Poll: Do Season-Opening Streaks Carry Extra Weight?
MLB’s regular season is officially underway, and clubs are already in the thick of the race to the postseason. One of the biggest storylines of the season so far has surrounded three teams that have gone streaking to open the year. The Dodgers (8-0) and Padres (7-0) have both yet to lose a game, while the Braves (0-7) have yet to win after opening the season against those two clubs. Those streaks have led to all three clubs getting plenty of attention, particularly the Dodgers as they became the first team in MLB history to follow up a World Series championship by starting the next season with eight straight wins.
Perhaps even more focus has been placed on Atlanta, however, as the club was widely expected entering the season to be a top contender for not only the NL East, but also the World Series this year. Though the club finished second to the Phillies in a recent MLBTR poll about who would win the division this year, Atlanta received 32% of the vote, nearly double the third-place Mets’ 18% figure. The playoff odds at Fangraphs told an even rosier story, as the club was given a 93.2% chance to make the playoffs prior to the season beginning, as well as a 63.7% chance at winning the division and a 15.7% chance at a World Series championship that was second only to the Dodgers themselves.
The club’s 0-7 start has caused those odds to plummet, however, as Fangraphs now affords the Braves just a 70.5% chance at making the postseason, with a 32.6% chance at winning the division and a 9.1% chance to win the World Series. It’s a steep drop for just one week of games, and by contrast the Padres have seen their projected fortunes improve just as much, going from a 30.6% chance to make the postseason heading into Opening Day all the way up to a 54.4% chance entering play today. Even the pessimistic playoff odds the Braves are facing don’t hold a candle to the perception of many fans and media members, however. Much has been made of the fact that no team in baseball history has recovered from a 0-7 start to make the postseason, and that the 1980 Braves (81-80) and 1983 Astros (85-77) are the only clubs to even finish with a winning record.
With that being said, however, it must be noted that this only applies to teams that began the season with a 0-7 record. Plenty of teams have made the playoffs with seven-game losing streaks on their resumes, particularly in recent years as the postseason has begun to expand. Just last year, the Royals made the playoffs with two separate seven-game losing streaks to their names. The 2017 Dodgers infamously suffered a 1-16 stretch that included an 11-game losing streak before turning things around and making it to Game Seven of the World Series.
Of course, that’s not to say all of the sentiments surrounding these clubs are built on the biases that could surround a small-sample performance. The Dodgers were viewed around the league as the best team in baseball well before the 2025 season began, not only because they won the World Series last year but also because they aggressively improved the club by adding Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, and Roki Sasaki (among others) this winter. Meanwhile, concerns about Atlanta’s path into the postseason this year could be argued to have just as much to do with a deep group of potential playoff teams in the NL, the PED suspension of Jurickson Profar, and shoulder surgery for Reynaldo Lopez as they do the team’s actual record on the field.
It also can’t be entirely dismissed that some streaks have more impact on a club’s future competitiveness than others. Naturally, large swings in the standings are more likely to have a relative impact in the first half of the year than the second half, as they can factor into the decisions club executives make over the summer regarding whether to buy or sell at the trade deadline. That impacts the overall talent level of a club in a way that streaks such as the aforementioned strings of losses suffered by the 2017 Dodgers and 2024 Royals, all of which occurred after that season’s deadline, simply cannot replicate.
Where do MLBTR readers fall on this topic? Are the strings of wins the Dodgers and Padres are presently enjoying and the string of losses in Atlanta more meaningful than they would be if they occurred later in the season instead? Or does the fact that every game counts the same in the standings at the end of the season mean it’s no different than any other streak? Have your say in the poll below:
Do Streaks Matter More At The Start Of The Season?
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No, every game counts the same. 66% (1,670)
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Yes, it's more impactful for a team to start the season on a streak than it is for one to happen later in the season. 34% (847)
Total votes: 2,517
Padres Select Oscar González, Outright Eguy Rosario
The Padres announced that outfielder Oscar González has been selected to the 40-man roster and optioned to Triple-A El Paso. To open a 40-man spot, right-hander Jhony Brito was transferred to the 60-day injured list. The Friars also announced that infielder Eguy Rosario, who was designated for assignment a week ago, cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A El Paso.
