Drew Pomeranz

Padres left-hander Drew Pomeranz underwent “a cleanup surgery in his elbow” yesterday, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, relaying word from manager Bob Melvin. It’s unknown how long this will keep him out of action but the skipper says they are still hopeful for him to return later in the season.

Although Melvin seems to be trying to downplay the procedure, which might well be minor, it’s notable that the lefty’s health is at the forefront yet again. Pomeranz is creeping up on two years since his last major league appearance, which was in August of 2021. It was at that point that he required surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his throwing arm. He was able to begin a rehab assignment one year after that procedure, heading out in August of last year. However, he was shut down due to continued soreness and missed the entire 2022 campaign.

Here in 2023, the club was optimistic about his return but he experienced more inflammation in Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He began another rehab assignment in the middle of April but was shut down yet again after three appearances and transferred to the 60-day injured list.

It’s surely been a frustrating series of events for both Pomeranz and the team. After spending many years as a starter with mixed results, the southpaw seemed to thrive in a move to full-time relief work. In 2019, he had a 5.68 ERA with the Giants, working primarily out of the rotation. He was traded at the deadline to the Brewers who used him exclusively as a reliever, apart from one three-inning start. He had a 2.39 ERA with Milwaukee, striking out an incredible 45% of batters faced.

He reached free agency and the Padres took a chance on that bullpen breakout, signing Pomeranz to a four-year deal that guaranteed him $34MM. The gamble seemed to be paying off for a while, as he posted a combined 1.62 ERA between his 20 appearances in the shortened 2020 season and another 27 the year after. He walked 11.4% of batters faced in that time but stuck out 33.7% and also got grounders at a 45.8% rate.

Unfortunately, the latter half of the deal has been entirely wasted thus far, with Pomeranz missing the 2022 season and all of 2023 to this point. The Padres aren’t in desperate shape in terms of left-handed relief, as each of Josh Hader, Tim Hill and Tom Cosgrove are posting decent results to varying degrees. Nonetheless, it would surely be a welcome development if this recent procedure was able to help Pomeranz finally get over his ongoing arm troubles and get back into form. He’s making a salary of $8MM this year and is a free agent at season’s end.

The Padres were without a key bullpen piece for all of last season. Left-hander Drew Pomeranz missed the whole year after suffering a setback in his recovery from August 2021 surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his forearm.

With camp opening this week, San Diego skipper Bob Melvin provided reporters (including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com) with an update on the veteran reliever’s status. While the club plans to take things cautiously early in exhibition play, they’re anticipating a fairly normal build-up to the regular season. “I wouldn’t say (Pomeranz) is on a program where he’s completely a ’go’ like everybody else,” Melvin said. “That could happen at some point in time early in camp. There’s still probably some restrictions on him. But once we get to games, hopefully he’s in a place where he’s just trying to get ready for a season.”

If all goes as expected, the 34-year-old will be in the Opening Day bullpen. A healthy Pomeranz would have a chance at carving out a key late-game role. Prior to his season-ending injury in 2021, he’d posted a 1.75 ERA with a 29.4% strikeout percentage through 25 2/3 innings. That came on the heels of an even more dominant 1.45 ERA, 39.7% strikeout rate over 18 1/3 frames during the shortened 2020 season. All told, Pomeranz has a 1.62 ERA while punching out a little more than a third of his opponents in 47 appearances during this stint as a Padre.

Signed to a surprising four-year deal over the 2019-20 offseason, Pomeranz has more than made good on the organization’s faith on a rate basis but unfortunately been unable to accrue many innings. He’s headed into the final season of that contract and playing this year on a $10MM salary. That makes this a pivotal season for the former All-Star, since he’s slated to return to the open market next winter.

Pomeranz will at least be joined by star closer Josh Hader and ground-ball specialist Tim Hill as left-handers in the bullpen. Adrián Morejón would likely join them if he’s not given a rotation opportunity. San Diego would have to keep Rule 5 selection Jose Lopez on the big league staff if they want to retain his long-term contractual rights, while José Castillo, Tom Cosgrove and Ray Kerr could all find themselves in the mix. There’s ample depth, though Pomeranz may have the highest upside of the bunch aside from Hader. From the right side, Robert Suarez, Luis García and Steven Wilson all look likely to assume important innings in what should be a very strong relief corps.

San Diego Padres reliever Drew Pomeranz’s 2022 season will almost certainly go down as a lost season, with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (article link) reporting that the southpaw is continuing to experience discomfort in his left elbow. Acee adds that while a recent MRI shows no new structural damage, Padres manager Bob Melvin is pessimistic regarding the lefty’s chance of successfully rehabbing and making his 2022 debut.

Since signing a four-year, $34 million contract with the Padres prior to the 2020 season, Pomeranz has been a steady fixture in the bullpen, posting a sub-2 ERA with a handful of saves over 44 1/3 innings during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. However, Pomeranz underwent flexor tendon surgery in August 2021, finishing the season with a 1.75 ERA in 27 appearances, and was expected to return to the mound late this season. Nevertheless, continued soreness during rehab has led to stalled progress.

This is not the first time Pomeranz has lost most of a season to injury. He pitched only 74 innings (11 starts) in 2018 with bicep and forearm injuries. Additionally, in 2016 when the Padres traded Pomeranz to the Red Sox, Padres General Manager A.J. Preller was suspended 30 days for the improper handling of players’ medical files.

As for the Padres, they are currently in the thick of the NL Wild Card race with a 77-63 record – half a game behind the Phillies and three games ahead of the Brewers. Their bullpen has been solid, ranking 13^th in ERA with a collective 3.80 and 12^th in WHIP with a collective 1.23. The team attempted to address their slightly above-average bullpen at the trade deadline, in a more under-the-radar move compared to the Juan Soto trade, with the swap of Taylor Rogers and Dinelson Lamet for three-time National League Relief Pitcher of the Year Josh Hader. However, Hader has floundered since arriving in San Diego, with the usually dominant reliever posting a 13.50 ERA and 2.423 WHIP in 8 2/3 innings after the trade, resulting in the removal from his traditional closing role.

Nevertheless, the Padres still have control of Pomeranz for one more season. If he has a healthy and productive Spring Training, it would not be surprising to see Preller extend the southpaw with the Padres farm system considerably thinned out in recent years.