Latest On Padres’ Bullpen Outlook
Padres right-hander Jason Adam has been targeting the Opening Day roster as he finished off his rehab from last year’s torn tendon in his quadriceps. The right-hander said three weeks back that team doctors hadn’t told him “no” on the possibility yet, and Annie Heilbrunn of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Adam could get back into games soon. He’s been ahead of schedule in camp and is slated for one final simulated game this week before a likely Cactus League debut on the weekend.
The 34-year-old Adam is a major piece of a deep San Diego bullpen. Over the past four seasons, he’s worked to a 2.07 ERA with 92 holds, 24 saves, a 29.2% strikeout rate and an 8.4% walk rate across 256 2/3 innings between the Rays and Padres. If healthy, he’d join Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada as one of closer Mason Miller‘s top setup options.
A healthy Adam also leads to a relatively crowded bullpen that could force the Friars into some tough decisions. Miller, Estrada, Morejon and Adam would be locks for bullpen spots. That’s presumably true of righty David Morgan (2.64 ERA, 47 1/3 innings in 2025) as well. Lefties Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui are pitching on multi-year contracts and can’t be optioned.
That group accounts for seven of the Padres’ eight bullpen spots. Right-hander Ron Marinaccio is out of minor league options. Right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez has multiple option years left but has excelled in camp after impressing in a brief look last year. Righty Matt Waldron might start the season on the injured list, but he’s out of minor league options as well and would need to be added to the big league roster or designated for assignment. Bryan Hoeing is shut down with an elbow issue right now.
Having more talented relievers than bullpen spots available is obviously a nice problem to have, all things considered, and depending on the injury timetables of Adam and a couple teammates, the Friars might be able to kick any 40-man decisions down the road a bit for the early portion of the season. At some point, something will have to give on one of the players who can’t be sent down (whether due to contract or lack of minor league options.
That’s especially true if the Padres want to consider breaking camp with any non-roster invitees on the big league club. Veterans Walker Buehler, Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie are among that group, but manager Craig Stammen has been talking up the chances of a different former big leaguer for a potential bullpen job: right-hander Logan Gillaspie.
“He just goes out there, competes his tail off, lot of energy and enthusiasm, throws a ton of strikes and gets a lot of outs,” manager Craig Stammen told MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell when asked about Gillaspie. He noted that Gillaspie could be used in a multi-inning role, providing some length early in games if necessary.
The 28-year-old Gillaspie has pitched in each of the past four major league seasons, including 18 innings for San Diego across the 2024-25 campaigns. He’s had pedestrian results overall, but Gillaspie is a familiar hand for many Padres coaches and is in the midst of a strong spring training (7 2/3 shutout frames, 8-to-2 K/BB ratio). Cassavell suggests that Gillaspie is viewed as having a real chance to make the club, particularly if the Padres open the season with multiple veterans on the injured list.
Padres Promote Bradgley Rodriguez
5:15pm: The Padres announced that they have officially selected Rodriguez to the roster. Lefty Kyle Hart was optioned to Triple-A El Paso as the corresponding move.
10:15am: The Padres are calling up bullpen prospect Bradgley Rodriguez, reports Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so they’ll need to formally select his contract. San Diego currently has three vacancies on their 40-man roster, however, so only a corresponding active roster move will be needed.
The 21-year-old Rodriguez will jump straight from Double-A to the big leagues. He’s appeared in 18 games this season and totaled 22 1/3 innings with a 3.22 ERA, a massive 34.8% strikeout rate and just a 5.6% walk rate. That walk rate, in particular, represents a massive step forward for a pitcher who issued a free pass to 12.2% of his opponents last year.
Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Rodriguez 14th among Padres prospects entering the season. His heater sits in the upper 90s and climbs as high as 101 mph, and he keeps lefties off balance with a plus changeup in the upper 80s/low 90s that both outlets tout as his best pitch. Rodriguez also works a slider into his arsenal, but it’s a third pitch that he rarely throws to lefties, per BA’s scouting report.
Rodriguez adds a high-octane arm to a bullpen that already ranks ninth in the majors with a 3.39 ERA and seventh with a combined 24.2% strikeout rate. The promising young righty will make his MLB debut the first time he’s called into a game by skipper Mike Shildt, though given his pedigree, he’ll have a chance to make a lasting impression and carve out a long-term role. Rodriguez has been sidelined by elbow injuries in the past during his minor league tenure, but he was dominant in 61 1/3 frames last year and has been excellent so far in 2025. The Friars control him for six full seasons (at least) beyond the current campaign.