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Padres Release Jason Heyward

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The Padres announced that they’ve released Jason Heyward. That was the anticipated outcome after he was designated for assignment over the weekend.

San Diego signed Heyward to a one-year, $1MM free agent deal. They hoped he’d hold his own as the left-handed part of a cheap left field platoon. It hasn’t worked. Heyward hit .176/.223/.271 with a pair of home runs in 95 plate appearances. He missed a couple weeks in mid-April with knee inflammation and has been sidelined since May 24 with an oblique strain. He’s now healthy, but the Padres opted not to put him back on the active roster. San Diego left fielders are hitting .220/.270/.320 across 296 trips to the plate overall. It’s a clear area to upgrade as the deadline approaches.

Heyward, 35, returns to the open market. He split last season between the Dodgers and Astros, batting .211/.288/.412 over 87 games. He’d surprisingly turned in a robust .269/.340/.473 slash as a platoon bat for the Dodgers two seasons ago, but his production has dropped off since then. If he catches on elsewhere, his new team would only pay him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for whatever time he spends in the big leagues. The Padres would otherwise be on the hook for the rest of his salary.

Michael King Unlikely To Return Prior To All-Star Break

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TODAY: King addressed reporters (including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune) about his status, and said that he is “very confident that I will pitch by the end of the year.”  This framing isn’t exactly a relief to Padres fans since there seemingly hadn’t been any concern that King’s season could be in jeopardy, yet the righty painted a reasonably positive view about the progress that he has made to date.

“I’ve had days where I’ve been really, really frustrated with it and been really sore and felt like I didn’t get much activity that day,” King said.  “And then I’ll wake up the next day and all of a sudden [it’s] like, ’Oh my God, I feel like I can pitch in a game right now.’  So it’s taking it step by step and knowing that [the nerve] can fire when it fires, but obviously it’s that annoying process.  I’ve got a ton of confidence that what we’re doing is the correct thing to do, and I’ve felt my body progress in great ways.”

JUNE 19: The Padres have been without right-hander Michael King for nearly a month now due to a pinched nerve in his shoulder, and it doesn’t sound as though he’ll be rejoining the team anytime soon. Asked yesterday by MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell whether King would be out through the All-Star break, manager Mike Shildt replied, “I think that’s pretty accurate” before declining to put a specific target date on the star right-hander’s return.

It’s a brutal injury for all parties involved. King is a free agent at season’s end and appeared to have a chance at cashing in on a nine-figure contract in free agency after a dominant run dating back to his late-2023 move to the rotation when he was still with the Yankees. An absence of this length owing to a fairly uncommon shoulder issue does him no favors in that regard. From the team’s perspective, he’s one of their top rotation options — if not the top rotation option — and there’s minimal depth to replace him.

[Related: 2025-26 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings]

King, 30, opened the 2025 season on a tear. In his first 10 starts, he logged a 2.59 ERA with a gaudy 28.4% strikeout rate, a sharp 7.6% walk rate and a 38.3% grounder rate. He averaged less than a homer per nine innings pitched, held opponents to a pedestrian 88 mph average exit velocity and had tossed his first career shutout against the Rockies on April 13. Add all of that onto to King’s 2024 season and his huge finish to the 2023 campaign, and the former 12th-round pick (Marlins, 2016) boasts an electric 2.72 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate in 267 2/3 innings since his full-time move to rotation work.

With King joining Joe Musgrove (2024 Tommy John surgery) and Yu Darvish (elbow inflammation) on the injured list, the Friars have leaned on Dylan Cease and Nick Pivetta atop their rotation. Cease has had two brutal outings — including his most recent one — that have skewed his ERA, but he had an 11-start run of 3.39 ERA ball with a 30.6% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate between his two meltdowns. Pivetta, who signed a creative four-year deal after lingering in free agency for much of the winter, has proven to be a godsend. He’s cooled a bit after racing out to a 2.01 ERA through his first seven starts but still sports a tidy 3.40 mark on the season, pairing that with a 27.7% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate.

