Despite Chris Paddack’s ballooning 7.63 ERA and a disastrous outing against Philadelphia, Miami remains committed to the veteran righty as pressure mounts to pivot toward internal reinforcements.
MIAMI — The Miami Marlins are giving veteran right-handed pitcher Chris Paddack a longer leash than one would normally get with an ERA over 7 this point in the season.
Paddack’s latest start mirrored his Marlins debut. He gave up seven runs including six in the first inning, losing 7-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his postgame press conference on Sunday that Paddack will remain in the rotation and make his next scheduled start, Friday against the Washington Nationals.
“Outside of today, Chris is throwing the ball well,” McCullough said. “He has probably ran against some tough luck in some outings, but he has thrown the ball and kept us in the games that he's pitched. [Sunday] it was a tough one from pitch one till it was over.”
After his day on the mound ended in the third inning, all Paddack could do was sit in the dugout, review, and reflect.
“I just sat on the bench and kind of reviewed the game on the iPad. A lot of uncompetitive pitches with two strikes is what I saw the trend was,” Paddack said after the game. “I felt like I never could get into a groove. I noticed I was pulling some fastballs early. Never drove any fastballs to the bottom of the zone. They were able to lay off some changeups below. Being a guy that commands the baseball, throws the ball where I want to, I just felt off tonight.”
Paddack has a 7.63 ERA, 5.01 FIP, 7.92 K/9, and 2.93 BB/9. Paddack has described his season as a “roller coaster,” one that he’s “been here before.”
“It definitely sucks," Paddack said. "I feel like this year I haven't been able to allow things to continue over. Right when we think we're getting in a good place, I get hit in the mouth again.”
Paddack is becoming the latest of a long line of free agent starting pitchers to not cut it for the Marlins. Cal Quantrill posted a 5.50 ERA last year. The Marlins went to the playoffs in 2023 despite Johnny Queto’s 6.02 ERA.
Wei-Yin Chen (2016-19) was the franchise’s biggest free agent signing as a starting pitcher and the worst, making Edinson Vólquez (4.19 ERA, 2017) look like an ace by comparison.
There was a short time where the Marlins went big with free agent pitching and got a good return on investment in Javier Vazquez (3.69 ERA) in 2011 and Mark Buehrle (3.74 ERA) in 2012. They thought they were getting that in Chen but since his failure, the Marlins have only gone after lower-tier veteran pitchers making their last stand.
Paddack signed a one-year, $4M deal over the offseason after posting a 5.35 ERA with the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers. His best season was his rookie year in 2019, when he posted a 3.33 ERA and 153 strikeouts in 140.2 innings with the San Diego Padres. He hasn’t matched those numbers since.
“There's no excuse for it,” Paddack said. “I'm a competitor. I work my butt off. Trying to be the best teammate that I can and a role model for some of our younger guys in the clubhouse. I got to look at myself in the mirror, and I have to clean some things up, and that starts with myself.”
It is a challenge to exercise patience for Paddack’s shortcomings, considering there are two starting pitchers at Triple-A Jacksonville who are among the best in the International League.
The one who deserves the most to be called up is Braxton Garrett, who has experience pitching for the Marlins. Garrett, who is slated to start for the Jumbo Shrimp on Tuesday against Charlotte, has a 1.71 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26.1 innings over five starts. Two of his five starts involved him throwing a combined 14 hitless innings.
Garrett proved to be a solid pitcher for the Marlins since his MLB debut in 2020. His best season was in 2023, where he recorded a 3.66 ERA with an 8.79 K/9 in 31 outings, as well as starting in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card series against Philadelphia.
Garrett missed the starting rotation during spring training in favor of Janson Junk. That decision has paid off for McCullough as of Monday but now it’s time to bring Garrett back into the fold.
Garrett didn’t exceed rookie limits until 2022, when he started 17 games with a career-best 3.58 ERA for the Marlins. Garrett, 28, isn’t eligible for arbitration until 2027 and barring an extension, won’t hit free agency until 2029.
Signed at $1.53M this season, Garrett remains a value as a starting pitcher when healthy and shouldn’t spend more time in Triple-A than he has already.
The simple adjustment is to move Paddack to the bullpen as a long reliever and bring Garrett back to the fold. Maybe it takes one more solid start from him and one more rocky outing from Paddack this week for the move to finally happen.
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