PEORIA, Ariz. — The Padres will almost certainly continue their streak of acquiring a starting pitcher during spring training.
However, it might be a while, and it might not be quite the caliber of pitcher they have brought on in recent years.
Certainly, unless reports suggesting his imminent signing prove misguided, free agent Zac Gallen will not be that pitcher.
While the Padres were said by a league source to be one of at least three teams “serious” about Gallen, the former Diamondback would likely need to go unsigned for a while, meaning his price drops significantly, to end up with the Padres.
The team has four spots set — Nick Pivetta, Michael King, Joe Musgrove and Randy Vásquez — in their five-man rotation. And while the Padres’ expectation is to bring in a veteran, they believe they have at least three suitable candidates for the final spot — JP Sears, Matt Waldron and Kyle Hart — who are as good as many of the pitchers remaining on the market.
There remain a half-dozen big-name free-agent pitchers who could be in the Padres’ price range. Those pitchers almost certainly would come at a steep discount, perhaps even signing a minor-league deal.
Without getting highly creative, the Padres do not have much left in their budget for 2026.
And, for context, it must be considered that Aaron Civale signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Athletics last week.
The 30-year-old Civale’s ERA of 4.85 was 2/100ths of a point higher than the 30-year-old Gallen’s (4.83) last season, but in 90 fewer innings. And Civale does not have Gallen’s career numbers: a 66-52 record with a 3.58 ERA and 1,060 strikeouts over 176 starts.
Gallen also has a qualifying offer attached to him, meaning the Padres would forfeit this year’s second and fifth draft picks to the Diamondbacks and lose $1 million in international bonus pool money if they signed him.
Whoever is added, the Padres will hope pitching coach Ruben Niebla can help him fashion a better-than-projected outcome.
Should a veteran newcomer pitch well enough over the next six weeks to make the opening-day roster, he would be added to the list of rotation pieces acquired late in recent offseasons.
The Padres traded for Sean Manaea in the final week of spring training in 2022, signed Michael Wacha in the first week of camp in ‘23, traded for Dylan Cease while the team was preparing to board a flight for the season opener in South Korea in ‘24 and last season signed Pivetta on the day pitchers and catchers reported.