The Padres are deep enough into August that every move feels tied to October, and Wednesday was a perfect example. Joe Musgrove moved another step closer to a return, Fernando Tatis Jr. sat despite swinging one of the hotter bats in the lineup, and Craig Stammen showed he’s willing to manage Robbie Ray like the calendar already says postseason.
Musgrove’s comeback is starting to look real. He finished a bullpen session and is lined up for another rehab outing Friday with Triple-A El Paso.
The plan calls for at least one more rehab start before the Padres bring him back, which means the finish line is finally in sight. The bigger issue now isn’t the numbers from Friday - it’s how his stuff holds up as the workload climbs.
That’s enough to make the idea of Michael King, Casey Mize, Robbie Ray, and Musgrove in the same rotation feel more than hypothetical. And with Musgrove this far along, there’s no reason to force the timeline. “at least one more rehab start” is a lot more encouraging than another vague checkpoint.
The more debatable move came with Tatis. He entered Wednesday with four home runs in his previous seven games, and the Padres were trying to complete a sweep of Milwaukee while locked in a three-team tie for the final NL wild-card spot.
Instead of riding the hot hand, they gave him the day off. That came after he was already lifted in the sixth inning Tuesday, which made the whole thing feel heavy on rest and light on urgency.
If the goal was to protect his legs, there were cleaner ways to do it. Start him, try to build a lead, and pull him later - the Padres had already done that the night before. Instead, the choice to stack up consecutive breather days for a player barreling through a power surge looked like overmanagement, and plenty of fans noticed.
Stammen’s handling of Ray, though, landed on the right side of aggressive. Ray gave up two runs in four innings and needed 84 pitches to get through it, and Stammen didn’t wait around for the outing to spiral. He turned to Bradgley Rodríguez in the fifth with the Padres clinging to a one-run lead, choosing the game situation over Ray’s line.
MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell noted during the game that it was an aggressive move, and that’s the kind of decision the Padres should expect more often from here on out. This was game management, not stat protection.
That’s why the Tatis decision sticks out even more. If an inning on the mound is important enough to trigger an early hook, then a plate appearance from the hottest hitter in the lineup should matter just as much. The Padres can’t treat the rotation like it’s already October and the lineup like it’s still a long summer cruise.
In Other News...
Padres Send Another Veteran Pitcher Out As Staff Shakeup Continues
The Padres post-deadline pitching cleanup kept moving with another familiar veteran leaving the picture, a sign that the club is still sorting through the back end of its staff as August gets going. Around the league, a few recognizable names have already come off the roster board, with Ben Bowden accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Las Vegas after being designated by the Athletics, while other clubs have moved on from experienced arms in similar fashion.
For San Diego, the latest departure fits a broader pattern of churn that often follows the trade deadline, when teams start making hard calls on depth pieces and veteran relievers. Germn Mrquez, Chris Martin and Matt Strahm were among the pitchers released by their respective clubs, each with the option to refuse an outright assignment but instead heading straight to free agency, another reminder that this part of the calendar can change a bullpen almost as much as a deadline deal. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Are Turning The NL Wild Card Race Into A Fight
The Padres have turned a middling summer into a real push, climbing from 50-53 on July 23 to 64-57 by Aug. 12 and landing in a three-way tie for the second National League wild card spot. A team that looked stuck in the middle a few weeks ago has suddenly found itself in the thick of the race, and the change has been fueled by a deeper rotation after trades for Robbie Ray and Casey Mize.
Just as important, the offense has started to carry its weight, with Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Ty France all giving the lineup a much-needed lift. San Diego is putting real pressure on the clubs around it now, even if the Cubs still sit well ahead for the top wild card berth, and the rest of the race is starting to look less like a cushion and more like a fight. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Move On From Another Pitching Depth Option
The Padres have trimmed another arm from their Triple-A pitching mix, releasing right-hander Misael Tamarez from El Paso after a difficult season in the Pacific Coast League. Tamarez, who joined San Diegos organization in 2025 after previously pitching in the Astros system, spent the year working in relief but never found much traction, finishing with a 6.14 ERA across 31 appearances.
For a club that is always trying to keep enough depth on hand for the long grind of a season, the move is another sign of how fluid the back end of the pitching staff can be. Tamarez is now a free agent, and while the Padres continue to shuffle arms through the upper levels, this one leaves them looking for a more reliable option to fill those innings in El Paso. [Read more 🡒]