The Padres spent too much of this season patching holes in the rotation, and the front office may already be looking at outside help to keep that from happening again.
San Diego entered 2026 with a starter mix that looked sturdy enough on paper: Michael King, Nick Pivetta, Randy Vasquez, Walker Buehler on a minor league deal, and the expected return of Joe Musgrove for the first time since October 2025. But the year unraveled fast.
King was the bright spot, somehow topping expectations with a career-high in innings and bWAR. Vasquez also gave the club another solid year in his fourth season in the majors. After that, the rotation thinned out in a hurry.
Pivetta missed nearly five months because of elbow complications. Buehler opened with a 5.36 ERA in the first half. Musgrove dealt with so many setbacks that he did not make his season debut until the wild-card round.
The Padres tried to stabilize things by signing Lucas Giolito near the end of April, but he posted a 5.16 ERA in seven starts before elbow inflammation shut him down for the rest of the season. Griffin Canning got a late start while recovering from Achilles surgery, then finished with a 5.68 ERA in 30 appearances and 11 starts.
As a group, San Diego’s starters logged the fourth-fewest innings in MLB. That put a heavy load on a bullpen that kept showing up anyway, finishing with the fifth-lowest ERA in the league despite throwing the fourth-most innings.
With King and Pivetta both headed for free agency, the Padres may need to shop outside the organization. One name now tied to them is Tampa Bay Rays All-Star right-hander Nick Martinez, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
Martinez, 36, just put together a huge workload, throwing 180 innings last season, the most of his MLB career, while matching his lowest ERA at 3.10 across nine North American seasons. That note matters because Martinez spent four seasons with the Texas Rangers, then four more years in Nippon Professional Baseball before returning to MLB in 2022.
That return brought him back to San Diego. Martinez was effective with the Padres in a mostly bullpen role, posting a 3.45 ERA over 216.2 innings across two seasons, including 19 starts.
If King leaves in free agency, Martinez would make sense as a possible fit. The catch is simple: neither pitcher would come cheap. Spotrac projects Martinez at more than $21 million per year on a two-year, $42.7 million deal.
However the Padres handle the rotation, the expectation is clear: it has to be better in 2027. If the starters can shoulder more of the regular-season burden, it would take pressure off the bullpen and could change the shape of the season.
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