The Padres’ night against Arizona started with a jolt from Manny Machado and ended with San Diego back under .500.
Machado put the Padres in front in the bottom of the second with his 19th homer of the season, but that was all the offense San Diego could muster in a 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on Thursday night. The Padres finished with only two additional hits after Machado’s solo shot, singles from Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr.
The defeat left San Diego at 46-47 and split the four-game set with its National League West opponent.
On the mound, Griffin Canning took the loss after giving up two runs on seven hits across 4.2 innings. Yuki Matsui was tagged for another run in relief, while Bradgley Rodriguez, Wandy Peralta and Adrian Morejon finished the game with 3.1 scoreless innings.
The game came on a day when the Padres also saw a recently released veteran land quickly with the Los Angeles Angels. The utility man did not stay on the market long after being cut by San Diego and will now try to earn an MLB chance in Anaheim.
There was also another headline involving the Padres’ bullpen, this one centered on Mason Miller and the trade chatter that comes with the deadline less than a month away. Miller brushed off the speculation.
“It’s not real,” Miller said. “It’s just rumors that aren’t based on fact.”
And while Miller is dealing with outside noise, Joe Musgrove is at least moving forward in his own recovery. The right-hander threw off the mound for the first time, a meaningful step even if he still has a long road ahead before rejoining the rotation.
“It was pretty much fastballs only,” Musgrove said to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I threw a couple of my other [pitches], but mainly just like a 80% touch-and-feel kind of bullpen.”
Musgrove will keep building in bullpens before facing live hitters multiple times, then move on to a rehab assignment as he works toward his season debut.
In Other News...
Padres May Be Facing Another Brutal Big Contract Decision
Xander Bogaerts has become the latest reminder of how quickly a long-term deal can turn from a franchise anchor into a payroll puzzle. Since arriving in San Diego in 2023, the veteran infielder has not matched the level the Padres expected when they committed to his 11-year, $280 million contract, and his recent production has only added to the uncertainty around one of the clubs biggest investments.
For a team that has already shown a willingness to move high-profile names to keep competing while managing costs, the idea of revisiting another massive contract is hardly trivial. Any path forward would be complicated, since a trade would almost certainly require San Diego to take on a hefty share of the money still owed, leaving the Padres to weigh flexibility against the risk of giving up on a player they once viewed as a core piece. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Deadline Problem Is Bigger Than One Move Can Fix
The Padres keep running into the same issue as the deadline approaches: the roster has too many holes for a single splash to cover. The offense has been inconsistent, the rotation still needs help, and the bullpen has been asked to carry too much of the load, which is not a great place to be when the schedule tightens and every contender starts shopping for the same upgrades.
What makes the situation trickier is the shape of the market. San Diego needs multiple answers, but the farm system is thinner after recent trades, so the front office has fewer easy ways to chase them. There is at least some hope that ownership will be willing to push payroll higher, but even with that kind of backing, the Padres are staring at a deadline where the hardest part may simply be finding enough available help to make a real dent. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Fans Know This AJ Preller Habit Never Really Goes Away
Since AJ Preller arrived in August 2014, the Padres have lived with a front office philosophy that treats first-round draft capital as a currency to be spent when the right deal comes along. The list of players moved in those trades stretches across different eras of the roster build, from prospects who barely got their footing in San Diego to others who were still working their way through the minors when they were packaged elsewhere. Some of those moves helped land established big leaguers in San Diego, while others were smaller swaps that still reflected the same willingness to keep turning over premium talent.
What makes the pattern stand out is how often it has repeated, and how little it seems to depend on the stage of the franchise at the moment. Whether the Padres were chasing a star, reshaping the bullpen, or trying to patch a roster need, Preller has never seemed especially attached to the idea of holding first-round picks just for the sake of it. For fans, the familiar question is not whether he will move another one, but which prospect becomes the next name to disappear from the organizational ledger. [Read more 🡒]