Joe Musgrove

Ha-Seong Kim, Joe Musgrove Undergo Surgeries

By Anthony Franco | October 11, 2024 at 10:48pm CDT

Before the Padres’ season came to an end with tonight’s shutout loss in Los Angeles, San Diego provided a pair of injury updates. Ha-Seong Kim and Joe Musgrove both underwent their previously announced surgeries this week. Dennis Lin of the Athletic tweets that Kim had a labrum repair on his right shoulder yesterday, while Musgrove’s Tommy John surgery was performed on Friday.

Kim’s status will be one of the bigger stories of the offseason. The Padres haven’t provided a timetable for the infielder’s return. It’s not clear how much of next season, if any, he’ll be sidelined. The surgery comes at a brutal time for Kim, who is set to decline his end of an $8MM mutual option and reach free agency this winter. The defensive stalwart had an argument for a deal of four or five years at $15MM+ annually if he were healthy.

His market value is much more difficult to pin down now. Kim looked like a lock to receive and decline a qualifying offer midway through the summer. Unless the Padres expect him to be fully recovered early in the 2025 season, they probably won’t make the QO. The surgery raises the possibility of Kim taking a shorter-term contract. That could be a straight one-year deal or, more likely, a two-year pact that allows him to opt out after the first season.

San Diego will need to weigh a qualifying offer decision on both Kim and Jurickson Profar. If they let Kim walk, they’ll decide whether to go outside the organization for a shortstop or move one of their current players back to the position. The Padres used Xander Bogaerts at shortstop down the stretch. They could keep Bogaerts there with Jake Cronenworth and Luis Arraez on the right side of the infield. San Diego also has the option of giving Jackson Merrill a look at shortstop, but the 21-year-old had such a fantastic season in center field that the Padres may not want to change his role again. Bringing Merrill back into the infield would open a second gap to plug in the outfield alongside Profar’s potential departure.

Musgrove is under contract for $20MM in the third season of his five-year extension. The timing of the surgery means he’s very likely to miss the entire 2025 season. Musgrove isn’t willing to already close the book on the year, however. The righty told reporters he’s maintaining some hope that he could contribute if the Friars make a playoff push. “Some guys regenerate tissues faster than others,” he said earlier this week (via Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune). “I’m always going to leave room for the miracle of coming back in a crazy amount of time. But hearing the stories and reading up and doing my homework and talking with our trainers who have rehabbed tons of these, there’s a lot of importance in giving it the time on the front end that it needs.”

The 31-year-old (32 in December) would need an atypically quick recovery to pitch next season. The standard Tommy John rehab takes around 14-16 months. If Musgrove were to make a surprising return, it’d probably in short relief. The Padres will go into next season with Michael King, Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish as healthy starters. Martín Pérez will be a free agent, while Matt Waldron and Randy Vásquez profile better in depth roles. Musgrove’s injury could lead the Padres to acquire multiple starting pitchers this winter.

Division Series Roster Notes: Padres, Dodgers, Phillies, Yankees, Tigers

By Mark Polishuk | October 5, 2024 at 1:24pm CDT

We’ve already covered some notable roster additions for the Guardians and Mets as the Division Series begins, and the Royals are sticking with the same 26 players used in the Wild Card Series against the Orioles. Now that all eight teams in the LDS rounds have revealed their rosters, here are the details…

