Behold why I put zero faith in this man being useful at all.
He’s a number 5 innings eater guys. Gets us through the season
Give a full off-season and spring training for Niebla to work with him. He’s the 5 guy and hoping for him to at least eat 180-200 innings while having a sub 5 ERA.
We can eye wash this all we want yet we have a serious rotation problem that has limited talent mixed with zero margin for error.
That said, we should be in that NL 500 club in a battle to nab a WC slot yet we also need a lot to go our way on both sides of the ball.
Niebla had a knuckle baller carrying wins for most of a season. No lock as a rotation guy but I’m not going to fall off the couch if Sears turns into a solid 5 spot starter after an offseason
Niebla said he’s a dawg. Take that for what it’s worth.
With King and Musgrove returning from injuries and question marks, with the exception of Pivetta, throughout the rotation…2 more starters are needed.
Granted, I think Vasquez is about to turn some heads.
The rest, yikes.
Doesn’t walk a lot.
That’s a lot of words for “hot trash.”
He’d be perfect as the mop up man
Padres have an excellent track record with developing pitchers. I believe.
I know Sears isn’t the most exciting pitcher in the world but I don’t understand why this sub seems so hostile towards him compared to Vásquez? Is it just negative recency bias because he blew it in his last couple starts last year? (EDIT: actually it was his 2nd and 3rd to last starts, he finished pretty strong vs. AZ)
They have similar stats, but Sears has a very clear edge:
Randy is a couple years younger and a couple mil cheaper, but otherwise, he doesn’t have much going in his favor. He was HISTORICALLY lucky last year, he overperformed his stats to a comical, completely unsustainable degree.
JP has a longer and more consistent track record, he started 32 games in each of ’23 & ’24 with a ~4.5 ERA. And then there’s the Niebla factor, they haven’t had an offseason together until now.
He would be considered a perfectly fine #4-5 starter on most MLB teams, and if we do end up finding another mid-rotation guy, Sears should get the #5 spot with Randy and Hart competing for a swingman role.
In Niebla We Trust!
Sears is best used as an emergency starter. I’d rather have Waldron at the 5 spot than him.
160 innings around a 4 era and I’ll be happy
Sears first time through the order he’s excellent. Unfortunately might mean he’s a bulk reliever, but we will see what Niebla can do with an offseason
17 comments
Behold why I put zero faith in this man being useful at all.
He’s a number 5 innings eater guys. Gets us through the season
Give a full off-season and spring training for Niebla to work with him. He’s the 5 guy and hoping for him to at least eat 180-200 innings while having a sub 5 ERA.
We can eye wash this all we want yet we have a serious rotation problem that has limited talent mixed with zero margin for error.
That said, we should be in that NL 500 club in a battle to nab a WC slot yet we also need a lot to go our way on both sides of the ball.
Niebla had a knuckle baller carrying wins for most of a season. No lock as a rotation guy but I’m not going to fall off the couch if Sears turns into a solid 5 spot starter after an offseason
Niebla said he’s a dawg. Take that for what it’s worth.
With King and Musgrove returning from injuries and question marks, with the exception of Pivetta, throughout the rotation…2 more starters are needed.
Granted, I think Vasquez is about to turn some heads.
The rest, yikes.
Doesn’t walk a lot.
That’s a lot of words for “hot trash.”
He’d be perfect as the mop up man
Padres have an excellent track record with developing pitchers. I believe.
I know Sears isn’t the most exciting pitcher in the world but I don’t understand why this sub seems so hostile towards him compared to Vásquez? Is it just negative recency bias because he blew it in his last couple starts last year? (EDIT: actually it was his 2nd and 3rd to last starts, he finished pretty strong vs. AZ)
They have similar stats, but Sears has a very clear edge:
|2025 Stats|Sears|Vásquez|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Age|30|**27**|
|IP|**135.2**|133.2|
|ERA|5.04|**3.84**|
|WHIP|1.32|1.32|
|xERA|**4.24**|5.37|
|xBA|**.241**|.267|
|K%|**20.1**|12.7|
|BB%|**6.2**|10.9|
|2026 Salary|2.75M|**League Min.**|
Randy is a couple years younger and a couple mil cheaper, but otherwise, he doesn’t have much going in his favor. He was HISTORICALLY lucky last year, he overperformed his stats to a comical, completely unsustainable degree.
JP has a longer and more consistent track record, he started 32 games in each of ’23 & ’24 with a ~4.5 ERA. And then there’s the Niebla factor, they haven’t had an offseason together until now.
He would be considered a perfectly fine #4-5 starter on most MLB teams, and if we do end up finding another mid-rotation guy, Sears should get the #5 spot with Randy and Hart competing for a swingman role.
In Niebla We Trust!
Sears is best used as an emergency starter. I’d rather have Waldron at the 5 spot than him.
160 innings around a 4 era and I’ll be happy
Sears first time through the order he’s excellent. Unfortunately might mean he’s a bulk reliever, but we will see what Niebla can do with an offseason