González, 27, signed a minor league deal with the Padres in the offseason. When he didn’t make the Opening Day roster, it was reported that he had an in-season opt-out at some point. That’s presumably why he is being added to the roster but kept in El Paso today. The club doesn’t have a spot on the active roster for him but also doesn’t want him to get away. He’ll give them some optionable depth for now.
He has shown a bit of pop but also with pretty rough plate discipline. He made a splash with the Guardians in 2022, hitting 11 home runs in just 382 plate appearances, plus another clutch home run in the playoffs. But his 3.9% walk rate was very low and dropped to 2.8% the following year. He has also only drawn walks in 4.7% of his minor league plate appearances since the cancelled 2020 season.
When his results tapered off in 2023, the Guardians optioned him to the minors several times and put him on waivers at season’s end. He was claimed by the Yankees but passed through waivers shortly thereafter. He spent 2024 in the Yankees’ minor league system, hitting eight home runs in 78 Triple-A games. He didn’t get called to the majors and was able to elect free agency at the end of the year, which led him to the Friars.
He had a huge .400/.431/.564 showing in the spring but with a .500 batting average on balls in play in that small sample. In four games with El Paso thus far, he has two home runs but a .167 batting average and no walks. It’s a flawed profile but the Padres are perhaps intrigued by the power potential, at least enough to give him a 40-man spot for now.
They have Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. locked into the center and right field positions respectively. The left field and designated hitter spots are more open, currently featuring a rotating cast that includes Jason Heyward, Brandon Lockridge, Gavin Sheets and Yuli Gurriel. Lockridge isn’t fully established as a big leaguer while the other three have been fairly inconsistent in recent years. If any of them struggle or get hurt, the Padres could turn to Tirso Ornelas, Connor Joe or González, who are each on the 40-man.
The reason they had a 40-man spot to work with is that they evidently don’t expect Brito back anytime soon. He started the year on the 15-day IL due to a right forearm strain. The club hasn’t provided any updates on his status but this transfer means he can’t be reinstated until late May at the earliest.
As for Rosario, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him go unclaimed. He is out of options, meaning he would have needed an active roster spot with any claiming club, but his numbers have been decent. His major league work comes in a sample of just 100 plate appearances but he has a solid .245/.283/.500 line in those. He has slashed .279/.363/.493 for a 115 wRC+ in the minor leagues since the cancelled 2020 season. Defensively, he has experience at all four infield spots and right field.
President of baseball operations suggested recently that the Padres would find a trade partner for Rosario. “Eguy’s a big league player,” Preller said. “…He’s going to get an opportunity to go elsewhere and play in the big leagues I would think immediately, and we’ll try to add some value through a trade here in the next week.” But not only did the Padres not line up a trade. No club was even willing to grab Rosario off the wire.
He’ll therefore stick with the Padres as non-roster depth. Since this is his first career outright assignment and he has less than three years of big league service time, he does not have the right to elect free agency.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Padres Sign Jackson Merrill To Nine-Year Extension
The Padres announced that they have signed star outfielder Jackson Merrill to a nine-year contract extension that runs through 2034 with a club option for 2035. Reportedly, it guarantees the star $135MM. Merrill was previously slated to reach free agency after 2029, so this extends the club’s window of control by at least five years. The outfielder is represented by KHG Sports Management.
The salary breaks down as follows: $10MM signing bonus, $1MM in 2026, $6MM in ’27, $8MM in ’28, $10MM in ’29, $20MM annually between 2030-34. There are $30MM in plate appearance escalators that can push his salary earnings to $165MM. Each time Merrill gets to 500 plate appearances in a season, he adds $1MM to his future salaries for the 2030-2034 seasons. The deal can max out at $204MM and includes a $30MM club option for a tenth season that can be converted to a player option. The club option becomes a player option with a top five finish in MVP voting, while a top ten finish is also an escalator.
