Padres agree to deal with Michael Wacha (source)
PEORIA, Ariz. — The Padres opened camp by addressing their roster’s largest deficiency.
Veteran right-hander Michael Wacha has agreed to a contract with the Padres, sources informed MLB.com on Tuesday morning, bolstering the staff’s once-thin beginning rotation. The deal is pending a bodily and has not but been confirmed by the membership.
Terms of the deal weren’t instantly recognized, however the construction was stated to be considerably complicated, involving a number of years and the potential for Wacha to choose out.
Wacha, 31, is coming off a season by which he posted a 3.32 ERA in 23 begins for the Red Sox. He’ll be coming into his eleventh huge league season along with his fifth staff, however he spent the majority of his profession pitching in St. Louis — seven seasons the place he reached the postseason 3 times and took house 2013 NLCS MVP honors.
In St. Louis, Wacha posted a 3.91 ERA from 2013-19, earlier than regressing within the ’20 and ’21 seasons. He notched a 6.62 mark with the Mets in ’20, then a 5.05 ERA with the Rays in ’21. But Wacha’s bounce-back season in Boston made him a strong candidate to bolster the Padres’ rotation. By the time he agreed with San Diego, he was the market’s prime remaining free-agent pitcher.
Wacha slots right into a beginning rotation that already options Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell on the prime. Right-handers Nick Martinez and Seth Lugo — each of whom have a observe report of success within the bullpen — are set to slip into beginning roles to start out the season as nicely.
So the Padres have been set to open camp with 5 starters. But that they had espoused their want for a six-man rotation, citing that plan’s effectiveness within the early phases of 2022. Perhaps they’d pare down to 5 later within the 12 months, however they wished to open the season with six, easing the burden on all the workers.
But — as supervisor Bob Melvin identified final week — the Padres would want six succesful starters to take action.
They seem to have discovered their lacking piece in Wacha.