The rest of San Diego’s staff hasn’t been nearly as impressive. Righties Randy Vásquez and Stephen Kolek have both posted mid-3.00 ERA marks but done so with poor strikeout and walk rates (and a poor home run rate, in Vásquez’s case), creating some justifiable skepticism about their ability to sustain their respective marks of 3.70 and 3.59.

Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Bergert has looked strong through his first three career starts and pitched well in nine Triple-A starts, too. His track record is limited, however; he posted a 4.78 ERA in 98 Double-A frames a year ago and has never reached even 110 innings in a professional season. Offseason signee Kyle Hart has been clobbered for a 6.66 ERA in his return from a big year in the Korea Baseball Organization. Knuckleballer Matt Waldron ate up 146 2/3 innings with a 4.91 ERA last year but opened the 2025 season on the injured list due to an oblique strain. He was reinstated from the 60-day IL earlier this month and optioned to Triple-A where he’s made three straight effective starts. He’s likely the next man up if the Padres need another starter.

The emergence of Bergert and the manner in which Kolek has stepped up — even if he’s been shaky since two brilliant starts to begin his season — have left the Padres in a better spot than most would’ve expected upon hearing that both King and Darvish would face protracted absences in 2025. Still, with multiple rotation arms sporting ERAs that don’t appear all that sustainable, King’s nebulous injury status is all the more problematic for San Diego.

This level of uncertainty seemed hard to imagine when King was first placed on the injured list. Shildt said at the time that the right-hander “felt like he slept on [his shoulder] wrong” at that time. It’s clear now that there was something more significant at play. King is doing some occasional light throwing work, but it sounds as though he’ll need to build through a full throwing progression and a rehab stint of some note before he’s back on the big league radar. For a Padres team that’s patching over its rotation with a series of relative unknowns and a pitcher who was eyeing a major contract in free agency, that seemingly innocuous start to his absence has snowballed in a most unwelcome manner.

Padres Activate Jackson Merrill From Concussion IL

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Center fielder Jackson Merrill has been activated from the concussion-related IL, according to an announcement by the Padres. Outfielder Brandon Lockridge was optioned to the minors in a corresponding move.

Merrill initially went on the shelf last week after he was struck by a hard tag from Ketel Marte when trying to steal second base. It was his second trip to the injured list of the year after missing a month due a hamstring strain, but this one fortunately ended up only requiring a minimal absence. Merrill is back just one week after being shelved thanks to the nature of the concussion-related IL, which comes with a minimum stay of just seven days to encourage players and clubs to be more proactive with its usage.

When healthy, Merrill has more or less followed up his sensational rookie season with an exact replica. Across 44 games this year, he’s slashed .304/.349/.474 with a wRC+ of 131. He’s striking out a bit more than last year (22.0%) but is also walking more frequently (6.5%) to go with his five homers and ten doubles. Merrill’s return to action should provide a huge boost to a Padres team that has scuffled a bit while relying on Tyler Wade and Bryce Johnson to handle center field in his absence. While they managed to score more than 4.5 runs per game during Merrill’s time away from the club, they dropped three of four in a crucial series against the Dodgers and have lost four of their last six games overall.

That may seem like a fairly minor skid, but in a hotly contested NL playoff picture it was enough to put them half a game out of the final Wild Card spot and five games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. With trade season just around the corner, the next few weeks of play will be crucial for clubs on the bubble of playoff contention like San Diego. Adding Merrill back to the middle of the lineup alongside Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado should go a long way to bolster the offense enough to help it carry a beleaguered pitching staff, to say nothing of what Merrill’s strong glove in center field could do for the Padres’ run prevention after they allowed 30 runs in seven games last week.

Departing the roster to make room for Merrill is Lockridge. The 28-year-old made his big league debut with San Diego last season and has made it into 59 total games, though he’s slashed a lackluster .210/.248/.280 (50 wRC+) to this point in his MLB career. He’s primarily been used as a defensive replacement and pinch runner thanks to his impressive speed, and in that role he’s done quite well with a 10-for-11 record on the basepaths and +3 career Outs Above Average in the outfield. He’ll head back to Triple-A and serve as depth for the Padres’ bench moving forward.

