The Padres have signed right-hander Griffin Canning, as initially reported overnight by the Divine Sports Gospel. Canning’s deal will be official once he passes a physical, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray. San Diego has a full 40-man roster in the wake of the Nick Castellanos signing, so the Padres will have to make another move to open up 40-man space for Canning, who is represented by Wasserman.
It’s something of a SoCal homecoming for Canning, who was born in Mission Viejo and played his college ball at UCLA. The 29-year-old also spent his first first Major League seasons with the Angels, posting a 4.78 ERA over 508 innings (starting 94 of 99 games). This was less than was expected of a pitcher who was once viewed as a top-100 prospect, and the Angels parted ways with Canning via a trade with the Braves last offseason for Jorge Soler. Atlanta then chose to non-tender Canning, since the Braves’ chief goal of the trade was to unload Soler’s contract.
Canning then signed a one-year, $4.25MM contract with the Mets that initially looked like it was going to be a steal, as the righty posted a 2.47 ERA over his first nine years in New York. Some struggles over his next seven outings boosted his ERA to 3.77, yet that’s unfortunately where Canning’s story ended, as he suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon in late June.
Reports from earlier this offseason suggested that Canning is hoping to be ready for Opening Day, or at least relatively early in April. He was feeling good enough to throw for scouts in a showcase last week, and his velocity was up to 93mph even at this relatively early stage in the preseason ramp-up process. The Mets, Cardinals, and White Sox were all linked to Canning earlier this winter, but he’ll now be part of San Diego’s rotation mix.
The Padres’ starting pitching situation has been a key issue for the team all winter, as Dylan Cease left for the Blue Jays in free agency and Yu Darvish will miss all of 2026 while recovering from an internal brace procedure. Re-signing Michael King helped the Padres restore some stability, and Canning joins a list of arms that consists of King, Nick Pivetta, Randy Vazquez, JP Sears, and Joe Musgrove in his return from Tommy John surgery.
More to come…
Phils go get Zack Littell
Crazy he’s not signed yet.
Dumpster diving is underway.
Griffin was well on his way to a 2.5 WAR season last year. I’m convinced NOTHING makes you happy, Danny ol’ boy.
LFGSD 💛
Well, Littell had an actual 3.2 fWAR. Not a fabricated one.
Pads could still sign littell. Back end rotation is questionable
He’d be great fit in SD
Its getting late maybe he’ll take a gallen deal
Flyball pitcher (Littell) pitching in Citizen’s Bank Ballpark may not end well..
AJ “Blue Horseshoe” Preller loves veterans on the wrong side of 30. But overall this is a good cheap rotation fill.
He’s 29. You consider that the bad side of 30? You would prefer someone older?
Not bad, thank God it ain’t verlander or scherzer
I was hoping for Littell, but this singing will give the Padres some cheap competition for the 4th/5th spot with Vazquez and Sears.
Pitched well for the Mets before his Achilles ruptured.
Canning back to SoCal. Good for him. He should help the Padres rotation if he’s back to full strength from his injury.
Calling it now. Niebla will work wonders with Canning, and he’ll have an era under 4 this year. Great signing by AJ.
How can anyone feel comfortable being represented by Wasserman now?
Good depth signing for the Padres. The only question is how good will he be coming off that injury.
Also not sure when he is expected to be healthy.
I hear it takes about 9 months to recover from that injury.
Simm – like King’s injuries, at least they aren’t dealing with arm / shoulder so, hopefully pitching is up to speed quick. I get that the whole body affects pitching performance but there is hope not being arm related.
They’re guessing around mid March/early April. They’ve got some early off days too, so they’ll probably give him a couple of ST innings/simulated games, and then IL him while he ramps up. Sounds like they expect him to be in the rotation mid/late April or early May.
Stove top is simmering with a full pot of roster soup. Grab a ladle and fill your bowl.
Not a bad signing. Canning isn’t the worst 5th starter. SD were busy with the last minute shopping.
Solid pickup. Griff is a dude.
Sneaky good signing.
Long as I don’t have to see Waldron Sears Hart pitching in the 5th spot they could have signed Phillip Rivers for all I care