Merrill’s breakout was a stunningly impressive part of the 2024 season. It didn’t completely come out of nowhere, as Merrill was a first-round pick, selected 27th overall in 2021. He was one of the top prospects in baseball during his time in the minors. However, by the end of the 2023 season, his experience was still limited. He was drafted out of high school, meaning he had not played college ball. His minor league track record consisted of just 200 games. None of those were at the Triple-A level and only 46 were at Double-A. He wouldn’t celebrate his 21st birthday until April 19th of 2024.
On top of his youth and inexperience, the Padres were asking him to make a major defensive shift. He had primarily been a shortstop in the minors but the Friars had Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts in their middle infield. In center field, Trent Grisham‘s bat had fallen off and the Padres sent him to the Yankees as part of the Juan Soto deal. The Padres tried Merrill there in the spring, liked the results and gave him the job.
In spite of his talents, it would have been understandable if there were some growing pains for a guy so young and learning a premium defensive position on the fly. But no such pains were evident, as Merrill flourished. He hit 24 home runs for the Padres last year. His 4% walk rate was low but he also kept his strikeouts down to a 17% clip. His .292/.326/.500 batting line translated to a 130 wRC+, indicating he was 30% better than league average. He stole 16 bases in 19 tries. Defensive Runs Saved considered him to be league average in center, no small feat given the circumstances. Even more impressively, he was credited with 11 Outs Above Average, a mark that put him in the top ten of center fielders last year.
The overall package was very strong. FanGraphs credited him with 5.3 wins above replacement and Baseball Reference 4.4. That would have made him a slam-dunk Rookie of the Year in many seasons, but Merrill was up against Paul Skenes and his incredible debut. Merrill got seven out of 30 first-place votes and finished second to Skenes in National League ROY voting. He also finished ninth in the NL Most Valuable Player vote.
Kim departed via free agency after 2024 and the Padres could have considered moving Merrill back to shortstop this year, though president of baseball operations A.J. Preller quickly shot that down in October. The move to center field had gone so smoothly that they didn’t want to mess with it. The 2025 season could hardly have started better. Merrill has a line of .400/.435/.600 through six games as the Padres are undefeated.
The Padres clearly love Merrill. That’s why they nabbed him with a first-round pick and promoted him so quickly. They also reportedly discussed an extension with him prior to his debut, showing tremendous faith in him before he had even proved himself in the majors.
After that breakout, they probably wished they had got something done ahead of time, as he only increased his earning potential last year. Broadly speaking, extension prices go up as guys get further into their arbitration years and closer to free agency. We can only guess what number it would have taken to get a deal done a year ago. The Padres have had plenty of financial pressures in recent years but Merrill’s price would likely only go up over time, so now is better than later.
In terms of pre-arbitration extensions, Merrill comes in a bit below the top guarantees but on a shorter deal that will still allow him to hit free agency with a lot of earning power. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the top guarantees for pre-arb extensions are for Fernando Tatis Jr., Bobby Witt Jr. and Julio Rodríguez. Tatis got $340MM but on a 14-year deal that essentially bought out his entire career. Witt got a guarantee of $288.8MM on an 11-year pact but he seems likely to opt out after seven years with with $148.8MM banked. Rodríguez got a $210MM guarantee over 12 years but with a complicated club/player option structure that could see him depart after seven seasons.
Merrill’s guarantee comes in a bit below that tier of players but on a shorter deal. The final guaranteed year of this pact will be his age-31 season, meaning he will still have a chance to secure another notable guarantee in the future via free agency. The option could keep him in San Diego another year but he also has a decent shot at converting it to a player option. As mentioned, he already finished ninth in MVP voting in his rookie season, so getting into the top five isn’t far-fetched. He has a decent shot of pushing up his salary earnings via those escalators. He also gets to bank huge money ahead of schedule, as he previously wasn’t slated to qualify for arbitration until after 2026.