Padres Designate Jason Heyward For Assignment

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The Padres announced this afternoon that they’ve designated outfielder Jason Heyward for assignment. The move makes room on the 40-man roster for right-hander Bryan Hoeing, who has been activated from the 60-day injured list. Righty Sean Reynolds was optioned to make room for Hoeing on the active roster.

Heyward, 35, is a veteran of 16 MLB seasons who has enjoyed a decorated career since being selected 14th overall by the Braves in the 2007 draft. A well-regarded talent in the draft who rose to become the sport’s consensus #1 prospect prior to his big league debut in 2010, he turned in a brilliant inaugural campaign that year and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting behind Buster Posey. He went on to hit .268/.353/.431 with Atlanta and St. Louis across his first six years in the majors before he reached free agency.

The outfielder’s elite defense in right field, solid hitting (118 wRC+), and the fact that he was entering free agency ahead of his age-26 campaign all made him one of the top free agents on the market. He eventually signed with the Cubs on an eight-year deal that went down as a bit of an albatross. While Heyward won a pair of Gold Gloves and a World Series championship during his time in Chicago, he hit just .245/.323/.377 (88 wRC+) across seven seasons with the Cubs and was ultimately designated for assignment prior to the final year of his contract.

For many players, getting DFA’d at the end of a large contract represents the end of the line. That wasn’t the case for Heyward, however, as he managed to bounce back with the Dodgers in 2023 and slash .269/.340/.473 (120 wRC+) across 124 games as their regular right fielder. He re-signed in Los Angeles for the 2024 season and turned in a roughly league average performance but was squeezed off the roster in the second half by trade deadline acquisitions. That led to a brief stint with the Astros where he hit .218/.283/.473 (104 wRC+) before returning to free agency and signing with the Padres.

Heyward’s production has fallen off some in his age-35 season, however. The outfielder has been limited to just 34 games by injury but even when healthy enough to play has hit a paltry .176/.223/.271 in 95 plate appearances. That’s difficult production to swallow from left field, especially for a player whose once-elite defense has grown shaky with age. With Gavin Sheets having settled into left field fairly nicely this season (122 wRC+) and the approach of trade season offering a new opportunity to add reinforcements, the Padres clearly felt that they had better uses for Heyward’s 40-man roster spot. The veteran was on the injured list due to knee inflammation at the time of his DFA, but the Padres will nonetheless have one week to either trade Heyward or place him on release waivers. As an injured player, Heyward cannot be outrighted to the minor leagues.

Heyward’s departure from the roster makes room for the return of Hoeing. The right-hander has spent most of his career with the Marlins but was traded to San Diego as part of the Tanner Scott trade last summer. 2024 was a banner year for the righty, as he posted a 2.18 ERA and 3.32 FIP across 53 2/3 relief innings, including a microscopic 1.52 ERA across 23 2/3 frames as a Padre. He was a surefire bet to be part of San Diego’s late-inning mix this year before right shoulder issues left the start of his season delayed. Now that he’s back in the mix, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him start getting high leverage opportunities with the Friars moving forward.

MLB Issues Suspensions Related To Dodgers-Padres Incidents

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Major League Baseball has announced suspensions related to last night’s benches-clearing incident between the Padres and Dodgers. San Diego closer Robert Suarez was suspended three games for “intentionally hitting” Shohei Ohtani with a pitch. Suarez, who was also hit with an undisclosed fine, has elected to appeal and remains on the roster during that process.

Additionally, both managers were suspended for one game for “unsportsmanlike conduct and for contributing to inciting the benches-clearing incident.” Managers do not get an appellate right, so Dave Roberts and Mike Shildt will both be unavailable tonight. The Dodgers are hosting the Nationals, while the Padres welcome the Royals to Petco Park. Roberts told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic that bench coach Danny Lehmann will manage tonight’s game.

