Padres sign Cronenworth to 7-year extension reportedly worth $80M

The long-term extensions keep coming in San Diego.

The Padres signed infielder Jake Cronenworth to a seven-year contract, the team announced Saturday.

Cronenworth’s deal is worth $80 million, a source told Jeff Passan of ESPN.

The pact is the biggest ever for a 29-year-old player with less than four years of service time, Passan notes.

Cronenworth will play out his one-year, $4.225-million contract hatched in his first year of arbitration eligibility, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic.

The 29-year-old had two years of arbitration remaining and wouldn’t have been able to test free agency until after the 2025 season. The new deal will run through the 2029 campaign, when Cronenworth will be 36 and covering five years of free agency.

The two-time All-Star has hit .256/.338/.430 with 42 homers and 10 steals over 365 games since breaking into the majors with the Padres in 2020. While he came up as a second baseman, he has also played first base in recent years and made occasional appearances at shortstop and third base.

He is off to a slow start to the 2023 season, going 0-for-7 through the first two games for the winless Padres.

Cronenworth is the most recent player the Padres have been able to lock up over the past few months. San Diego has also been able to extend Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, and Joe Musgrove on lucrative deals.

Padres acquire Pham from Rays

The San Diego Padres have acquired outfielder Tommy Pham and an additional prospect from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Hunter Renfroe and shortstop prospect Xavier Edwards, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The additional player heading to San Diego is minor-league shortstop Jake Cronenworth, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic.

Pham, acquired by the Rays in a 2018 trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, played a vital role in the club’s run to the postseason this year. The 31-year-old slashed 273/.369/.450 with 21 home runs and 68 RBIs in 145 games. He’ll provide San Diego with significant and much-needed upgrades in terms of contact and on-base ability.

Cronenworth, 25, spent the majority of the 2019 season with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate. He hit .334/.429/.520 with 10 home runs in 406 plate appearances, also getting 7.1 innings of work on the mound.

Renfroe should be a defensive improvement for Tampa Bay and will bring some additional power to the lineup. He’s hit 85 home runs over the past three seasons despite not topping 500 plate appearances once.

Edwards was the No. 5-ranked prospect in San Diego’s stacked system, according to MLB Pipeline. The No. 38 pick in 2018 split his season between the Single-A and High-A levels, flashing solid contact and plate discipline to the tune of a .322/.375/.396 line and a 9.6% strikeout rate.