For the Padres, they have had a budget crunch in recent years but they love their guys. Over the past five years, this is the sixth extension worth at least $80MM that they have put on the books, the others having gone to Tatis, Manny Machado, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Jake Cronenworth.
Since this deal starts in 2026, it won’t affect the club’s competitive balance tax number in 2025. The specific annual breakdown hasn’t been publicly reported but early-career extensions often involve gradually escalating salaries. Musgrove’s deal is done after 2027. Nick Pivetta can opt out of his deal after 2026 or 2027. Robert Suarez can opt out of his pact after 2025. Luis Arráez, Dylan Cease and Michael King are each making notable salaries and are slated for free agency after this year. Though the budget has clearly been tight recently, the Friars evidently felt that they had enough wiggle room in the future to make this work.
It still amounts to a large pile of future commitments. Between Merrill, Bogaerts, Tatis and Machado, they have four mega contracts on the books through at least 2033. In recent years, with the collapse of their TV deal, that’s led to some budget crunches. The front office has had to get creative, including trading away Soto. They got huge value from a $1MM investment in Jurickson Profar last year, though that now looks suspect in the wake of his recent PED suspension. This winter, they took similar low-cost fliers on players like Kyle Hart and Jason Heyward, as well as a back-loaded deal for Pivetta.
Perhaps more such maneuverings are in the club’s future, as they seem content to run an imbalanced payroll with heavily-paid stars while they look for upside plays elsewhere. For fans, that means they can look forward to watching the Merrill/Tatis/Machado/Bogaerts core for close to another decade, while the supporting characters might rotate. For Merrill, thanks to his quick ascent to the majors, he was able to put nine figures in the bank while still having a chance to hit the open market in his early 30s.
Robert Murray of Fansided first reported that the two sides were in agreement on a nine-year deal with a $135MM guarantee and $30MM club/player option that could max out at $204MM. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported that it started in 2026. Dennis Lin of The Athletic reported the presence of the $30MM in plate appearance escalators that could bump the overall salary payout to $165MM. MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald reported the specifics on those escalators. Russell Dorsey of Yahoo reported the $10MM signing bonus, that the club option becomes a player option with a top five finish in MVP voting, and that a top ten finish is also an escalator. Heyman reported the salary breakdown.
Photos courtesy of Orlando Ramirez and Denis Poroy, Imagn Images
Padres, D-Backs In Discussions To Play Mexico City Series In 2026
The Diamondbacks and Padres are in discussions with MLB about playing a regular season series in Mexico City next year, report Dennis Lin and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The league has yet to make that event official.
MLB and the Players Association agreed to the establishment of the “World Tour” series to promote international play in the 2022 collective bargaining agreement. The CBA provides for a possible Mexico City event in May 2026. It also includes the possibility for a London series in June and one in San Juan in September, but MLB has not proceeded with every World Tour series contemplated in the bargaining agreement. The CBA permitted 2025 events in Mexico City, Paris and San Juan — none of which will happen for economic reasons.
Arizona and San Diego were scheduled for a two-game series in Mexico City on April 18-19, 2020. Those games were canceled for obvious reasons. MLB played its first regular season games in the city three years later. The Padres and Giants met for two games on April 29-30, 2023. The Rockies and Astros played there on April 27-28 last season.
There will not be any regular season contests in Mexico this year, though the Red Sox played a pair of Spring Training games against a Mexican League team in Monterrey. The only regular season action outside the U.S. and Canada this season was the season-opening Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs.
Padres Outright Tyler Wade
The Padres announced that Tyler Wade was outrighted to Triple-A El Paso after going unclaimed on waivers. As a player with five years of major league service, Wade could have declined the minor league assignment while retaining his $900K salary. It seems he’s comfortable enough with the organization to report to Triple-A instead of pursuing other opportunities.