The suspensions are related but not all directly from the same sequence. The managers were suspended for their actions in the top of the ninth inning. Dodgers righty Jack Little, making his MLB debut, hit Fernando Tatis Jr. on his right hand with a 93 MPH fastball. It seems unlikely that Little intended to throw at Tatis, which is reflected in the league’s decision not to impose any discipline. (The Dodgers optioned Little back to Triple-A tonight.)

It was the second time that Tatis had been hit in the series, though. He’d also been hit with a pitch during these teams’ previous series one week before. The final beaning came at the end of a very tense four-game set. Dodger outfielder Andy Pages accused Dylan Cease of throwing at him on Monday. Tatis, Jose Iglesias and Ohtani were all plunked on Tuesday. Stephen Kolek drilled Pages again on Wednesday, and Lou Trivino had hit Bryce Johnson with a cutter earlier in Thursday’s game.

Shildt raced out of the dugout to check on Tatis after Little had plunked him. San Diego’s skipper had some choice words for the Dodger dugout along the way. That prompted Roberts to come onto the field. He got into Shildt’s face and bumped him, leading both dugouts to empty. Both managers were ejected. Tatis was removed from the game as an injury precaution. Little stayed in to finish the inning. The Padres had some trepidation about Tatis’ initial imaging results, but he’s fortunately back in the lineup tonight.

Suarez then came out of the bullpen for the bottom of the ninth. He hit Ohtani on the right shoulder with a 100 MPH fastball on a 3-0 count. That probably would’ve caused benches to clear again had Ohtani not quickly signaled to the L.A. dugout not to do so. Suarez and acting manager Brian Esposito were tossed by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson. San Diego’s closer told reporters tonight through an interpreter that he did not intend to hit Ohtani (video provided by 97.3 The Fan). MLB disagreed and imposed the ban.

Padres Select Bryce Johnson

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The Padres announced they’ve selected outfielder Bryce Johnson onto the big league roster. Catcher Luis Campusano has been optioned to Triple-A El Paso as the corresponding active roster move. Right-hander Yu Darvish has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot.

Johnson gives the Friars some extra outfield depth after they lost Jackson Merrill to the concussion-related injured list over the weekend. Campusano hadn’t been playing much as a third catcher behind Elias Díaz and Martín Maldonado, so it made more sense to add another outfielder to the bench. Tyler Wade and Brandon Lockridge are likely to split the center field reps, but Johnson adds a switch-hitting bat to Mike Shildt’s outfield mix.

It’ll be the second Padres stint for the 29-year-old Johnson. He appeared in 47 games and tallied a career-high 73 plate appearances with the Friars a year ago. Johnson was non-tendered at season’s end and landed with the Pirates on a minor league deal. The Padres brought him back in April in a minor league swap for depth catcher Brett Sullivan. (Today has been less kind to Sullivan, who was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh this afternoon.) Johnson has spent the bulk of the season in El Paso, where he’s hitting .303/.407/.458 with three homers and 10 steals. He’s out of minor league options, though, so they’d need to run him back through waivers to take him off the active roster.

Darvish’s IL transfer is just a formality. It backdates to Opening Day, so it doesn’t affect his eligibility for reinstatement. It’s still not clear when he’ll be ready to return. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he made it through a simulated game on Saturday.

Padres Place Jackson Merrill On Concussion IL, Select Trenton Brooks

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The Padres officially announced that outfielder Jackson Merrill has been placed on the seven-day injured list for concussion-related issues.  Infielder/outfielder Trenton Brooks will join the roster in Merrill’s place, as San Diego selected Brooks’ contract from Triple-A.

The placement isn’t a surprise, as Merrill was shaken up and had to be removed from Saturday’s game after receiving a hard tag from Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte.  Merrill was attempting to steal second base in the seventh inning, and Marte’s tag hit Merrill right in the front of his helmet.  Merrill needed a few minutes to recover before leaving the field with team trainers.

