The Padres have been without veteran right-hander Jason Adam so far this season as he works his way back from last year’s quadriceps surgery. While that blow to the bullpen has been manageable with elite arms like Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon holding things down, Adam is a big part of the San Diego relief corps after posting a 2.07 ERA with a 3.20 FIP in 256 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2022 season. Looking more specifically at Adam’s time with the Padres, his numbers are an even more dominant 1.66 ERA and 2.89 FIP.
It’s exciting news, then, for the Padres that Adam is nearing a return. Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Adam pitched on back-to-back days over the weekend in his rehab assignment with Triple-A El Paso. Sanders adds that Adam could be activated when he’s first eligible to come off the shelf on April 8, but that it’s also possible that the club will wait until April 9, when they’ll be back in San Diego for a series against the Rockies. Whenever Adam does wind up returning, it’ll be a huge boost to a Padres bullpen that has gotten lackluster performances from Jeremiah Estrada and Wandy Peralta in the early going.
As Adam’s rehab assignment nears its conclusion, right-hander Griffin Canning‘s is getting underway. Sanders notes that Canning allowed one run in 2 2/3 innings of work over the weekend with four strikeouts on 51 pitches. That leaves him with some building up left to do before he’s ready to make the jump back to the majors as a starter, but after signing a $2.5MM deal with San Diego during the offseason, the righty seems very likely to be in the Padres’ starting rotation once he is ready to go. That’s for good reason, seeing as he turned in a very respectable 3.77 ERA in 16 starts last year before suffering the achilles injury he’s currently working his way back from. That’s the production of a solid back-of-the-rotation starter, and if he can match those numbers he’ll be a huge asset to a Padres rotation that looks like the team’s biggest weakness early in 2026.
If the Padres are looking for more immediate help in the rotation, however, they might first turn to knuckleballer Matt Waldron. The 29-year-old underwent minor surgery in February and has made two rehab starts to get built up into regular season form after missing some of Spring Training. He’s looked phenomenal in those rehab starts so far, with a 39.1% strikeout rate in seven scoreless innings. Waldron has built up to 61 pitches so far and will be in line for his next rehab start later this week. The righty has a 4.86 ERA for his career in the majors and could be a real option for the club’s rotation either in the event of an injury or continued struggles from the current back-end duo of German Marquez and Walker Buehler after tough starts to the year for both players. JP Sears, Triston McKenzie, and Marco Gonzales are among the other depth options the Padres have at their disposal in the rotation.
Must be nice.
Canning could be sneaky good in SD
Or not.
I appreciate how they left out the nature of Waldron’s surgery. IYKYK.
Give a different meaning to “being on roids”!
Hopefully that lights a fire under his …nevermind
Pretty sensitive subject.
Simmer down, sit down. Not important.
What the H? Did the writer not do his Preparation for this article?
Wandy Peralta has allowed all inherited runners to score this season. He practically escorted them to the plate. This is a known thing, last year he had a problem with this so I don’t really blame him because you know what you get when you put him in the game. I blame Stammen or the script he gets from Preller for continually putting him in with runners on.
He is a garbage time pitcher. You put him in when you are down by 5+ late and it doesn’t matter if he gets shelled (he will). That or DFA him.
Should’ve traded him in the offseason. Could’ve saved his salary, and gotten a low grade prospect at least.
I find myself wondering how a player can be deemed so horrible by a fan base based upon his statistics but then suggest another team should want him bad enough to take on his salary and give up a prospect.
Seems to be counter to reason since the other team has access to his statistics as well.
Wandy Perlata had a 3.14 ERA /3.62 FIP last year and .5 fWAR. Those are not horrible stats for a middle reliever. The issue is he had 2 years 9.8 million due to him and he doesn’t really have any surplus value on this contract, which we know because he had an opt-out and chose to stay with the contract over testing the market.
He looks worse than he is comparatively because he’s in a bullpen with a bunch of studs, but his horribleness is greatly exaggerated.
Also without him the next best lefty is Matsui. Peralta can be frustrating, but I’ll take him over what I’ve seen from Matsui the last 2 seasons
When everyone is healthy either Matsui or Wandy wil need to be dfa’d or a trade.
There just isn’t room and so many guys have no options.
