PEORIA, Ariz. — There was little chance something like this wasn't going to happen.
The Padres were not going to enter a season that carries World Series aspirations while having so much uncertainty about the depth of their starting rotation. Not after the lessons of the past two seasons — the calamity of 2021 and the boon of '22.
And so, the team on Tuesday addressed its biggest need by reaching an agreement on a contract with starting pitcher Michael Wacha, several sources confirmed.
The 10-year veteran will join a rotation that already had five starters penciled in but lacked proven depth. Adding Wacha not only supplements innings, it likely allows the Padres to give pitchers an extra day between starts for portions of the season.
"I think it's great," Padres pitcher Nick Martinez said. "He's a pretty experienced pitcher, a good pitcher. So if we're rolling with six guys like we did last year, we did pretty good doing it last year."
Terms of the contract are not known, though one source familiar with the details said the multi-year pact will end up being similar to the one signed by Martinez in November. Martinez's deal pays him $10 million this season with the possibility he could make $16 million in '24 and '25 if the Padres exercise an option after this season. If the team declines that option, Martinez has an option to make $8 million in each of the next two years.
Wacha's deal is pending a physical for the 31-year-old right-hander who last season posted a 3.32 ERA in 127 1/3 innings.
He spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Cardinals before signing as a free agent with the Mets in 2020. Wacha pitched for the Rays in 2021 and the Red Sox in '22. He had a 6.62 ERA over 34 innings in the COVID-shortened '20 campaign and a 5.05 ERA in 124 2/3 innings in 2021.
Wacha has thrown at least 124 2/3 innings each of the past three full seasons. A similar season would augment the losses the Padres suffered when Sean Manaea (158 innings) and Mike Clevinger (114 1/3 innings) departed as free agents.
The Padres appear to be in a good position atop the rotation with Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell, who combined to post a 3.11 ERA over 503 1/3 innings.
The other two presumptive starters — Martinez and Seth Lugo — are not the same known commodities as members of a rotation.
Martinez threw 290 1/3 innings over his final two seasons in Japan in 2020 and '21, but worked exclusively out of the bullpen the final 3½ months of last season. He threw 106 1/3 innings in 2022.
Lugo has not started since 2020. He pitched 65 innings last season and has not reached 100 innings since 2018.
"We have a few guys coming out of a reliever role," Musgrove said. "… That extra time could be beneficial for them being able to make every one of those starts consistently."
That is what occurred last season.
The Padres used a six-man (and sometimes seven-man) rotation from the beginning of May until the beginning of August.
The extra rest led to increased stamina and effectiveness by the starters and kept relievers fresh.
The Padres starting pitchers' 901 innings were fourth-most in the majors, the highest the team had ever ranked in that category. Their top four starters gave them a combined 661 2/3 innings, the highest total by four Padres pitchers since 2015.
Their 84 quality starts were second most in the major leagues, and they got at least two from seven different pitchers. Their average of 91 pitches per start was one fewer than the league-leading Astros. Padres' starters threw 100 pitches or more a combined 44 times, the most in baseball.
The bullpen was among the most rested in the major leagues for much of the season, throwing the third-fewest innings in the majors and 146 fewer innings than it had the previous season. The rest paid off in the end, as Padres relievers posted a 2.77 ERA over a crucial 18-game stretch through the day they clinched a playoff berth and then a 2.23 ERA through the first 11 games of the postseason.
That was in contrast to 2021, when injuries decimated their rotation and caused the bullpen to be overworked, leading to a sharp decline in performance in the season's final two months.
"We saw how good the bullpen was last year when they were rested and fresh," Musgrove said. "So we've got to do everything we can to keep it that way."
Said Martinez: "We saw how successful we were. So why not try to emulate that and see if we can take it all the way to the World Series?"