The Padres made two changes from their NLDS roster, adding left-hander Martin Perez and right-hander Alek Jacob and removing Joe Musgrove and infielder Nick Ahmed. Musgrove was obviously out due to his impending Tommy John surgery, while replacing Ahmed with a pitcher gives San Diego 13 pitchers to go with 13 position players. Perez is one of five southpaws on San Diego’s roster, as ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez (X link) was among those who noted that the Padres are guarding themselves as best they can against Shohei Ohtani and other powerful left-handed Dodgers bats.
The Dodgers will go with an even mix of 13 batters and 13 pitchers, and rookie Edgardo Henriquez has made the list of available arms. Henriquez only made his MLB debut on September 24 and he has played in just three games as a big leaguer, but Los Angeles will give the hard-throwing righty a look in October to add some velocity to the bullpen. It’s probably safe to assume that Henriquez wouldn’t have made the cut if the Dodgers weren’t ravaged by pitching injuries, yet the rookie also got the nod over veteran Joe Kelly, who had an inconsistent year but was pitching well after returning from the IL in mid-September. On the position player side, L.A. didn’t include either Kevin Kiermaier or James Outman, so Andy Pages will be the only true backup outfielder along with utilitymen Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor in the bench mix.
The Phillies will use 14 position players and 12 pitchers in their NLDS matchup with the Mets, with left-hander Kolby Allard joining the relief corps. Allard has worked as something of a swingman throughout his career, and this ability of covering multiple innings earned Allard the spot, as manager Rob Thomson told MLB.com’s Paul Casella and other reporters. “He’s going to probably give us the most length if we get into an extra-inning game….so I just wanted as much length as we could get,” Thomson said. Utilityman Weston Wilson also got the Phils’ last bench spot, as Casella observes that Wilson brings more positional versatility than outfielder Cal Stevenson.
The Yankees went heavier on position players (15) than pitchers (11) for their ALDS roster against the Royals. Anthony Rizzo is missing the series due to two broken fingers and DJ LeMahieu wasn’t yet activated from the injured list, but New York still has plenty of room on its bench, including pinch-running specialist Duke Ellis. The Yankees appear to be loading up on bats to take on the Royals’ tough rotation and more porous bullpen, which left right-hander Marcus Stroman off the ALDS roster as the odd man out of the starting staff.
The Tigers made just one change from their Wild Card Series roster, as rookie righty Keider Montero has been included in place of Casey Mize. Montero posted a 4.76 ERA over 98 1/3 innings in his first Major League season, starting 16 of 19 games. This doesn’t necessarily mean Montero will start against the Guardians in the ALDS, however, as Detroit’s pitching staff (apart from ace Tarik Skubal) is very malleable in terms of specific roles.

Joe Musgrove To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Darragh McDonald | October 4, 2024 at 11:58pm CDT

Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove has suffered damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and will undergo Tommy John surgery, per general manager A.J. Preller. Alden González of ESPN was among those to relay the announcement on X. The club hasn’t provided a timeline but Musgrove is sure to miss the entire 2025 season, given that recovery from Tommy John surgery generally takes 14 months or longer.

The news isn’t totally surprising, as Musgrove has been battling elbow issues all year, but it’s still rough for the righty and the club. By the end of May he was already on the injured list for the second time this year, both of those stints due to right elbow inflammation. In early June, it was reported that he had a bone spur in that elbow, which eventually kept him out of action until August.

He had struggled earlier in the season but finished strong. By the time of that second IL stint, he had made ten starts but with a 5.66 earned run average in that time. After returning in August, he posted a 2.15 ERA in seven starts down the stretch. He struck out 29.1% of opponents and walked 4.1% in that stretch run.

It seemed he was in strong form and set to be a key part of the club’s postseason staff. After Michael King shoved in the first game of the club’s Wild Card series against Atlanta, Musgrove was given the ball for the second contest. He struck out four opponents without issuing a walk through 3 2/3 innings but then departed the game with members of the training staff, having thrown just 44 pitches. The Friars later announced his issue as elbow tightness.

The Padres managed to win that game and move on to face the Dodgers in the Division Series, but manager Mike Shildt announced earlier today that Musgrove wouldn’t be appearing in the series. Shildt stopped short of making any declarations beyond that, but it’s now clear that Musgrove’s injury will impact far more than just the NLDS.

In the short term, the Padres will try to navigate the postseason without Musgrove. They have King, Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish as their best rotation options, with Martín Pérez and Matt Waldron also possibilities to contribute.

They will also have to get through the entire 2025 season without Musgrove, which should make starting pitching an offseason priority again. Darvish is still under contract while both King and Cease can be retained via arbitration for one more season before they are slated to reach free agency after 2025. Pérez is an impending free agent but Waldron is still in his pre-arbitration years.

Cease, King, Darvish and Waldron is a decent foursome but the club will presumably look to bolster that group. A lack of starting pitching depth was a notable storyline going into last winter, which prompted the club to target that in the Juan Soto trade. When they flipped Soto to the Yankees, they brought back King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez and Drew Thorpe, with Thorpe later flipped to the White Sox as part of the deal to get Cease.

Brito was mostly used in relief this year. Vásquez made 20 starts but with a 4.87 ERA and tepid 14.4% strikeout rate. He also struggled badly in the minors, posting an 8.21 ERA in Triple-A. Perhaps someone like Adrián Morejón could be stretched out after his solid year in the bullpen, but there would be risk with his notable injury history.

