Everything we're learning about the San Diego Padres pitching staff early in spring training.
Dylan Cease, arguably the most talented pitcher on the 2025 starting staff, is now in Toronto after signing a massive seven-year, $210 million deal early in free agency. In the bullpen, last year's All-Star closer, Robert Suarez, is also gone, as he signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Atlanta Braves.
Aside from those three significant losses, the Padres have all their main contributors back, plus a few new additions. A returning Joe Musgrove and a healthy Michael King are at the forefront of the rotation. In the bullpen, Mason Miller will be the closer, with a healthy Jason Adam back to set him up alongside fellow All-Star Adrian Morejon.over the next few weeks of Cactus League play. Here's everything we're learning about the Padres pitching staff early in spring training.The Padres have three clear starters heading into this season in King, Musgrove and Nick Pivetta. After that, there are tons of question marks.Randy Vásquez, who had a breakout season in 2025, is going to be the No. 4 starter in the rotation barring any unforeseen circumstances. The right-hander has made two starts this spring, pitching 4.2 shutout innings with five strikeouts and just one hit allowed. His fastball velocity has been way up from last year and he's showing that he's ready for an encore season after his 3.84 ERA across a career-high 133.2 innings last year. The Padres had the best bullpen in baseball last year — and that was before they added Miller at the trade deadline.Adam, Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada are the set-up men, but there's plenty of depth behind them. Wandy Peralta, David Morgan, Bryan Hoeing, Bradgley Rodriguez, Alek Jacob, Kyle Hart and Ron Marinaccio are competing for the final bullpen spots. Yuki Matsui, who made 61 appearances last season,The Padres added tons of veteran starting pitchers to their rotation mix, especially as of late. Germán Márquez, Walker Buehler, Marco Gonzales and Griffin Canning were all added in February, giving the Padres plenty of options to fill the back of their rotation. They also added Triston McKenzie in December.One or two of these pitchers will almost certainly make up the final one or two spots in the rotation. If none of these guys step up, the Padres could be forced into adding a starting pitcher via trade sooner rather than later as they wait for Canning andThe best-case scenario for the Padres is one of Márquez, Buehler, Gonzales or McKenzie impresses throughout spring training and solidifies the back of the rotation. If not, A.J. Preller could be forced to work the phones earlier than he may have wanted.Noah Camras graduated from the University of Southern California in 2022 with a B.A. in Journalism and a minor in sports media studies. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and has extensively covered Southern California sports in his career. Noah is the publisher of Padres on SI after contributing as a writer and editor over the last three years.
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