Padres reliever Jason Adam underwent surgery to fix a ruptured left quad last September, and as of November, Adam wasn’t sure if he’d be fully recovered in time for Opening Day. However, the early days of Spring Training have been promising for the right-hander. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Adam pitched a live batting practice for the first time today, and Adam is making slow but steady progress in fielding drills.
“Pitching-wise, we’re…beyond on pace. It’s just a matter of being cleared” by San Diego’s medical staff, Adam said. In terms of Opening Day readiness, Adam said the team’s trainers “haven’t told me ‘no’ yet.”
One of baseball’s top relievers over the last four seasons, Adam has a 1.66 ERA over 92 innings since the Padres acquired the righty from the Rays at the 2024 trade deadline. While the Padres still have an elite bullpen even without Adam, getting the All-Star back and healthy as early as possible in 2026 will be a huge boost to San Diego’s chances of both returning to the postseason and making a deeper run into October.
More from around the NL West…
- While things are looking positive for Adam, fellow Padres reliever Yuki Matsui is day-to-day with groin tightness after his injury cut short a live BP session on Thursday. Manager Craig Stammen told Acee and other reporters that the groin issue doesn’t appear to be serious enough to impact Matsui’s readiness for Opening Day, but it may well prevent the reliever from playing for Japan in the World Baseball Classic. Since signing a five-year, $28MM deal with the Padres in the 2023-24 offseason, Matsui has a solid but unspectacular 3.86 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, and 11.3% walk rate across 126 relief innings.
- Sam Hentges has thrown multiple 40-pitch bullpen sessions in the Giants‘ camp thus far, but he tells MLB.com’s Maria Guardado that he doesn’t have a set throwing progression in place, and it isn’t clear if he’ll be part of San Francisco’s Opening Day roster. The Giants signed the left-hander to a one-year, $1.4MM contract in December, even though Hentges hasn’t pitched in the majors since July 2024 (or in the minors since August 2024). A shoulder surgery was responsible for most of that layoff, but Hentges also underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this past September, which delayed his offseason prep and the final stages of his shoulder rehab. Hentges acknowledged that his long absence played a role in the Giants’ decision to take it slowly with his spring work, though he is hoping to pitch in some games before Spring Training is over.
- Dalton Rushing‘s short-lived turn as an outfielder could be over, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic’s Katie Woo and other reporters that Rushing will be used this season as a backup catcher and occasional first baseman. Rushing played in 31 minor-league games as an outfielder in 2024, but was on the grass just twice with Triple-A Oklahoma City in 2025, and he didn’t see any outfield work after making his MLB debut with Los Angeles. The former top prospect’s positional future has been a question mark ever since L.A. signed Will Smith to a ten-year extension in March 2024, locking Smith up as the Dodgers’ catcher for the foreseeable future. Between Smith’s extension, Shohei Ohtani set as the DH, and Freddie Freeman at first base, Rushing could be limited to part-time duty perhaps for the next two seasons, until Freeman’s contract is up following the 2027 campaign. While there has been plenty of speculation that the Dodgers could swing a trade, the team seems to still have designs on Rushing (who turns 25 tomorrow) as a key piece of their roster.
A ruptured quad sounds ridiculously painful.
Hope he was wearing a helmet.
On the positive side, maybe the rupture was only in muscle.
Be thankful it wasn’t one of those deathtrap 3-wheelers
Spent a good amount of my weekends on three wheelers as a kid.
Not sure who thought those were a good idea. But they were fun.
Adam looked great in his BP yesterday against live pitching. That doesn’t mean he would be able to get off the mound to cover first, but there is over a month before opening day, so he has time,
Missing the WBC might be the best thing that could happen to the Padres in terms of Matsui.
I wonder if they’ll ever use Shohei in the OF in order to give Freddie a day off his feet as he gets older. If you could get 2 DH days for him Dalton could get those at 1B and 2 more at C and stay locked and loaded on an All Star team. There is no reason to talk about trading him.
You’re better off putting Ohtani at 1st then OF to give Freeman time off from fielding.
Rushing best bet is to get traded to see regular playing time or learn to play 3B to give Muncy some days off from playing
Idk why they’re not considering him in the OF cause might as well throw him out there late in games up a couple runs in place of Hernandez. I’m sure Rushing could provide better defense late in games.
Ohtani has never started a game in the OF in 8 years in MLB and it’s highly unlikely he ever will
Meanwhile, what does make sense to me with the aim of preserving Ohtani for a whole season, is to give him a break the day after his starts. That would move Freeman to DH (Preserving him too), and Rushing could play 1B. That would give him playing time at least 3 times a week.
Ohtani won’t play anything but DH until he is done pitching. Once he is finished pitching, if his body can handle it, it is likely he plays RF.
If Freeman is ambulatory, next season will not be his last as a Dodger. In fact he just said that he wants to play for the team until he retires, whenever that happens. Add years. If I’m Dalton Rushing, and I hear that, I have to be wondering “where does that leave me?” Between here and nowhere, is where. The Dodgers are usually pretty good with handling this kind of situation, so why they are bottling him up with no place to go is baffling.
Then what would happen if Will Smith got injured and couldn’t play? Chuckie Robinson? I don’t think there’s much else behind Smith.
Not sure if there is a Ben Rortvedt next DFA countdown clock posted online or not, but the Dodgers certainly have that link and are monitoring.
Yes, Robinson is currently the next guy up. Rortvedt has already been mentioned but he’s just one example of the many available defense-only catchers who serve backup and depth duties on practically every MLB team. Rushing is left twisting in the wind now, which I think is a real shame.
I’ll be a little more worried about Rushing’s playing time if/when he starts performing at a level above backup catcher. If he turns out to be Michael Busch Part Deux, so be it.
The old rule in baseball is, it’s hard to play if you don’t play. Rushing started 32 games last year. If the FO sees him as a future backup catcher, then they are handling him as expected. If they see him as something more valuable, then they aren’t giving him much opportunity to get there.
Yeah, if Freeman can still play 1B after 2027, he will be back with the Dodgers on a Muncy style deal to close out his career
I was pleasantly surprised to see Hentges get a major league deal. If he can stay healthy, he could be a great addition.
Both Adam and Matsui were running today. Missed the relievers BP’s, so don’t know who threw one.