Padres' Big Free Agent Acquisition Reveals Stunning Lack of Offers During Offseason

Even though he signed relatively late in the offseason, it's hard to imagine where the Padres' pitching staff would be without Nick Pivetta.

Pivetta leads the Padres' starters in wins (5) and WHIP (1.012), and ranks second in innings pitched (56.1) and ERA (2.72). He's a top-15 pitcher in the National League in both versions of Wins Above Replacement.

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Pivetta's contract pays $55 million from 2025-28, and includes an opt-out after next season. The right-hander will make a mere $1 million this season and $19 million next year.

At this rate, it seems likely he will decline his $14 million player option for 2027 and test the open market.

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The Padres' investment in Pivetta was hardly a gamble. From 2021-24, he logged 623 innings across 129 games (105 starts) for the Boston Red Sox. Although his 4.33 (102 ERA+) was unspectacular, his durability figured to help a Padres staff that lost Joe Musgrove to Tommy John surgery in October 2024.

Pivetta has been more than durable. He's been excellent on a per-inning basis, too.

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Yet his free agent market hardly materialized after Pivetta rejected the Boston Red Sox's qualifying offer (a one-year, $21.05 million deal for 2025) last November.

"I thought it was the best contract offer, and I didn’t get a lot of contract offers," he told Forbes' John Perrotto. "You want to be somewhere where you have a comfort level, and I do with my teammates and management. It just felt right signing with the Padres.”

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Players who reject a qualifying offer can return to their original team on a new contract with no additional cost to the team. Players like Pivetta who reject the qualifying offer cost a new team a draft pick the summer after they sign.

The Padres forfeited their second-round pick for signing Pivetta, while the Red Sox received the 75th overall pick, sandwiched between the second and third round.

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Hindsight is 20-20, but fears of losing a second-round pick preventing teams from making a competitive offer to Pivetta seems like a gross mistake. For now, the Padres will look to the 32-year-old right-hander to continue his early season performance.

And if Pivetta opts out after next season, a two-year, $23 million contract will look like one of the offseason's biggest bargains.

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