Padres Officially Release 10-Year Veteran Pitcher Amid Disappointing Season

The San Diego Padres have released a veteran pitcher after he spent the last four-plus months in the organization.

Left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales, who signed with the Padres in late January on a minor league deal, has officially been released from the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, per the team's transaction log on MiLB.com.

Gonzales, 34, hasn't played at the MLB level since 2024 after dealing with numerous injuries.

This year at Triple-A, he made 13 appearances (12 starts), sporting a 7.99 ERA across 47.1 innings with 36 strikeouts to 18 walks. He had a WHIP of 2.03 while allowing opponents to hit .373 against him.

Marco Gonzales Career History

Gonzales was initially drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft.

He debuted with St. Louis in 2014 when he was ranked as the team's No. 5 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. He was then the team's No. 2 ranked prospect in 2015 before undergoing Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for all of 2016.

Gonzalez made just one appearance with the Cardinals in 2017 before being traded to the Seattle Mariners. He ended up finding a home in Seattle, remaining with the organization through 2023.

Across parts of seven seasons with Seattle, Gonzales compiled a 4.08 ERA over 852.1 innings.

After the 2023 season, Gonzales was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made seven starts with Pittsburgh in 2024, sporting a 4.54 ERA across 33.2 innings of work.

Gonzales spent multiple stints on the injured list in 2024 with a forearm issue. He ended up undergoing flexor surgery and missed the entire 2025 season recovering.

Then, the Padres added him on a minor league deal ahead of the 2026 season. He was competing for a spot in the Opening Day rotation in spring training before opening the year in Triple-A.

Overlal, Gonzales has appeared in 170 games at the MLB level, 162 of them starts. He has a career 4.16 ERA across 926.2 innings in the regular season. He's made six postseason appearances, all of them with the Cardinals in 2014.

Gonzales will now head to free agency where he'll look for his next home in MLB. While he's struggled this year at Triple-A, an organization could look to give him an opportunity on a minor league deal, as teams can never have enough pitching depth.

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