Budgetary concerns were a notable factor for the Padres last winter as well. The club’s streaming deal with Diamond Sports Group had collapsed in 2023, forcing MLB to take over the broadcast as the club received less revenue in that department. That led to the Padres dealing Soto and ducking under the competitive balance tax.

RosterResource pegs San Diego’s 2025 CBT number at $184MM, well south of next year’s $241MM base threshold. However, that number doesn’t account for contracts for arbitration-eligible players. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects San Diego’s eight-player class for a total of $46.7MM. A few non-tenders could drop that number but most of it is going to core players like King, Cease and Luis Arráez, so the Padres are probably more accurately slated to be in the $230MM range before making any offseason moves.

Preller will have to address the departures of impending free agents like Ha-Seong Kim, Jurickson Profar, Donovan Solano and Kyle Higashioka. If the budget is tight again, he might have to get creative in the winter, which wouldn’t be unusual for him. He is one of baseball’s most active decision makers and is seemingly always involved in all free agent and trade talks. With this news, he will have one more item on his to-do list. Musgrove is under contract through 2027 and is making $20MM annually as part of the five-year, $100MM extension he and the club signed in 2022.

Joe Musgrove Won’t Pitch In NLDS

By Darragh McDonald | October 4, 2024 at 3:40pm CDT

Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove exited his start in the Wild Card series due to tightness in his pitching elbow. Manager Mike Shildt informed reporters today that Musgrove won’t be on the club’s NLDS roster and won’t pitch in the series, though the skipper stopped short of speculating about the righty’s availability after this series. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com was among those to relay the news on X.

It’s an unfortunate development for the Padres, as they are hoping to take down the Dodgers in the series that kicks off tomorrow. Musgrove has had his challenges this year but is one of the club’s best pitchers and was in a groove towards the end of the regular season.

The righty had a 5.66 earned run average through the end of May. He had already missed a few weeks earlier that month due to elbow inflammation and he was diagnosed with a bone spur in his elbow in early June. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list and wasn’t able to return until the middle of August.

He was able to finish the season on a strong note, making nine starts down the stretch with a 2.15 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 4.1% walk rate. He took the ball in the second game of the Wild Card round against Atlanta and the results were good. He tossed 3 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and no walks, allowing one earned run. But his velocity was down and he was removed after just 44 pitches. The club later announced it as elbow tightness.

Given that Musgrove has been battling elbow issues all year, it’s fair to wonder if there’s a long-term issue that will need to be addressed. Shildt being tight-lipped about it for now, so the full ramifications may not be immediately known. If any kind of significant surgery is required, that could have a notable impact on the club into next year.

In the short term, the Padres will be trying to survive without Musgrove. Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish are scheduled to start the first two games of the series against the Dodgers. Michael King tossed the first game against Atlanta, striking out 12 over seven shutout innings, and will likely get the ball in the third contest on Tuesday. In the fourth game, they would likely be choosing between Cease starting on short rest versus using someone like Martín Pérez or Matt Waldron. Full roster announcements will be made Saturday morning.

Padres Reinstate Joe Musgrove, Designate Carl Edwards

By Anthony Franco | August 12, 2024 at 5:12pm CDT

As expected, the Padres reinstated Joe Musgrove from the 60-day injured list to start tonight’s game against the Pirates. San Diego designated reliever Carl Edwards Jr. for assignment to open space on both the active and 40-man rosters.

Musgrove has been sidelined since the end of May on account of elbow inflammation. This was his second elbow-related IL stint of the season. He hasn’t looked like himself around the injuries, struggling to a 5.66 ERA over 10 starts. His 92.4 MPH fastball speed was a bit below last season’s 93.1 MPH average. Opponents teed off on both his four-seam and cutter. Musgrove allowed nearly two home runs per nine innings and saw his strikeout rate fall to 20.6% — his lowest clip in six seasons.

After a few months away, Musgrove will try to recapture his 2021-23 form. The San Diego-area native combined for a 3.05 ERA across 459 2/3 innings over his first three seasons with his hometown club. While Musgrove’s 2023 campaign was cut short by a shoulder issue, he looked like a #2 or high-end #3 starter over the preceding two and a half seasons. He steps back into the Friars rotation as they look to at least hang onto a Wild Card spot. They currently occupy the second NL Wild Card spot and are four games clear of the #6 seed Braves. San Diego is tied with the Diamondbacks for second place in the NL West. They’re 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the division.

