What We’re Actually Learning About Padres Pitching Staff So Far

The San Diego Padres pitching staff will look very similar in 2026, with a few notable omissions.

Dylan Cease, arguably the most talented pitcher on the 2025 starting staff, is now in Toronto after signing a massive seven-year, $210 million deal early in free agency.

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In the bullpen, last year's All-Star closer, Robert Suarez, is also gone, as he signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Atlanta Braves.

Finally, there's Yu Darvish, who underwent a second major elbow surgery and will miss the entirety of the 2026 season. Retirement appears to be an option for the 39-year-old, too.

Aside from those three significant losses, the Padres have all their main contributors back, plus a few new additions. A returning Joe Musgrove and a healthy Michael King are at the forefront of the rotation. In the bullpen, Mason Miller will be the closer, with a healthy Jason Adam back to set him up alongside fellow All-Star Adrian Morejon.

With all that being said, there's plenty of spots to be determined over the next few weeks of Cactus League play. Here's everything we're learning about the Padres pitching staff early in spring training.

Randy Vásquez is going to be the No. 4 starter

The Padres have three clear starters heading into this season in King, Musgrove and Nick Pivetta. After that, there are tons of question marks.

One of those questions can be answered, though.

Randy Vásquez, who had a breakout season in 2025, is going to be the No. 4 starter in the rotation barring any unforeseen circumstances.

The right-hander has made two starts this spring, pitching 4.2 shutout innings with five strikeouts and just one hit allowed. His fastball velocity has been way up from last year and he's showing that he's ready for an encore season after his 3.84 ERA across a career-high 133.2 innings last year.

Vásquez bringing the heat 🔥 pic.twitter.com/VNawnalRaL
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) February 27, 2026

The bullpen has tons of depth

The Padres had the best bullpen in baseball last year — and that was before they added Miller at the trade deadline.

Now, Miller is replacing Suarez, and everyone else is back for another season.

Adam, Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada are the set-up men, but there's plenty of depth behind them. Wandy Peralta, David Morgan, Bryan Hoeing, Bradgley Rodriguez, Alek Jacob, Kyle Hart and Ron Marinaccio are competing for the final bullpen spots. Yuki Matsui, who made 61 appearances last season, could start the season on the injured list but will be back in the bullpen as soon as he's healthy.

All this depth is a big reason why San Diego could still make a trade before Opening Day.

An under-the-radar veteran pickup will need to step up

The Padres added tons of veteran starting pitchers to their rotation mix, especially as of late. Germán Márquez, Walker Buehler, Marco Gonzales and Griffin Canning (who's expected to start the season on the IL) were all added in February, giving the Padres plenty of options to fill the back of their rotation. They also added Triston McKenzie in December.

At least one of them is going to have to make an impact, though.

As of now the Padres don't have a clear No. 5 starter — and if they go to a six-man rotation, they'll need a sixth, too.

One or two of these pitchers (or last year's trade deadline acquisition JP Sears) will almost certainly make up the final one or two spots in the rotation. If none of these guys step up, the Padres could be forced into adding a starting pitcher via trade sooner rather than later as they wait for Canning and Matt Waldron to heal to see what they have in those pitchers, who aren't sure things either.

The best-case scenario for the Padres is one of Márquez, Buehler, Gonzales or McKenzie impresses throughout spring training and solidifies the back of the rotation. If not, A.J. Preller could be forced to work the phones earlier than he may have wanted.

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