It had already been decided that Merrill would sit out today’s game to undergo further examination, and it seems as though the Padres have opted to be safe and give Merrill at least the full week to recover.  As always with concussion symptoms, no real timeline exists for recovery, as Merrill could conceivably start feeling better as soon as tomorrow, or he might be sidelined for well beyond the seven-day minimum.

Merrill already missed a month of action due to a hamstring strain earlier this season, but when he has been able to play, he has continued the impressive form that made him the NL Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2024.  Merrill is hitting .304/.349/.474 with five homers over 186 plate appearances this season, translating to a 132 wRC+ that narrowly tops the 130 wRC+ he posted over 593 PA in 2024.

Brandon Lockridge and Tyler Wade covered most of the workload in center field during Merrill’s previous IL stint, so that duo figures to handle things up the middle for the time being.  There’s no easy way for the Padres to truly replace Merrill, of course, and the outfield mix is also still missing Jason Heyward, who is on a minor league rehab assignment.

The left-handed hitting Brooks will try to help out as depth at first base and in left field.  The longtime minor league veteran finally made his big league debut last season at age 28, and Brooks appeared in 12 games for San Francisco (with a .361 OPS in 28 plate appearances) in his first taste of the majors.

Catching on with San Diego on a minors deal last winter, Brooks’ production at Triple-A El Paso has surpassed even his previous solid Triple-A numbers, as Brooks has a whopping .311/.411/.590 slash line and 14 homers over 270 PA for the Padres’ top affiliate.  Replicating anything close to that at the MLB level would be immensely helpful to the Padres, and for Brooks’ chances of sticking around in the Show.

Padres Non-Tender Jay Groome

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The Padres plan to reinstate left-hander Jay Groome from the ineligible list and non-tender him today, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Groome was one of four players serving a one-year ban for breaking MLB’s regulations about betting on baseball games. Groome’s bets were placed in 2020-21, when he was not on a 40-man roster. In its official press release at the time, the league noted that Groome wagered a total of $453 over the course of 30 bets — none pertaining to games he played or to games involving the Red Sox (his team at the time).

It’s an oddity of a transaction. Non-tenders are reserved for the offseason; any player on a roster in-season was already tendered a contract by his club over the winter or signed as a free agent. However, MLBTR has confirmed that because Groome was on the ineligible list in the offseason, he could not be tendered a contract or non-tendered. That decision had to wait until he was eligible for reinstatement. Today marks the expiration of the one-year bans on Groome, A’s right-hander Michael Kelly, D-backs lefty Andrew Saalfrank and Phillies infielder José Rodríguez. Groome is out of minor league options and hasn’t pitched in more than a year, making the decision straightforward for San Diego.

Because Groome is being non-tendered, he won’t have to pass through waivers. He’ll immediately become a free agent. He’s eligible to re-sign with the Padres on a minor league deal — not uncommon among non-tendered players, particularly pre-arbitration ones like Groome — but can also explore opportunities with any team around the league.

The now-26-year-old Groome was the 12th overall pick by the Red Sox in the 2016 draft. He was a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport for two years thereafter, despite injuries limiting his time on the mound. Groome wound up opening the 2018 season on the injured list due to a flexor strain, and five weeks later the team announced that he’d require Tommy John surgery. That cost him his entire 2018 season and limited him to just four minor league innings in 2019. The canceled minor league season in 2020 did no favors for the towering 6’6″ left-hander’s development.

By the time the 2021 season rolled around, Groome was nearly five years removed from being drafted but had only 66 professional innings under his belt. He wound up making 21 starts between High-A and Double-A, totaling 97 1/3 innings with a 4.81 ERA, a huge 32.3% strikeout rate and a solid 8.7% walk rate. He struggled considerably with men on base, leading to a 65% strand rate and that bloated ERA, but the bat-missing ability and command were impressive — particularly given the long layoff from pitching on a regular basis.

