The Padres have landed the rotation help they’ve been hunting, agreeing to acquire left-hander Robbie Ray from the Giants in a deal that sends right-hander Miguel Mendez and shortstop Joniel Hernandez to San Francisco, according to a league source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade is not yet official.
For San Diego, the move plugs a glaring need. The club has been leaning on an expanded bullpen and has been working with a temporary two-man rotation of Michael King and Walker Buehler while going 8-1 over its last nine games. Ray should step in near the top of the staff right away alongside King.
The Giants are taking on half of what remains on Ray’s contract, including half of the $1 million assignment bonus. In return, they add two young pieces, headlined by Mendez, who was a top-5 prospect in the Padres’ system and is already on the 40-man roster. Hernandez, meanwhile, is a 17-year-old shortstop from Cuba who received a $1.4 million bonus in January.
Mendez’s path has been a long way from his original signing. He came out of the Dominican Republic as an 18-year-old in 2021 for just $10,000, then broke out in 2025 at High-A Ft.
Wayne, enough to earn a spot on the 40-man roster and protection from the Rule 5 draft. The Padres kept developing him as a starter, though shoulder issues have followed him this season and showed up in a rough Double-A line: a 4.93 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 11 starts.
He brings a riding fastball in the upper 90s that can reach 100, plus a slider and a changeup that’s still coming along.
There’s also a chance San Francisco sees Mendez differently. If the Giants decide his best future is in relief, he could become part of the overhaul of a bullpen that has been one of the league’s worst this season. The idea of getting Randy Rodriguez back should help that group as well.
Hernandez arrives with plenty of upside of his own. He was viewed as a top-20 player in this year’s international class and was hitting .303 with a .424 on-base percentage in 38 games in the Dominican Summer League. The Giants already have Josuar Gonzalez and Luis Hernández among the game’s best teenage middle infield prospects, and Hernandez gives them another shortstop to add to a pipeline that already got a boost from a pitcher-heavy draft.
Ray’s career has taken plenty of turns, and he’s now headed to his fourth organization. The 34-year-old won the American League Cy Young Award in 2021 with Toronto after leading the league with a 2.84 ERA and 248 strikeouts, then cashed that season in with a five-year, $115 million deal from Seattle. He got only one healthy season with the Mariners before needing a complete surgical reconstruction on his left arm to repair a torn flexor tendon and torn ulnar collateral ligament.
When former Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi acquired him from Seattle for Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani, Ray was still in rehab. Last season, he finally paid that off, rediscovering his swing-and-miss fastball and going 9-3 with a 2.63 ERA in his first 19 starts to earn his second All-Star nod.
This season hasn’t matched that first half, but Ray was dominant in June with a 1.36 ERA. He’s also kept evolving his arsenal, moving from the fastball-slider mix that fueled his Cy Young run to a changeup he learned after cold-texting Tarik Skubal before last season, and then to a heavier dose of his sinking two-seamer while dialing back the four-seamer. He’s also using a knuckle curve that held hitters to a .125 average through the end of June.
Ray has said he wants to pitch long enough to be a major-league teammate of his 11-year-old son, Asher. He has reached the postseason three times, most recently with Seattle in 2022, and has made two career starts and four relief appearances there. Still, he didn’t get through five innings in either start, which suggests the Padres are getting a useful addition rather than a true headline ace for a playoff run.
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