Joe Musgrove Still Hasn't Made Progress in Return to Padres

The San Diego Padres continue to have a lack of positive news regarding right-handed pitcher Joe Musgrove.

Musgrove's season start was delayed after he suffered a setback during his recovery from Tommy John surgery that forced him to miss the entire 2025 season.

There doesn't seem to be any timetable for the return of Musgrove, which is not what the Padres wanted to see from his recovery. Manager Craig Stammen did provide an update on Musgrove's injury, saying that the right-hander hasn't made any progress yet.

"Joe is still working through his elbow and that progression, all that kind of stuff," Stammen said. "He's not ready to throw off the mound yet. He's been throwing, just trying to be very smart and not overdo it and take it too fast."

Padres manager Craig Stammen updated the latest on Griffin Canning, Sung-Mun Song and Joe Musgrove @FriarTerritory pic.twitter.com/BuhH8XWl7c
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This is an unfortunate update on the potential return of Musgrove, especially considering how thin the Padres' starting rotation already is. Musgrove was expected to be a big piece to the pitching puzzle this year, but he doesn't seem anywhere close to getting on the mound.

The right-hander has been trying whatever he can to get himself healthy, but nothing has worked yet. Musgrove did recently provide his own update, saying that his elbow just wasn't cooperating with him.

"We’ve invested so much time on rest and recovery stuff. I don’t want to waste the time that we’ve taken by pushing it back and then having to start this process all over again. I’m trying to get better as efficiently and quickly as I can. But it’s just not cooperating as well as I want to," Musgrove said.

In his last appearances with the Padres in 2024, Musgrove made 19 starts, posting an ERA of 3.88 over 99.2 innings of work. The veteran isn't going to rush anything, especially considering there may be potential for re-injury if he were to come back too soon.

For now, the hope will be for Musgrove to return to throwing off a mound soon. After that, he'll need to throw bullpen sessions, throw live batting practice sessions and then go on a rehab assignment.

San Diego would love for him to return as soon as possible, especially since right-hander Nick Pivetta is now on the injured list due to an elbow injury, but that just doesn't appear to be imminent.

The return of Pivetta is unknown as well, leaving the Padres' pitching plans very much up in the air due to injuries. San Diego has reportedly considered signing former All-Star Lucas Giolito to a contract to help navigate the rotation.

But getting the in-house guys back from injury remains the priority for the Padres since payroll is already fairly high. However, the Padres' front office may need to do something because the latest updates don't seem to be in favor of San Diego getting reinforcements soon.

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