The San Diego Padres have three starters locked into the starting rotation, but the final two spots are up for grabs in spring training.
Going into the offseason, starting pitching was the primary focus for the San Diego Padres but the only move General Manager A.J. Preller made was re-signing right-hander Michael King.
Losing King would have been tough to swallow, considering the Padres lost right-hander Dylan Cease to the Toronto Blue Jays at the beginning of free agency. Although Preller said that the potential sale of the franchise didn’t affect how he navigated free agency, it’s obvious that it played a role.
Preller is notorious for making big splash moves, whether it’s via trade or the open market, but nothing formulated. Getting right-hander Joe Musgrove back without an innings restriction is kind of like bringing in an All-Star, but no external options were signed.
Manager Craig Stammen told the media Wednesday that King, Musgrove and righty Nick Pivetta will headline the starting rotation, stating that the organization is confident in those three guys. He also said that there will be a competition for the final two spots.
So, who does that leave? With Yu Darvish out for the season, right-handers Randy Vásquez, Matt Waldron and Triston McKenzie along with left-handers JP Sears and Marco Gonzales are contenders to round out the rotation.
Vásquez made the third-most starts on the team in 2025, going 6-7 with a 3.84 ERA and 1.32 WHIP over 26 starts (28 appearances), and is probably going to get one of the remaining spots.
“He’s probably got the inside track to one of those last two spots,” Stammen said. “He pitched great for us last year, especially how he ended the season.”
During the month of September, Vásquez went 3-1 with a 3.22 ERA and recorded a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 19-to-3. He helped the Padres secure the second wild card spot by going six scoreless against the Colorado Rockies and seven scoreless, one-hit innings against the Milwaukee Brewers down the stretch.
Not listed among the contenders is lefty reliever Kyle Hart, who made his way back to the big leagues after a four-year hiatus. Hart made 20 appearances (six starts) for the Padres and went 3-3 with a 5.86 ERA and 1.29 WHIP across 43 innings of work.
After getting rocked through six starts to begin the season, the Padres moved Hart back to the bullpen, where he pitched better. Stammen said that while Hart is competing for a spot in the bullpen, he could also bid for the final spot in the rotation as well.
“It is widely believed that left-hander Kyle Hart will compete for a place in the bullpen, where his stuff played up significantly last season,” MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell wrote Wednesday. “But at the very least, Hart will be stretched out at the start of camp, Stammen said Wednesday. If Hart can carry those changes he made late last season to a multi-inning setting, perhaps he’d find himself back in the starting mix.”
Hart made tweaks to his pitch arsenal, using his four-seam fastball more at the top of the zone and throwing his changeup more. He rarely used his changeup as a starter, but it became more of a weapon as a reliever. A strong spring could win Hart the fifth spot.