San Diego designated Wade and Eguy Rosario, both of whom are out of minor league options, for assignment on Opening Day. Teams have seven days to resolve DFA limbo. Waivers take 48 hours, so teams have five days after a DFA to line up a trade. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller said the team was trying to find a trade partner on Rosario, but he’d presumably end up on waivers tomorrow if they don’t make a trade this evening. Wade hit waivers more quickly, as he was less likely to get an MLB roster spot from another team.
The lefty-hitting Wade held a spot on San Diego’s big league roster for all of 2024. He appeared in 90 games, hitting .217/.285/.239 without a home run through 156 plate appearances. It’s an incredibly light bat, but Wade is a plus runner who can play anywhere aside from catcher. The Padres guaranteed him $900K on a deal with a $1MM club option to buy out his final arbitration season. That gave him a decent chance to win another bench job entering Spring Training, but he was jumped on the depth chart in camp.
Wade had a poor spring, hitting .209 with one homer in 19 games. San Diego brought in Jose Iglesias on a minor league contract with a $3MM base salary that made him a strong candidate to win the backup shortstop job. Iglesias, Yuli Gurriel and Gavin Sheets all made the roster as minor league signees. Brandon Lockridge had a great Spring Training to take the fourth outfield role. Lockridge runs very well himself, so he can replace Wade as Mike Shildt’s top pinch-running option.
The lack of flexibility on the bench obstructs Wade’s path back to the big leagues. He’s versatile enough to serve as injury insurance or an alternative if Iglesias isn’t performing well.
Jay Jackson To Retire
After a professional career that spanned 17 years, veteran right-hander Jay Jackson is hanging up his glove. Robert Murray of FanSided reported this afternoon that Jackson is retiring from his playing career, adding that the 37-year-old hopes to have a second act in baseball, whether that comes by working for a team or in broadcasting.
Jackson was selected by the Cubs in the ninth-round of the 2008 MLB draft and made his pro debut later the summer at 20 years old. A fringe top-100 prospect entering the 2010 season after he pitched to a 2.98 ERA in 24 starts across three levels of the Chicago farm system, Jackson spent the next three seasons struggling at the Triple-A level without breaking into the majors. He was eventually released by the Cubs in early 2013 and bounced between the Marlins, Pirates, and Brewers before eventually landing with the Padres prior to the 2015 season. In San Diego, the right-hander moved to a full-time bullpen role and dominated the Double- and Triple-A levels, earning the opportunity to pitch in the majors for the first time in his career.
Jackson’s first big league cup of coffee did not go especially well, as he surrendered three runs in 4 1/3 innings across six appearances. Even so, the opportunity was enough to get the righty noticed by the Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He pitched for the Carp for three seasons, from 2016 to 2018, and put together an impressive resume with a sterling 2.11 ERA and a 26.9% strikeout rate in 175 NPB innings. That work earned him his second big league opportunity, as he returned to the Brewers organization and pitched to a 4.45 ERA across 30 1/3 innings of work in 2019, but it was only after a second sojourn to Japan (this time as a member of the Chiba Lotte Marines) in 2020 that Jackson was able to stick in the majors.
After signing with the Giants in 2021 for his age-33 season, Jackson enjoyed a late-career stretch of success in the majors. Though he pitched just 52 2/3 innings at the big league level for San Francisco, Atlanta, and Toronto from 2021 to 2023, Jackson posted an excellent 2.73 ERA across those 50 appearances and struck out 26.5% of his opponents. That was enough to earn Jackson a look from the Twins last year in his age-36 season, though he struggled badly with a 7.52 ERA across 20 appearances before being released by Minnesota last year. Jackson initially signed with the Mexican League’s Bravos de Leon earlier this month in an effort to continue his playing career, but evidently has now decided to wrap up his days as a player instead.
Overall, Jackson pitched to a lifetime 4.43 ERA (97 ERA+) with a 4.47 FIP across 113 2/3 major league innings, with a 7-4 record and 136 strikeouts in 104 career games. That’s in addition to his excellent years in Japan, where he posted a 2.16 ERA and struck out 204 batters in 183 NPB innings. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Jackson on his nearly two decades of work in baseball and wish him all the best in whatever comes next.
