The Padres are heading into an offseason where not every familiar bullpen arm can stay, and Jason Adam looks like one of the hardest decisions on the board.
His talent isn’t the issue. His availability is.
Adam missed most of last year with a torn quad, then lost more time this season because of a shoulder strain. At 35, that kind of injury track makes every future evaluation feel a little trickier, especially for a pitcher whose value depends on being available night after night.
There’s also the matter of role. Adam never really carved out the kind of trust with manager Craig Stammen that would make him an automatic late-inning choice.
Stammen’s preferred order leaned toward Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejon and then Mason Miller, with Rodriguez and Morejon sometimes switching places. Yuki Matsui also ended up handling a lot of middle innings, and by the end of the year he was often being used as a late-inning option too.
Adam has said he wants to stay in San Diego, but the sides haven’t discussed money yet, and the Padres are going to have limited flexibility no matter what happens with the lockout.
He earned $6.675 million last season, a price that made sense when he was staying on the mound. Spotrac currently projects him at $8.7 million on a one-year deal, which puts the Padres in a tricky spot. Anything above $8 million starts to look rich for San Diego, and if the price pushes past $10 million per year - or if Adam somehow lands a two-year deal despite the injury history - the Padres would likely have to move on.
The open market could still be kind to him. The GM meetings in November are expected to bring plenty of action, and teams in need of bullpen help may be drawn to a reliever with Adam’s résumé.
That could give him a chance to cash in. For the Padres, though, it would probably mean letting one more key reliever go.
In Other News...
Padres Just Got A Reminder Of How Dangerous Their Stars Are
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mason Miller gave the Padres another reminder of how much star power sits at the center of the roster, landing on Bleacher Reports All-MLB Team for the 2026 season. Tatis kept doing what he does best, piling up a .289 batting average with 25 home runs and 83 RBIs, while Miller emerged as one of the sports most intimidating late-inning arms after leading the National League with 38 saves.
For San Diego, the recognition is more than a nice nod from an outside outlet. It reinforces the shape of the clubs identity, with Tatis driving the lineup and Miller shutting down games at the back end, and it comes at a time when the Padres are trying to stay in the conversation among baseballs most dangerous teams. When two players can make that kind of national list in the same season, the bigger question is how much more room there is for the rest of the roster to rise around them. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Just Got Pulled Into A Padres Rotation Rumor
The Padres are expected to spend the offseason looking hard at their rotation, and that search has already pushed them into the kind of star-powered territory that tends to reshape a winter. A Bleacher Report analyst has pegged Tarik Skubal as a prime target, which is no small matter for a team that has made starting pitching one of its clearest priorities going into the next round of roster building.
Skubal is coming off a 2026 season with the Dodgers, and the price tag attached to his next deal is expected to be enormous. For San Diego, the appeal is obvious: an elite left-hander at the top of the market would immediately change the look of the staff. Whether the Padres can actually get involved at that level is the real question, especially with a record-setting contract likely waiting on the other side. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Bet On Casey Mize Just Became An Awkward Offseason Subplot
The Padres took a swing on Casey Mize before the 2026 trade deadline, hoping the former top prospect could give their rotation a late-season lift. Instead, the stretch run turned rough quickly, with Mize posting a 7.46 ERA over 10 starts and eventually finishing the year on the injured list because of a right ankle sprain. For a team that has spent plenty of time trying to patch together pitching depth, it left San Diego with more questions than answers.
Now Mize is headed into free agency, which makes his short Padres stint look even stranger in hindsight. Despite what happened in San Diego, some analysts still expect him to land a multi-year deal, with the Detroit Tigers viewed as a possible fit. For the Padres, it is a reminder that deadline bets can turn awkward fast, especially when the player in question never gets long enough to change the narrative. [Read more 🡒]