Realistically, I don’t see either Peralta or Matsui going anywhere with the guarantees and Morejon’s upcoming free agency unless they REALLY lose their form. They can option Morgan if they wanna keep Marinaccio.
I realize the frustration with Wandy this year so far, but he was much better than Matsui last year. Matsui was slightly more effective in 2024. Both are well paid and under contract, and we’ll have to live with what they offer, which is mid- to high 3 ERAs
There’s no script and unfortunately he’s the Padres 2nd best lefty option; blame the FO/Preller for throwing money at the wrong guy or failing to develop any lefty relief arms.
Buehler is probably gone when Canning is ready. Had a nice first inning and a third in Sunday’s game but was terrible after that
I’m wondering about move to BP for WB. He has had some initial success in first couple of innings.
Posting after Marquez solid start, but I think Buehler is the first DFA candidate in the rotation. You can have Marquez/Waldron as long man if all top 5 starting options are healthy.
Agreed. When Joe and Grif are back, rotation shouldn’t be too bad with German and Waldron as depth for occasional rest / IL. WB has shown nothing to keep him around except a BP spot and a SD just doesn’t have any BP spots.
The bad thing is guys like Jacob are stuck in AAA and even later Bradgely and Hart and someone else will have to go down for Matsui and Adam and keeping German in BP.
Wandy DFA is in play if a trade can’t be made.
He was a good low risk signing though with the injuries.
Can’t see them DFAing Wandy without acquiring a lefty. Hart is not an answer as a FB guy. Peralta’s results have been maddening but he’s still a GB monster. Real interesting question will be what happens when Matsui is ready to return.
Wandy is making like 4 or 5 million. They can’t DFA him unless he goes the next month with a 10 ERA. Plus, someone out there would want him for a cheap prospect.
Also, Waldron is out of options so he can’t be manipulated. You add him or you risk putting him on waivers.
I don’t see how Waldron isn’t called up to take WB spot after maybe 1 more start.
When Joe, Adam, Waldron and Grif are healthy, a trade has to happen just to clear some roster backlog.
Guys like Marinaccio, German, Waldron – out of options and could be packaged for a SP prospect with options.
I don’t think you’ll get a whole lot for those guys sadly, low leverage OOO arms just aren’t valuable with how much roster churn most clubs go thru. I feel like trading Marquez would get you the best return and Waldron gives you a few years of control, but you’d have to wait until June (I think) and a bad look for potential FAs. Marinaccio might interest some clubs.
No one will trade for Waldron if he isn’t on the 40man. They could get him for free..
Marinaccio is a nice relief arm, but that and Marquez isn’t going to fetch anything of use.
The pads have depth, but the problem is that excess depth that is on the 40man can’t be sent down for the most part. So big decisions to come… still have time
I would love to see Walker in the Dodgers organization again. It likely won’t happen without him being willing to go to AAA to work on his arm and mechanics. But it would be cool, as a Dodgers fan.
Ok, ok I give. Walker for Snell, straight up. Send them both back to where they belong.
Only if Snell stays on the IL for the entire season and postseason. And returns to the Dodgers for 2027.
Wouldn’t want his salary to put them over their payroll limit, so we’re willing to help you out.
Snell does fun cameo commentary on TV games, so that’s worth it even if he’s out for the year. So, ok, deal ADF!
Snell will have to approve the trade. He has a limited no trade clause.
The Padres would like Canning to get 4 starts on this rehab assignment. That would put him in the rotation for the Cubs series or White Sox series.
Waldron will need 2 more starts to get up to 90 pitches before being called up. He has thrown 4 other pitches besides his knuckleball in his 2 starts for El Paso. 4 seam, sinker, cutter, and sweeper. He has yet to walk a batter in 7 IP. In 2 starts, only one out was on a knuckleball.
Musgrove threw 60 pitches in a simulated game. I had thought he would be back on April 9-10, but it looks like they want him to have a few rehab starts to get into game situations first. Which makes sense.
Buehler is going to be DFA’d when the Padres have a starter ready to go and I doubt he will be picked up on waivers. Both his velocity and control are worse than last season. The only way he sticks is in the pen.
Mckenzie walked 7 vs 5 SO in his 4 inning start for El Paso. He won’t be called up anytime soon. Gonzalez got pounded in his 2 starts. Sears had one good start and one in which he game up 3 runs in 4 IP. I don’t think we see him soon either, but out of those 3 he is the most likely to get a start.
