No one knows who will manage the Padres in 2020, but that individual is in line to inherit one of baseball’s elite closers. The late-blooming Kirby Yates went on an unexpected tear in 2018 and has been even better this season, his age-32 campaign, with a stunning 1.19 ERA/1.31 FIP and 14.98 K/9 against 1.93 BB/9 against 60 2/3 innings. Considering those numbers, it’s no surprise Yates has been almost automatic in save situations, having converted a major league-leading 41 of 44 opportunities.
The utter dominance Yates has exhibited since San Diego claimed him off waivers from the Angels in 2017 has been enough to convince the Padres that they should keep him around for the long haul. The Padres “have begun discussing a contract” with the right-hander’s representatives at Beverly Hills Sports Council, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. It’s unclear whether the sides have made progress in the early stages of their talks, but Yates made it known to Acee that he’s prioritizing his family, the team’s chances of winning and how he’s “going to be valued” as he looks ahead.
“As you get older, you start realizing that if you want to win a World Series you’re running out of time to do it,” said Yates. “I’m going to be 33 years old next year. I want to win a World Series. I’ve never been in a playoff run. I’ve never been in a game in September when games matter going down the stretch being a guy you rely on to make the playoff push. That’s very important to me.”
At 70-86, the Padres have already clinched their ninth straight sub-.500 season and their 13th consecutive year without a playoff berth. With those damning results in mind, no one would blame a championship-oriented player for being reluctant to sign an extension with the club. However, the Padres have enough young talent that they could perhaps be an offseason away from pushing for relevance (that’s likely their front office’s hope at, least). And Yates may have difficulty passing on a sizable multiyear guarantee if one is presented. After all, as Acee points out, he hasn’t been in position to sign a big contract to this point. Yates entered the professional ranks as a 26th-round pick almost a decade and a half ago, going to the Red Sox in 2005, and bounced around a few other organizations before coming into his own in San Diego.
If general manager A.J. Preller doesn’t succeed in locking up Yates, he’ll be on track to play out his final season of arbitration control in 2020. Yates has earned a career-high $3,062,500 salary this year, and with saves being such an important factor in arbitration, his 2019 performance ought to help him to a notable raise if he goes through the process again.
Wonder if 3/30 with club option for 4th year gets it done? Essentially it would be a 2 year extension since he’s under contract for 2020 with a nice raise.
That seems light if you ask me, granted he is 32 and true he does still have a year of arb eligibility but I feel like if he pitches like he has this season again next year, on the open market in 2020 he could easily get 3/45 if not more.
But he has to wait a year. This would be 30m right now.
If I’m Yates, after seeing what happened to Seth Smith, Yangervis Solarte and Brad Hand it better come with a no-trade clause.
Why? They got paid, the game is what it is, everyone gets traded. But this Padres team will be a consistent playoff contender for a decade starting next year
Why?
Maybe he likes playing in San Diego…
Maybe he wants to sign a long term contract so he and his family (assuming he has one?) know where they’ll be living and not have to worry about getting uprooted at any time without their consent…
etc. etc. etc.
There are plenty of reasons to want a no-trade clause.
He did say he didn’t want to be traded out of San Diego at the deadline due to proximity to Hawaii and having his family come watch him play. Hopefully he would sign a slightly lower deal to stay. If not, trade him to Toronto
Sounds good to me
San Diego gave him a solid chance and helped him define his wipe out pitch
The Padres are too far behind super serious contention to be able to afford the luxury of paying a relief pitcher that will be 34 by the time his extension even matters. They should trade him to the highest bidder that actually stands a chance of winning the WS next season and save their $ for starters.
The same was true for when they extended Brad Hand. The extension was what allowed them to get Francisco Mejia for him. So if the Padres can’t contend then they can flip Yates for more prospects.
Although that makes zero sense from Yates’ perspective.
Bingo
More prospects that’s music to Padre fans ears
I say a deal this winter for 3 yrs/$36M is fair to everyone. The Padres are effectively buying out his final arbitration year plus 2 more years.. That’s not bad for someone who’ll turn 33 before the 2020 begins. And really only has 2 years of dominance on his record.
Yates should be in the discussion for the Cy Young.
Keywords are: should be, discussion.
Yates hasn’t saved high leverage game ever, no fault of his because he’s played on bad teams lately. What’s point of having great closer losing 90 games a year
**At 70-86, the Padres have already clinched their ninth straight sub-.500 season and their 13th consecutive year without a playoff berth**
What a way to sum it up. Even when we made the playoffs previously the Cardinals beat us up.
I agree 3/36 is fair.
Btw, Bochy took worse teams to the playoffs. The Giants won 3 championships with potentially worse teams.
Yates not worth it. Look at the losses…blown saves…the eye test says he is not elite closer. Trade him. If you are below .500 a high price closer is not #1 priority.
I’m curious as to what this extension could look like. On one hand, Yates has been nothing short of elite this season, and was one of the games better relievers in ’18 as well.
On the other, he’ll be 33 in March, and the Padres already have big money on the books with Machado, Myers, and Hosmer–two of which aren’t living up to their salaries–so they will have to be smart with their money moving forward.
I say the Friars should ride out Yates’ final year of club control and go from there.
Flash…Garritt Cole to Padres…..