Preller: Padres Exploring Eguy Rosario Trades
The Padres faced several tough roster decisions in the final days of spring training, perhaps none more difficult than their call on out-of-options infielder Eguy Rosario. The decision was eventually made to designate Rosario for assignment in favor of several veterans who were selected to the 40-man roster: Jose Iglesias and Yuli Gurriel among them. Rosario has often shown glimpses of upside and has hit well in Triple-A, for the most part. He’s also posted huge strikeout totals and poor OBP marks in the majors, however, and he had a rough showing in spring training.
President of baseball operations A.J. Preller spoke highly of Rosario in the wake of his DFA and suggested that he expects to find a trade partner for the 25-year-old (via Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune).
“Eguy’s a big league player,” Preller said. “…He’s going to get an opportunity to go elsewhere and play in the big leagues I would think immediately, and we’ll try to add some value through a trade here in the next week.”
Rosario has only appeared in 100 big league games to this point in his career, due in no small part to a crowded San Diego infield featuring high-profile and high-priced veterans like Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Luis Arraez, Jake Cronenworth and (through the 2024 season) Ha-Seong Kim. Rosario has gotten occasional calls to the big leagues when players are injured, but he’s never topped last year’s 57 plate appearances in the majors. So far, he’s posted a .245/.283/.500 line with five homers, seven doubles and a triple. He’s also drawn just four walks against 34 strikeouts.
Down in Triple-A, Rosario’s numbers look more well-rounded. He’s played parts of three seasons with the Padres’ top affiliate in El Paso and batted .275/.362/.502 in 1164 turns at the plate. A right-handed hitter, Rosario has posted much better numbers against southpaws, but he still has strong right-on-right numbers in Triple-A. That’s not the case in the big leagues, but a .146/.226/.146 slash doesn’t carry too much weight when it’s a sample of 54 plate appearances and comes in scattered, infrequent playing time. Plus, Rosario has demolished big league lefties at a .348/.348/.870 rate in 46 plate appearances. His batted-ball metrics (exit velocity, hard-hit rate, etc.) aren’t great in the majors or in Triple-A, but he’s demonstrated some clear extra-base pop.
Defensively, Rosario has spent the bulk of his time at third base — more than 3400 professional innings. However, he’s also logged more than 2600 innings at second base, another 1200 innings at short and a handful of games at both first base and in right field. Baseball America’s scouting reports on Rosario praise his plus arm but note that despite good speed and athleticism, his actions and range make him better suited for work at third or second.
Despite his minimal playing time when on the big league roster, Rosario has spent enough time in the majors to have more than one year of service time. Any team that acquires him via trade or waivers would pick up five seasons of control, though he’d have to go directly on the big league roster due to his lack of options.
Padres Designate Eguy Rosario, Tyler Wade For Assignment
The Padres finalized their Opening Day roster. As previously reported, they selected catcher Martín Maldonado and infielders Jose Iglesias and Yuli Gurriel onto the roster. San Diego created one vacancy on Tuesday when they returned Rule 5 pick Juan Nunez to the Orioles. They cleared the final two spots by designating out-of-options infielders Eguy Rosario and Tyler Wade for assignment.
Both moves were expected. San Diego announced on Monday that outfielder Brandon Lockridge had made the club. Maldonado, Iglesias, Gurriel, Lockridge and Gavin Sheets would round out the bench and designated hitter position. That left no room for Rosario and Wade, neither of whom could be sent to the minors without going on waivers.
Rosario, 25, has taken exactly 100 major league plate appearances over the past three seasons. He’s a .245/.283/.500 hitter. He has hit five homers but struck out 34 times while drawing four walks. The righty-swinging infielder hit .200 with three homers but 16 strikeouts over 61 plate appearances this spring. He owns a .275/.362/.502 slash line in nearly 1200 career Triple-A plate appearances. There’s a decent chance he’ll land elsewhere on waivers.