Musgrove’s return nudges Randy Vásquez out of the rotation. San Diego already optioned Vásquez last week with the knowledge that their All-Star righty would get the ball tonight. Musgrove slots behind Dylan Cease and Michael King and in front of Matt Waldron and Martín Pérez in the starting five. The Padres have been without Yu Darvish for five weeks as he attends to a family matter. Dennis Lin of the Athletic reported this afternoon that Darvish set up a live batting practice session at a local high school over the weekend. It’s still not clear whether he’ll be able to return this season, but the veteran righty is keeping his arm in shape in case he can get back.

Edwards was just selected onto the MLB roster late last week. He pitched once and failed to retire any of three batters faced. The 32-year-old righty has otherwise spent this season in Triple-A. Splitting his time between the Cubs and Padres organizations, he owns a 3.30 ERA across 46 1/3 frames in the minors. His 22.2% strikeout rate and lofty 14.3% walk percentage aren’t great, though, so he hasn’t gotten much of an MLB opportunity this year.

San Diego will put Edwards on waivers in the next couple days. He has more than enough service time to decline a minor league assignment if he goes unclaimed, though he’d likely be limited to minor league offers if he elects free agency.

West Notes: Eovaldi, Scherzer, Gurriel, Musgrove, Graveman

By Mark Polishuk | August 11, 2024 at 10:43pm CDT

The Rangers are heading to Boston for a series with the Red Sox beginning tomorrow, but Nathan Eovaldi and Max Scherzer are both going to Texas for injury-related checkups, GM Chris Young told the Associated Press and other reporters. Eovaldi left his start Saturday after three innings due to tightness in his left side, though the meeting with team doctor Keith Meister is seen as precautionary since Eovaldi “thinks he can pitch through” the issue, Young said. “He’s so important to us that we’re not sure we want to push him. We may end up pushing him back or skipping a start. We don’t think it’s an IL at this point, but we will clearly decide that once he sees Dr. Meister.”

Scherzer was placed on the 15-day injured list on July 31 due to right shoulder fatigue, and Young said the veteran “just hasn’t turned the corner with his shoulder. Our hope is that maybe we get back and explore some other diagnostic measures and get him back on the mound. But I don’t know what the timetable is going to be.” Between this IL stint and an extended absence at the start of the season while recovering from back surgery and a nerve issue in his thumb, Scherzer has pitched only 39 1/3 innings over eight starts.

More will be known about both pitchers’ situations after the tests are complete, but there is clear cause for concern given how both Eovaldi and Scherzer have checkered injury histories. For Scherzer in particular, his situation is worrisome given how much time he has already missed, and whether or not his abnormal ramp-up this year simply kept him from being fully ready to pitch. If either Scherzer or Eovaldi are revealed to have more serious issues, it could put the rest of their seasons in jeopardy, as the Rangers might consider shutdowns if the team continues to fall back in the playoff race.

Some other notes from both the AL and NL West divisions…

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. left the Diamondbacks’ 12-5 win over the Phillies today due to left hamstring tightness, but manager Torey Lovullo downplayed the injury in postgame comments to MLB.com and other media. Lovullo said the removal was precautionary and that Gurriel is day-to-day, plus the outfielder isn’t even being sent for any tests at this time. Gurriel is hitting .269/.302/.414 with 14 homers over 453 plate appearances as the team’s regular left fielder, translating to a 98 wRC+ in the first season of the three-year, $42MM contract he signed to rejoin the D’Backs last offseason.
The Padres will be activating Joe Musgrove from the 60-day injured list to start tomorrow’s game against the Pirates, after bone spurs in his right elbow cost him about two and a half months on the shelf. Talking with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Musgrove made changes to his mechanics and delivery in order to help manage the injury. “The spur is going to be there, the structure of the elbow is not going to change unless I get an operation,” Musgrove said. “So [I’m] trying to find a way to be able to throw and still execute and still have good stuff. Hopefully it will alleviate some of the stress on the elbow is kind of the goal….I felt great in this build back.” Between this injury and a previous elbow-related stint on the IL, Musgrove has thrown only 49 1/3 innings this season, with a shaky 5.66 ERA.
Kendall Graveman wasn’t expected to pitch in 2024 after a shoulder surgery last January, but his hopes at an in-season comeback gained some momentum Saturday when he threw a 10-pitch bullpen session. Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the San Diego Union-Tribune) that Graveman hit 86-87mph in his first time throwing off a mound since the surgery. As Kawahara notes, there might simply be not enough time left in the season for Graveman to get fully ramped up and then complete a minor league rehab assignment, but that won’t stop the veteran from trying.

