The San Diego Padres need starting pitchers, and Nick Pivetta has been trying to get back on the field without success.
The San Diego Padres are bolstering their starting pitching for the stretch run, and rumors about Nick Pivetta have been part of the mix. He’s been throwing bullpens lately along with fellow starter Joe Musgrove, but the Padres have been circumspect when it comes to hard they’re throwing and when they might be back.
Turns out there’s good reason for that, according to a report from AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.
Pivetta’s rehab progressoin as been “paused for a couple of extra days,” he writer noted, until the Padres can pinpoint the root cause of what prompted Pivetta to walk off the mound during a rehab outing on Tuesday after just 14 pitches with what manager Craig Stammen called “tightness” in his right elbow.
The Padres expressed optimism afterward, as Pivetta was able to throw an extra 20-30 pitches off a bullpen mound after leaving the game, so there’s hope that this was just a bump in the road in his rehab process.
But Pivetta missed his scheduled bullpen session Thursday, and he won’t make his scheduled rehab start on time, according to Cassavell.
“Any time someone comes off the mound in the middle of an inning when they’re rehabbing an elbow injury, you’ve got to pause for just a little bit,” Stammen said. “It would be, in my opinion, a little reckless to go, ‘Hey, throw your bullpen two days later, make your start on four days’ rest, you’ll be fine.’
“I think if we’re really taking really good care of him, we’re being a little bit more diligent this week. And then maybe he recovers well, and it wasn’t an issue.
The tricky part of this, though, is that Pivetta is on the clock when it comes to the way his contract is written. It includes injury protection for the Padres, and if he doesn’t get back on the mound by Aug. 22, his player option converts to a team option after this year and for next season as well.
Pivetta is owed $33 million for the this season and next, so there’s a fair amount of cash on the line and a new ownership group that doesn’t know him.
The best case here is that the option clause is reworked with the understanding that Pivetta gets back on the mound by September, but it doesn’t sound like the right-hander is going to be able to provide meaningful help any time soon. That puts both the Padres and Pivetta in a very awkward situation, and right now no one knows how it’s going to get resolved.
