March 28: Leclerc’s deal is now official, according to the transactions log at MLB.com.
March 23: The Padres are close to a deal with veteran reliever José Leclerc, as first reported by journalist Mike Rodriguez. It’ll be a minor league deal for the Munger English Sports Management client once it’s complete, Jon Heyman of the New York Post adds.
Leclerc missed the bulk of the 2025 season after suffering a severe lat strain and eventually requiring shoulder surgery. He threw a bullpen session for interested clubs a couple weeks ago and was said at the time to be targeting a return around July. The Padres will hope his recovery goes well in the next few months, thereby allowing him to bolster their pitching staff midseason.
It’s a buy-low move for the Padres, who are known to be working under some budgetary restraints. The past few offseasons have seen them mostly stick to modest contracts. Even when they have splurged a little bit, such as their deals for Nick Pivetta and Michael King, they have backloaded the money in order to lower the near-term hit.
Leclerc is just over a year removed from earning a $10MM deal from the A’s. That was somewhat surprising at the time but he did have some intriguing stuff on his track record. From 2018 to 2024, he tossed 299 2/3 innings for the Rangers, allowing 3.24 earned runs per nine. His 11.8% walk rate was quite high but his 31.8% strikeout rate was very strong.
In that time, he had worked both as a closer and a setup guy, earning 41 saves and 58 holds. He mixed in six different pitches, with his four-seamer and sinker sitting in the mid-90s as he also threw a high-80s cutter and changeup, a low-80s slider and a curveball in the high-70s.
His 2025 season was mostly lost. He only made ten appearances for the A’s before the aforementioned lat injury put him on the shelf. He will still be recovering from his surgery for another few months. It hasn’t been reported what salary he will make if selected to the Padres’ roster but it is presumably well below $10MM.
The Padres have a strong bullpen, even though they let Robert Suarez walk in free agency. Mason Miller is one of the best closers in the game and he’ll be joined by Adrián Morejón, Jeremiah Estrada and David Morgan. Perhaps Jason Adam can be healthy by Opening Day but he’ll be back in there at some point regardless.
Over a long season, pitcher injuries are inevitable and the outlook will change. As Leclerc is potentially getting back in game shape in July, the Padres will ideally be looking to bolster their roster ahead of the August 3rd trade deadline. If Leclerc looks to be in good form by then, perhaps that will subtract one item from their shopping list.
Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images
Mid season bullpen help it looks like. Not a bad pickup and no risk with a MiLB deal.
Did the Athletics give him $10 million last just to avoid a players union grievance?
I think so.
And to be their closer I believe but he got hurt.
Fangraphs just dropped an article with their bullpen rankings showing the Padres at #1.
It’s interesting to me that Leclerc is trying to crack into this group because it seems like he’d have a more realistic shot at getting onto a roster elsewhere, but its good depth for the Padres to have in AAA when he’s healthy.
Yeah sorta puzzling from the player perspective, but perhaps was his only offer (or the only offer he liked). Even healthy I couldn’t see him beating out Rodriguez for a low/mid-leverage role. Good depth signing tho.
Next year the Padres could use him with Adam and Morejon becoming FAs, so maybe they’re grooming him for that
I suppose it doesn’t hurt the odds if they wanna try to retain him.
Or protection in case of a deadline deal where a couple of BP guys are traded for a starter.
Maybe because no one else was willing to pay him?
When it’s a toss up between retaining Maranccio (no options) and adding Rodríguez to the roster when both have more than earned a spot you know you have a deep BP.
AJ might need to swing that end of ST deal.
Adam, Canning, Matsui, and Waldron will be eligible to come off the IL on April 9th. I wonder what happens then? Canning may not be ready for a couple of weeks after that. What happens if Buehler pitches really well? What happens if Marinaccio is lights out in the first few weeks of the season? The Padres are going to have some big decisions to make before the end of April.
Gonzales didn’t opt out but will have a decision to make on May 5th. Did Mckenzie and Gillaspie make it through waivers? Neither had any options.
They weren’t on the 40 man they didn’t have to go through waivers
Both appear on El Paso roster
Guessing Matsui for Hart (who I am coming around on, 6 MPH up on slider in early showing) and Adam for Bragdley, altho that leaves them with no long relief/mop up option in the BP. Kinda get the sense Marinaccio could be trade bait if he continues to pitch well in lower leverage.
Then there is Alex Jacob who would at least be a low leverage guy in a lot of BP’s. A few guys behind them. I’ve been a Morejón fan from the start (back when he was a starter) but there are a lot of guys that could allow him to walk – especially if he is getting closer offers.
I think a trade from BP strength has to happen. Just need to line up with the right team for a near ready starter with mid ceiling. The better the SP the better the BP pieces will have to be. I don’t think we would trade the pieces necessary to get a high end guy is where I’m coming from.
