 at-bats) in 2025 thus far, the center fielder has a 1.035 OPS.
If he and Tatis can shoulder the load as they play out their primes in San Diego, perhaps the next few years won't be as bleak as the payroll makes them seem.