The San Diego Padres are set to face off against the Seattle Mariners in a three-game series as they look to maintain their momentum following a four-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies. Despite the Padres’ recent impressive stretch, the team has serious question marks in the starting rotation, especially after frontline starter Nick Pivetta exited Sunday’s win with elbow tightness.
If Pivetta does end up on the injured list, that would mean the Padres have Joe Musgrove, Nick Pivetta, Yu Darvish, Matt Waldron and Griffin Canning all on the injured list. After Pivetta’s injury, a new report revealed that the San Diego Padres remain interested in adding a former All-Star pitcher who remains a free agent despite a solid 2025 season with the Boston Red Sox.
San Diego Padres Interested in Lucas Giolito
A new report from Ken Rosenthal, Patrick Mooney, Dennis Lin and Sahadev Sharma revealed that the San Diego Padres are interested in right-hander Lucas Giolito.
They wrote:
“The Padres’ interest in Giolito, meanwhile, may be complicated by the final stages of the franchise’s ongoing sale process, which could limit the baseball operations department’s financial flexibility.
But the need for San Diego to reinforce its rotation might be growing more urgent. Nick Pivetta, who exited Sunday’s start with what was initially described as right elbow stiffness, likely will need time on the injured list to recover.”
Giolito recently spoke about why he has remained a free agent despite his strong 2025 season. Regarding previous contract talks with teams, he said, “The last few months have been very strange, to where talks seem like they’re heating up. And then it’s like, ‘OK, never mind,’” Giolito added “I just want to play for close to what my value is. Everything is based on these models now, right? Everyone uses projection and models and things like that to kind of determine [value], and my agency does the same thing. It’s like, ‘Alright. Cool. Give me something that’s relatively close to that and let’s go and get it.’”
Giolito’s Possible Production
Fortunately for Giolito and interested teams, he has stated that he has remained in shape and has thrown up to 75 pitches during live batting practice sessions.
As he mentioned, models don’t value him as highly as his 10-4 record with a 3.41 ERA would suggest, and that is likely due to his 5.06 xERA. His whiff and strikeout percentages were also down from his 2023 season in which he had a 4.88 ERA, and it likely does not help Giolito’s case that he was unable to pitch in the postseason for the Red Sox as he dealt with elbow soreness.
With the Padres’ recent injuries, plus the status of Joe Musgrove remaining in the air, adding a veteran pitcher with All-Star experience and 204 career starts could provide relief to their current rotation issues.
The Padres will hope that Giolito’s market has dwindled to the degree that he becomes affordable for them. Giolito previously declined his end of a $19 million mutual option in the offseason, as he wanted to explore free agency.
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