NL West Notes: Snell, Musgrove, Muncy, Blackmon

By Mark Polishuk | August 3, 2024 at 12:13pm CDT

Blake Snell made some more baseball history last night when the two-time Cy Young Award winner threw a no-hitter against the Reds. The 18th no-hit game in the history of the New York/San Francisco Giants franchise, Snell’s gem saw him rack up 11 strikeouts against three walks on 114 pitches. It was also the first time Snell had ever thrown eight full innings in any of his 202 career starts, let alone a complete game.

The no-no continues what has now become one of the better pitching stretches of all time. Snell has an 0.55 ERA over his last five starts (33 IP), in what has been an incredible turn-around after an injury-plagued first half of the season. Signing with the Giants only in the midpoint of March, the lack of a proper Spring Training resulted in Snell posting a 9.51 ERA in his first 23 2/3 innings and six starts, as well a pair of trips to the injured list. It was after his latest return from the IL that Snell began his amazing five-start run, capped off with his legendary game yesterday in Cincinnati. While the Giants received plenty of trade interest in Snell prior to last Tuesday’s deadline, keeping an in-form ace will go a long way towards helping San Francisco’s chances at the playoffs.

Padres Notes: Arraez, Tatis, Musgrove

By Mark Polishuk | July 14, 2024 at 10:21pm CDT

The Padres completed their first half with a 6-3 loss to the Braves, and San Diego enters the All-Star break with a 50-49 record and a +12 run differential. While the National League wild card race is still very crowded, the Padres are a game out of a playoff spot and still in good position to make a run in the second half, though they’ll need good health and continued production from their star players to make it happen.

With this in mind, Luis Arraez told reporters (including Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune) today that he won’t be playing in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Arraez was named to the NL’s bench squad and will still attend the festivities in Arlington since his parents and sister will be in attendance at the Midsummer Classic for the first time, but the infielder won’t be taking the field because “I need the rest” for his injured left thumb.

Arraez jammed his thumb while sliding into third base during the Padres’ 9-7 win over the Nationals on June 25, and has since been trying to play through some serious discomfort whenever he fields the ball or takes a swing. Scans haven’t revealed any structural damage to the thumb, but Arraez recently told Acee and company that he has been wrapping the base of his thumb for every game.

“I don’t feel 100 percent. But every time I touch the line, I want to give 100 percent to the manager and to my teammates,” Arraez said.

It is a testament to Arraez’s toughness and ability that he has still continued to hit even while playing through this pain, even if his power has been even more limited by his thumb injury. Arraez is batting .309/.321/.346 over 56 plate appearances in the 13 games he has played since hurting his thumb, yet only two of his 17 hits have been for extra bases (both doubles). Though Arraez is known for his contact hitting moreso than his power, that .346 slugging percentage is well below the .427 career mark he posted in his first five MLB seasons with the Twins and Marlins.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is also hoping to take a step towards getting back onto the field when he undergoes an MRI during the All-Star break. Tatis was placed on the 10-day injured list on June 22 due to a right femoral stress reaction, and told The Athletic’s Dennis Lin and other reporters on Friday that he was no longer feeling any pain in his right leg. This is good news considering the uncertain nature of the injury, though while Tatis said he will “definitely” play again in 2024, he didn’t have any other updates on when exactly he might be able to return.

The fact that the injury was potentially seen as season-ending is certainly a concern, and itself perhaps a sign that Tatis isn’t out of the woods of being on a path to full fitness. The upcoming MRI will potentially shed some light on a recovery timetable, and for now, Tatis’ baseball-related activity has been limited to only dry swings.

Moving from lineup injuries to rotation injuries, Joe Musgrove is slated for a full bullpen session on Wednesday. Musgrove is eligible to return from the 60-day IL when his minimum absence time is up in late July, but his return from bone spurs in his right elbow will surely be delayed into August since the righty is only just in the early stages of his throwing progression. As per Acee, Musgrove will limit himself to throwing only fastballs in his first couple of bullpen sessions.

Between this IL stint and another visit to the 10-day IL due to triceps tendinitis at the beginning of the season, Musgrove has thrown only 49 1/3 innings in 2024, and struggled to a 5.66 ERA. This marks the second straight injury-marred year for Musgrove, as a broken toe and shoulder inflammation limited him to 97 1/3 innings in 2023, though he was more effective when he did pitch, delivering a 3.05 ERA.