If they trade for a SP they need to get someone with options. They currently have zero starters that they can option down to AAA. That’s another reason they likely don’t go high end.
When Canning and Musgrove come back Buehler and Marquez are potentially going to be squeezed out already unless someone else goes on the IL. When Waldron’s rehab is up they have to make a decision on him. 8 guys for 5 spots already.
Could also make sense to trade extra bullpen pieces for prospects and replenish the system
I think they sorta gotta cross their fingers there and hope they can at least get 1 or 2 thru waivers. Waldron seems reasonable, Buehler/Marquez will be much more difficult if early returns are good.
More curious as to what happens when Song completes rehab assignment.
Johnson or France or Castellanos or Anduar. No one else on current 26 man is leaving.
They already let McCoy go which i predicted (but didn’t lose him) so, maybe they try the same with Johnson.
The decision was based on Cro being ok in emergency at SS with France at 2b. Song being the better option when he returns.
Now, Laureano or Tatis could go to CF in emergency with any of the France, Sheets, Anduar or even Castellanos as a corner OF – in emergency.
Seems like it’s the same thought process as with McCoy – 4th OFer that likely clears waivers or could be replaced if not.
Maybe they risk France if he isn’t hitting thinking if he clears that he would go to AAA.
It would be nice if all of the bats came alive and made it a difficult choice.
Also, I haven’t seen any reports but Miranda and Bowen are on AAA roster. Wondering if they have opt outs or if they are just good to keep stashed there.
Song will replace one of Castellanos or France (I’d predict France just because how of how poor their power and RH bats were last season, but I’d be fine with him over Castellanos). Andujar is making too much and would definitely be snatched up for prorated league minimum. I don’t see them rolling with only 3 OF on the roster given their lack of AAA depth (Sheets is playable in LF but below average defensively). IDK about Miranda but Bowen was a minor league free agent who never has been on a 40 man, I don’t think he has any opt out dates.
Including the 6 games he played in spring training, Castellanos has 2 hits in 17 ABs with 0 walks. He can only play DH and maybe 1B. I would think that unless he picks it up substantially by the time Song is ready to return that he would be the one to go. Song may need a short rehab stint in the minors and that would not be the worst idea because it would give him more time facing good US based pitching at the AA or AAA level. It would also give the Padres a little more time to see if they want to keep Castellanos.
Meant to say the last 6 games he played in spring training.
I cannot wait until Song is healthy enough to come off the IL. Castellanos is as worthless as teats on a boar. 2 strike outs in 3 PA and he only saw 8 pitches. 8 FREAKING pitches.
Out of 9 PA this season he has swung at the first pitch and connected for an out in 4 PA. He has struck out 3 times in a total of 11 pitches. He ground out on the 6th pitch. 21 pitches in 9 PA. An average of 2.33 pitches per plate appearance.
Just how bad is that? MLB average last season was 3.87 P/PA and this season so far is 3.95 P/PA in MLB and 3.83 for the Padres. All he seems to want is to get his AB done ASAP and go sit down.
Last night I was yelling at Castellanos about being more selective at the plate before the game and every time he was in the on-deck circle. I need to be a jerk like that more often. He got a hit and drew a walk.
LeClerc isn’t expected be ready to come off rehab until July. Lots of things can happen in that time frame. Good signing for depth. Was a low 3 ERA reliever before the injury in the 2nd half of 2024.
Might need him to rotate in for all of the bullpen games that are on their way.
I think rotation has a good chance to be solid by mid-year (after Canning returns) but it’ll definitely be all-hands-on-deck until then
known budgetary restraints
I can’t say that I read all posts for other teams but I can’t really say that I’ve ever seen this term used (or not every time) any article on say, Pirates, Braves, Guardians, Brewers, Rockies, and so on and so on.
What gives?
yeah, especially when it’s just a minor league signing.
Given that the payroll and team value on the market is listed in the top 10 of MLB, you’d think it wouldn’t be a media mantra.
A few years ago it was 4. Now it’s 9. That drop has been because there has been payroll restraints, correctly labelled by the media as…..wait for it…….payroll restraints.
Ha ha. It’s not overly complicated.
Yeah, cheap arsse Padres. That they didn’t sign Suarez for $15M AAV to boost their already leaguebest bullpen clearly indicates they’re broke.
No one said their broke. They said this.
It’s a buy-low move for the Padres, who are known to be working under some budgetary restraints.
Now you are just making stuff up. Surprise, surprise.
It is a buy low move, the but the move doesn’t in any way suggest that the latter part of the the sentence is true.
Padres didn’t need Suarez.
They have Mason Miller for 4 years
The Dodgers just signed Logan Allen to a minor league deal, because they have known budgetary restraints.
MiLB depth signing = “known budgetary restraints”
Lololol
And known… by whom?
That’s easy. Everyone except the gang !