In 2022, Groome was beginning to look like a potential big league starter again. He piled up 144 innings in the minors, pitching to a combined 3.44 ERA. His 22.8% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate both needed some work, but he was healthy and putting up generally solid results. The Red Sox shipped him to the Padres as part of the trade that brought Eric Hosmer (at league-minimum salary) and prospects Corey Rosier and Max Ferguson to Boston.

Groome fared well down the stretch in ’22 with the Padres’ Triple-A club, but his 2023 season was a nightmare. He managed to make a full slate of 30 starts in Triple-A, but there weren’t many other positive takeaways. Groome was torched for an 8.55 earned run average, walked nearly 17% of his opponents and surrendered an average of 1.67 homers per nine frames. He plunked another four batters and tossed nine wild pitches. A four-seamer that used to sit 92-94 mph tanked and sat at 91 mph on the season, and by measure of Statcast, Groome threw only 42.5% of his pitches on the entire season within the strike zone.

Groome landed on the minor league injured list after pitching just five innings last year. He had not been activated by the time the suspension was announced. The Padres had been granted a fourth option year on Groome due to the injuries and canceled minor league season, but he exhausted that during the 2024 campaign. Because he’s out of minor league options, San Diego would’ve had to carry him on the big league roster or tender him a contract and immediately designate him for assignment upon reinstating him. They’re instead going the non-tender route, perhaps in hope of quickly re-signing to a minor league contract.

MLBTR Podcast: Jarren Duran Rumors, Caglianone And Young Promoted, And Pitching Injuries

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • If the Diamondbacks can’t climb in the standings, what does their deadline look like? (48:45)
  • As a thought experiment, if the Orioles were willing to listen on Gunnar Henderson, what teams would even have the pieces to pull off a trade? (54:10)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images

Ryan Bergert Expected To Join Padres Rotation

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Ryan Bergert is tabbed as the Padres probable starter for tonight’s matchup against the Giants. San Diego will recall the 25-year-old righty from Triple-A El Paso today. Bergert will go opposite Landen Roupp in his first major league start.

Bergert has been up once before. He was promoted in late April and tossed four scoreless innings in four lower-leverage situations. He’ll take on a more significant role this time around. As Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune writes, Bergert seems positioned to get a look as the fifth starter. Michael King has been out for a couple weeks with a shoulder issue. The Padres recalled Kyle Hart to take the first start in what would have been King’s spot. Hart gave up five runs through 4 2/3 innings against Miami and was promptly optioned back to Triple-A.

Dylan Cease, Nick Pivetta, Stephen Kolek and Randy Vásquez occupy the top four rotation spots. The Padres are four days into a stretch of 14 consecutive game days. They’re off next Thursday but will again play 14 straight after that. That doesn’t allow them to comfortably work around the fifth rotation spot with bullpen days. Hart and Matt Waldron have each been optioned within the past couple days. They can’t be recalled for a couple weeks barring an injury. The Padres wouldn’t have sent them down if they were planning on either being their short-term fifth starter regardless.

King has an uncertain return timeline. The Padres said last week that he’s dealing with a pinched nerve. They’ve stressed that there’s nothing structurally wrong but indicated they don’t know how quickly the nerve irritation will subside. Yu Darvish has been out all season with elbow inflammation. He was pulled off a rehab assignment after experiencing soreness last month. According to the MLB.com injury tracker, he has been throwing side sessions but he’ll presumably need at least one or two rehab starts once he’s ready to resume game action.

Bergert, a sixth-round pick out of West Virginia in 2021, ranked as San Diego’s #21 prospect at Baseball America over the winter. BA credited him with three average to slightly above-average pitches and decent control. He’s working mostly behind a 94 MPH fastball and mid-80s slider in Triple-A. He may need to lean a little more heavily on his changeup to handle left-handed hitters at the MLB level.

The approach has worked well enough for him in El Paso. Bergert has posted a 3.75 ERA with a 24% strikeout rate over nine starts. He’s unlikely to work through a lineup three times very often, however. Bergert hasn’t topped five innings in any start this year. He’s mostly pitching 3-4 inning stints. Bergert tossed four scoreless with four strikeouts during his most recent appearance last Wednesday.

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