Padres Select Austin Davis

By Steve Adams | June 28, 2024 at 3:30pm CDT

3:30pm: The Padres have made it official, announcing they have selected Davis to the roster. Left-hander Tom Cosgrove was placed on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation to open an active roster spot. To get Davis onto the 40-man, right-hander Joe Musgrove was transferred to the 60-day IL. Musgrove has a bone spur in his right elbow and has been on the IL since May 29. He’s now ineligible to return until 60 days from that date, which would be late July. He still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment and will need a few weeks to build up once he does.

11:29am: The Padres are planning to call up left-hander Austin Davis prior to tonight’s series opener against the Red Sox, reports Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. They’ll need to formally select his contract from Triple-A El Paso and open a spot on the 40-man roster, though that can be accomplished in rather straightforward fashion by transferring Xander Bogaerts (who’s out with a fracture in his shoulder) from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.

The 31-year-old Davis hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2022 but has appeared in parts of five MLB seasons. He’s posted a lackluster 5.61 earned run average in that time while showing an ability to miss bats (25% strikeout rate) but also some troubles with walks (11%) and home runs (1.25 HR/9).

Though he doesn’t have much of a big league track record, Davis has been sharp in El Paso this season. The journeyman southpaw has a 3.10 ERA in 29 frames and has been outstanding since a shaky start to the year. Over his past 23 1/3 innings, Davis boasts a 1.93 ERA with 32 punchouts and 13 walks. That’s still too many free passes, of course. It’s perhaps worth noting that four of those walks were intentional, but that’s offset by the fact that he’s also plunked four hitters along the way.

Davis’ effectively wild tenure with the Padres’ Triple-A club marks a stark turnaround from a disastrous Triple-A run with the Astros a year ago, when he walked 34 batters and allowed 32 runs in just 25 1/3 innings. Even with that career-worst performance skewing his track record, Davis sports a 4.19 ERA, 29% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate in parts of five Triple-A campaigns.

If Davis can carry this season’s success over to the majors and carve out a longer-term spot on the roster, he’d be controllable for three seasons beyond the current campaign, though he has quite a ways to go before that’s a real consideration. The left-hander is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to stick on the roster or else be designated for assignment before he can be sent back down to the minors. Even if he were to clear waivers in such a scenario, he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s been outrighted previously in his career.

Joe Musgrove Diagnosed With Bone Spur In Elbow

By Anthony Franco | June 6, 2024 at 9:46pm CDT

Joe Musgrove landed on the 15-day injured list over the weekend, his second such stint of the 2024 season. The Padres initially called the issue elbow inflammation. They provided more clarity this evening, announcing that an MRI revealed a bone spur (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com).

While there’s relief in Musgrove avoiding any ligament damage, the bone spur is going to keep him out well beyond the minimal two weeks. Cassavell writes that the former All-Star will be shut down entirely for two weeks. He could begin playing catch at that point, but that’ll likely require a multi-week build before he’s ready for a minor league rehab assignment. Musgrove conceded that he could require arthroscopic surgery if the injury doesn’t heal with rest, but that’s not currently under consideration. He recently received a platelet-rich plasma injection.

With a little more than five weeks before the All-Star Break, it seems likely Musgrove will be out into the second half of the season. His rehab process will determine whether he’s back at Petco Park before the trade deadline. The Padres are likely to look for starting pitching regardless — they’ve already been tied to White Sox breakout lefty Garrett Crochet — but Musgrove’s injury only adds to the uncertainty.

Dylan Cease, Michael King and Matt Waldron are the clear top three in the rotation at the moment. Yu Darvish landed on the 15-day IL alongside Musgrove, though it doesn’t seem that he’ll miss much time rehabbing a groin strain. San Diego recalled righty Randy Vásquez and promoted rookie Adam Mazur to step into the starting five. Vásquez carried a 5.74 ERA into tonight’s start against the Diamondbacks. Mazur made his MLB debut on Tuesday. Jackson Wolf, owner of a 5.83 ERA over 11 Triple-A appearances, is the only other starter on the 40-man roster.

San Diego’s rotation has turned in average results through the season’s first couple months. They’re 14th with an even 4.00 earned run average despite ranking fifth in MLB with a 24% strikeout rate. Darvish, Cease, Waldron and King have each allowed between three and four earned runs per nine with solid swing-and-miss numbers. Musgrove has had a disappointing season as he tried to navigate the elbow soreness. He has tossed fewer than five innings per start with a 5.66 ERA and a 20.6% strikeout rate that would easily be the worst of his Padres tenure.

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