Wade appeared in 90 games last season in a utility role. He hit .217/.285/.239 through 156 plate appearances. The Padres signed him to a $900K deal to avoid arbitration in his final year of control. That included a $1MM club option for 2026. Wade has more than five years of service time, so he could decline a minor league assignment while retaining that salary if he goes unclaimed. He hit .209 with one homer in 19 Spring Training games.
Meanwhile, left-hander Omar Cruz cracked the Opening Day bullpen. San Diego added him to the 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He’ll make his big league debut with his first appearance of the season. The 26-year-old southpaw worked 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball in Spring Training. He pitched mostly in a long relief role last year in the upper minors. Cruz combined for a 3.96 ERA with an excellent 32.3% strikeout rate over 86 1/3 innings between the top two minor league levels. He’ll provide a long relief option out of Mike Shildt’s bullpen with Bryan Hoeing and Jhony Brito each starting the year on the injured list.
Padres Outright Brett Sullivan
Catcher Brett Sullivan went unclaimed on outright waivers after being designated for assignment on Sunday, the Padres announced. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A El Paso to begin the season, meaning he’ll stick with the organization as a depth option but won’t occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Sullivan has neither the requisite service time nor the prior outright needed to reject today’s assignment in favor of free agency.
Sullivan, 31, has appeared in 40 games and taken 103 plate appearances with San Diego over the past two seasons. He’s a .206/.243/.299 hitter with a pair of homers, a 22.3% strikeout rate and a 4.9% walk rate in that time. He’s delivered solid offense in Triple-A, however, hitting .287/.367/.497 with 24 homers, 47 doubles and nearly as many walks (11.1%) as strikeouts (11.9%) over the course of 732 plate appearances there.
Defensively, Sullivan has received shaky grades for both his framing and throwing. He’s shown some defensive versatility though, logging 723 career innings in left field, 694 at third base and 35 at first base in the minors (all in addition to 4547 innings behind the plate).
Now that Sullivan has cleared waivers, he’ll be in El Paso alongside the recently optioned Luis Campusano. They’ll be first up in the event of injuries or changes to the big league catching tandem of Elias Diaz and Martin Maldonado.
Padres Return Rule 5 Pick Juan Nunez To Orioles
5:10pm: The O’s have officially announced that Nunez has cleared waivers and is back with them. He has been assigned to their minor league camp.
4:25pm: The Padres are returning Rule 5 pick Juan Nunez to the Orioles, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Rule 5 players have to clear waivers before being offered back to their original club. It’s not clear if that has happened yet. Regardless, the Padres open a 40-man roster spot. If Nunez officially winds up back with the Orioles, he will not need to take a 40-man spot with that club.
Nunez, 24, is a right-handed pitcher who has worked both as a starter and reliever. Originally a Twins prospect, he was one of four players sent to the Orioles as part of the August 2022 Jorge López trade.
In his time in the minors, he has posted a large number of strikeouts but also plenty of walks. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 230 2/3 innings across various levels with a 3.32 earned run average. He punched out 29.6% of opponents but gave out free passes at an 11% clip.
He started 2024 at the High-A level. He was shut down in May with a shoulder injury, limiting him to just seven starts on the year. That made him something of a surprise pick in the Rule 5, since he still hadn’t even reached the Double-A level. Per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, he was slowed by that shoulder again to start camp. He eventually made four appearances in the Cactus League but gave out six walks compared to just four strikeouts.
Nunez was already going to have a tough path to breaking camp. He has no upper-level minor league experience and is coming off a mostly lost season. It certainly didn’t help that the shoulder problems carried over to this year and he struggled with his control.
The Padres also need to open a number of 40-man spots. They are planning to select the contracts of several non-roster invitees, with Jose Iglesias, Yuli Gurriel and Martín Maldonado reportedly all making the club. Nunez will open one spot. It also seems that Tyler Wade and Eguy Rosario are going to be removed, since both are out of options and aren’t going to make the Opening Day roster.