This media victimisation just keeps happening ! So hilarious.
They must have been Acee
I think there’d be more “budgetary uncertainty”, considering we won’t know who is gonna own the team by mid season or how much they’re gonna be willing to spend.
But if you buy a franchise for the rumored 3+ billion donate, I’d hope you’re willing to spend a good bit on players.
Brew, all you can do is shake your head at the absolute stupidity of both the writers and any fans that think the Padres are under known budgetary constraints. In his last press conference Greupner said that the Padres still had room in the budget to add for the right player or players. When asked if that meant they could add a player like Giolito or make a trade for a top of the rotation starter, he said that they had the payroll flexibility to add any player that would make the team better. But Acee and Darragh apparently know the situation better than the CEO of the team.
@Web#2 Says something about SDUT that they continue with Acee. manic doomer psycho beat writer who doesn’t have direct access to players or FO (they don’t talk to him) so he’s prone to printing rumors or imaginations. He’s the go to for MLBTR. Stammen will still answer his rhetorical questions, but only benign non-answers. SD deserves better. Miss the days of Bill Center and Phil Collier
Can never have enough pitching…
So tired of the budgetary constraint verbiage in every padres article. You don’t have to be a fan of the team to know by now that the padres aren’t willing or even able to spend like the Mets or Dodgers, even tho they’re still a top ten payroll. I also don’t think we need to be reminded in every single article how they handicapped themselves by signing older all-star players to massive contracts/extensions Manny/Bogey/Darvish/Musgrove. It’s old.
How about framing the article in terms of roster construction, crafty contracts, minor league deal treasure hunting, SOMETHING, other than:
“yes, here. Here now is another case of the budgetary constraints. Here, see it? They signed another guy for cheap, instead of overpaying for another guy”
How about we start every Rockies, Marlins, and Pirates article with the budgetary constraints of constructing a roster every year for $100 million or LESS (the A’s are forgiven for now). “The Rockies, with their budgetary constraints of staying in the cellar of Major League Baseball, just signed Michael Lorenzen to a one-year deal”
Anyways. Thanks.
and it’s not like we are 10th. I think we are 6th in spending at the moment. Is MLBTradeRumors saying padres should spend more than the Dodgers?
The Padres have been dumpster diving all offseason.
Leclerc: French for blown save?
Buehler got nailed in his final spring start after being added to the opening day rotation. King pitched 17.2 IP this spring and recorded a 10.19 ERA. Pivetta was well off too.
The Padres Skubal and Valdez to open the season. Detroit didnt hit all that well this spring but Skubal and Framber both look ready.
Just goes to show that spring training stats don’t mean anything.
DFA Wandy Peralta today
The Padres are in for a sub-80 win season and will be hurting from those Machado and Bogaerts contracts for a long long time.
As bad as our pen is are you telling me the Angels could not have signed LeClerc?
Love the bargain bin pickups that SD has made.
Padres Rookie Manager gave away game 2 to the Tigers.
Stammen used the wrong guys.
Then left the relievers in to walk the bases loaded?!
The Padres had better options in the bullpen.
Start the 8th inning with Morgan or a different reliever and the Padres, very likley, retain that lead and win that that game.
Staying with and letting the wild reliever walk the bases loades?!
Also, Closer Mason Miller last worked closing the WBC.
Miller could have easily worked a
3 or 4 out save.
Rookie Manager mistakes.
Stammen needs more urgency in his managerial decisions with hia pitching decisions.
Padres Stammen better up his game.
He was outmanaged by AJ Hinch in that Series. Wins early in season are just as important as wins later in the season.
Stammen used the guys that were available.
At this stage of the season the closer and setup guys are never going to throw multiple innings. Not for any team. Not ever.
Do you know that once a reliever comes in the game, they have to face 3 batters? At that point it was 1 out and 2 BB. He faced 2 more batters after that. One he walked and one hit a single. On the walk he pitched around Keith to get to Greene and set up the double play. The single was NOT because of Estrada. He executed his pitch perfectly, a fastball high and tight, and it was fisted on the ground to the opposite side. He was unlucky because Bogaerts was playing almost on top of the 2b bag because Greene is a pull hitter and Bogaerts could not make a play on it. There was no one to blame for that. Estrada then struck out the next batter. It was 2-2 with 2 outs when Estrada came out of the game after that single. Even then he wasn’t removed from the game because of the results of the appearance, he was removed because of his pitch count.
Peralta was the right call instead of Morgan because of the platoon advantage. Lefty on Lefty. You make that call 100% of the time. Peralta just got beat. It was even a good pitch that got hit.
Uneducated fan mistakes. You need to up your game. You didn’t pay enough attention to understand the situation. Wins count early in the season but keeping players healthy counts more. Better to have Miller in September and October than pitch him multiple innings in March in a tie game.