The Padres just wanted Adam to get back-to-back appearances and then see how he came out of them. He is ready to go and will join the team in San Diego on the next home stand.
Song looks ready. Not sure when he will be called up, but April 9th at home seems logical. Does Castellanos or France get DFA’d to make room for him?
I vote Castellanos because of France’s D. As for offense, neither is likely to replicate their best years but I’d take a younger France than an aging NC as having by a better shot at being average anyway.
Castellanos (starting tonight) is getting more starts than France so far. With Song returning France’s defense will carry less value. I’m guessing they keep Castellanos and DFA France. Ty will get interest from other teams but could agree to not opt out and play at AAA until an injury opens up a roster spot again.
If Ty will go to AAA for regular ABs I’m good with that option.
I don’t disagree with the idea that the decision makers will go with NC because he has been a strong bat. Unfortunately, we remember the same for Matt Carpenter, and about 5-6 other aging vets the regime tried over the past few years.
Let’s just hope for another Donavan Solano season from one of them
I know Song is on a multi-year majors contract, but why not let him soak up the minors while France And Casty are producing quality defense/at-bats on the cheap?
My vote is to leave Song in the minors for a while until one of the two above starts to slump.
Does his contract allow for option to minors? Right now, he is there on a rehab assignment and tjose only last for a short window.
I believe Kevin Acee noted he has options built into his contract, but i could be wrong.
Just looked it up, he does NOT have a minor-league refusal clause built into his contract, so the pads can move him wherever.
Or Acee might be wrong! Won’t be the first time.
France and Castellanos are not producing quality anything. Before tonight’s game Castellanos had signed his DFA ticket with a 3 for 16 start with a .485 OPS and his 2 for 4 tonight saved his job. Song plays positions of need. Castellanos does not and France has not in 5 years. France is a 1B. Acee is usually wrong, so he could have said that about the options.
I think you can keep one of Castellanos/France when Song comes back.. not sure what other options they have now for the bench. Bowen is kind of interesting but lots of Ks.
Nick, Estrada had one bad appearance and has 4 scoreless appearances since then giving up 1 hit with 5 strike outs and no walks. In other words, his performance has been anything but lackluster. It has been outstanding since that one bad outing. Instead of just looking at the overall stats, look at what has actually happened on the field. Then you won’t look so bad all the time.
I agree with most of this in the sense that the results have been good aside from the one bad outing, but the thing that worries me with Estrada is his average fastball velocity this year has only been 95.4mph and last year it was 97.9mph. It’s not the end of the world that he lost 2.5mph on his heater, but its a sign that he may not be as dominant as he was last year.
The velocity is a concern. Good point. It was noted in spring training that he lost like 20 pounds in the off-season.i wonder if that has anything to do with it, or if he’s still building up.
I agree that the velo is a concern, but his one bad game was due to lack of control which he seemed to fix since. So it remains to be seen how hittable he’ll be.
Good to see Marquez go five strong and help out the BP. Thinkin Buehler is the first to go in the rotation once Canning (or even Waldron) is ready. Thinkin Bradgley goes down for Adam and France for Song. Not entirely sold on Castellanos yet, but I’d take the power upside off the bench over France’s glove.
I predict Song stays in the minors a while longer. Pads do need another lefty bat, but France provides a lot of defensive value and is a solid bench bat.
I think it’s still too early to predict whether they keep Buehler or Marquez. Marquez by virtue of his slight velocity edge alone, may make his ceiling higher. Joe may also be slow played for the next couple months. Who knows when he makes his debut.
The good news is Canning is fairly close. They can option Hart and keep Buehler or Marquez (IMO, Buehler) as the long man in the BP until Musgrove comes back or they need to make a decision on Waldron. I appreciate the attempt w/ Buehler but I prefer Waldron’s upside at this point. Obviously early in the season and things can change. I wouldn’t mind if Song stayed in the minors to get some extra seasoning at SS and adjusting to MLB velo. Not like he’s dominating there. Bench seems painfully underutilized with 3 RH 1B types, but I suppose even if France hits a little it’s fine.
Let’s hope Canning gives us something close to his career year last year (3.77 ERA)