ICYMI: The Biggest Contract In San Diego Padres History (Is Not Fernando Tatis Jr.’s)

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

Fernando Tatis Jr.’s massive 14-year, 340 million dollar deal with the Padres shattered MLB records. But it’s actually not the most important signing of the Padres this offseason. That belongs to Matt LaChappa, who signed with the team again in February, just as he has every year for more than a quarter-century. It’s a baseball story unlike any other: LaChappa is the longest tenured player in Padres history, despite never playing in a major league game. In 1996, LaChappa was a pitcher with San Diego’s minor league affiliate, when he suffered a heart attack while warming up in the bullpen. LaChappa survived, was left permanently disabled and in need of round-the-clock and costly medical care. Ever since, every offseason, the Padres have honored their commitment to Matt and his family by signing him a basic minor league contract, allowing Matt to remain on the team’s health insurance. In a sport where money and loyalty between players and clubs are constantly put to the test, Chris Connelly joins the show to tell a very different kind of baseball story, in a re-spin of one of our favorite episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, it's Pablo here, and our run of some of our favorite episodes from this past year is nearly complete.
0:11.0	We'll have one more for you on Monday.
0:13.1	But today, because Fernando Tatis Jr. is building this case for National League MVP and Padres fans are obviously overjoyed to have him locked up through 2034.
0:23.7	We are re-spinning the emotional story of the only Padre whose contract is even more important than that.
0:30.8	This is a player who's taken a grand total of zero at bats.
0:34.8	But who the Padres remain loyal to, all the same.
0:39.1	It is Friday, September 3rd.
0:41.8	This is ESPN Daily.
0:52.1	So, Chris, in the lead-up to this season, the San Diego Padres signed their shortstop, Fernando Tatis Jr., to the longest deal in baseball history.
1:01.9	14 years, $340 million, making it also the richest contract in Padres history.
1:09.9	So what were your thoughts when you heard about all of these contractual records being broken?
1:16.5	Well, my first thought was that he and the Padres talked about it being a statue contract.
1:22.6	That his hope is that someday there'll be a statue outside Petco, where he stands along
1:28.5	beside the late Tony Gwynn and Trevor Hoffman, who currently have statues.
1:33.7	Chris Connolly is a reporter for ESPN.
1:37.2	But what I really thought was, as great as this contract is, it's still not the most
1:43.6	significant or the longest contract in the
1:47.0	history of the Padres franchise. Because the most important contract in a sense signed this
1:53.3	offseason was signed by a player that most people have probably never heard of. And his name is
1:58.9	Matt La Chapa.
2:11.1	You think about a business like Major League Baseball where loyalty is put to the test and there's free agency and the negotiations are so ruthless.
2:21.0	Amid all that, the story of Matt La Chapa is a really different kind of baseball story. I hope Tatis gets that statue someday, but even if he signs another contract that's just as long as the one
	...

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