The Padres have started their offseason rotation reset with a low-cost depth move, agreeing to a one-year deal with right-hander Ryan Weiss that includes a club option.
Weiss, who is represented by Sports One Athlete Management, became a free agent after the Astros turned down a $5MM club option and took the $500K buyout instead. For San Diego, the signing fits the kind of early roster maneuver a team can make when it has room to work with. The Padres had eight open spots on their 40-man roster and used one on a pitcher who can be moved between San Diego and Triple-A El Paso, since he still has a minor league option.
The 29-year-old is hardly a finished product, but he does give the Padres another arm to throw into the mix. Weiss has bounced through the Arizona and Kansas City farm systems after being drafted by the Diamondbacks, and he reached Triple-A with both organizations before heading overseas. He spent the 2024-25 seasons with the Fubon Guardians in Taiwan and the Hanwha Eagles in Korea, then used a 3.16 ERA across 46 starts in the KBO to land a $2.6MM deal from Houston last winter.
That move put the Wright State product in position to make his major league debut, but the results were rough. Weiss posted a near-8.00 ERA over 26 innings with the Astros, struck out 23% of hitters, and walked more than 15% of the batters he faced. Houston sent him back to Triple-A in early May, removed him from the 40-man roster a month later, and he cleared waivers before finishing the year in the minors.
In the lower levels, Weiss worked as both a starter and a multi-inning option. He made 22 appearances, 13 of them starts, and logged 76 1/3 innings with a 5.42 ERA.
His strikeout rate sat at 20.7%, while his walk rate checked in at 11%. He throws five pitches, working with a four-seam fastball that sits around 95 mph, a sinker around 93 mph, plus a slider, changeup and an occasional curveball.
The fit mirrors several recent Padres pitching additions, including Kyle Hart, Griffin Canning, Germán Márquez and Lucas Giolito. Weiss can cover multiple innings and will get a chance to compete in Spring Training, but he looks more like a long reliever than someone locked into a rotation job. At best, he profiles no higher than seventh or eighth on the depth chart.
San Diego still has much bigger work ahead. The club is in the market for rotation help at the top end, with Tarik Skubal among the names tied to them, and they’re expected to be connected to most or all of the second- and third-tier free agent starters as well.
The Padres need to rebuild essentially their entire rotation after Michael King opted out, the team declined what amounted to a two-year, $32MM option on Nick Pivetta, and deadline additions Casey Mize and Robbie Ray are likely to sign elsewhere. Walker Buehler is also on the market after finishing second on the team behind King with 153 2/3 innings this season.
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