Padres roster review: Joe Musgrove

by · The Fresno Bee

JOE MUSGROVE

  • Position(s): Right-handed pitcher
  • Bats / Throws: Right / Right
  • 2025 opening day age: 32
  • Height / Weight: 6-foot-5 / 230 pounds
  • How acquired: Via trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates in January 2021
  • Contract status: Will make $20 million in the third year of a five-year, $100 million deal
  • fWAR in 2024: 1.4
  • Key 2024 stats: 6-5, 3.88 ERA, 101 strikeouts, 23 walks, 1.17 WHIP, .251 opponent average, 99⅔ innings (19 starts)

STAT TO NOTE

  • 2.15 - Musgrove's ERA over nine starts after losing more than two months to elbow trouble, more than three runs better than his mark (5.66) when he hit the injured list for a second time after his May 26 start. Musgrove allowed hitters a .195/.240/.314 batting line over those final nine starts after allowing a .305/.374/.521 batting line over his first 10 starts.

TRENDING

  • Down - It's hard to imagine a worse start and end to 2024 season than Musgrove endured, although that broken toe and shoulder woes to start 2023 and the shoulder injury to end that season weren't great. Musgrove allowed five runs in 2⅔ innings in the Seoul Series to start the year and had just four quality starts in his first 10 starts to the season. Elbow trouble sent him to the injured list for the first time on May 5 and again on June 1 and ultimately required Tommy John surgery after 3⅔ innings in his NL Wild-Card Series start against the Braves. In between (see stat to note), Musgrove was critical to pushing the Padres over the hump and into the No. 1 wild-card spot. After a rehab aimed at overhauling his delivery to take stress off the elbow and adding a new slider, Musgrove made one rehab start with the Lake Elsinore Storm before returning to the rotation on Aug. 12. While there was one major hiccup (6 ER on Sept. 8 against the Giants), the ensuing run was well-timed as rookie knuckleballer Matt Waldron had hit a wall. Musgrove went on to make six quality starts in nine trips to the mound after coming off the shelf and allowed zero runs in five of the starts. His return to form, combined with Yu Darvish's return from the injured/restricted lists, made the Padres a chic favorite pick to win their first World Series. But Musgrove walked off the mound with elbow discomfort in the fourth inning of his Game 3 start and underwent Tommy John surgery hours before the Padres ere eliminated in Game 5 of the NLDS by the Dodgers.

2025 OUTLOOK

  • The Padres are shopping for under-the-radar rotation options and could land a lottery ticket in Japanese import Roki Sasaki as Musgrove will be lost for the season. He did go under the knife in the first part of October, so there's an outside shot that Musgrove could help the Padres out of the bullpen should they make the playoffs, but that's nothing that they can count on this season.

Roster rankings

  • 14. Adrián Morejón
  • 15. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
  • 16. RHP Matt Waldron
  • 17. INF Eguy Rosario
  • 18. RHP Randy Vásquez
  • 19. RHP Bryan Hoeing
  • 20. LHP Yuki Matsui
  • 21. RHP Sean Reynolds
  • 22. C Luis Campusano
  • 23. RHP Alek Jacob
  • 24. OF Tirso Ornelas
  • 25. RHP Ryan Bergert
  • 26. RHP Henry Baez
  • 27. LHP Omar Cruz
  • 28. OF Brandon Lockridge
  • 29. LHP Tom Cosgrove
  • 30. RHP Stephen Kolek
  • 31. RHP Juan Nuñez
  • 32. C Brett Sullivan
  • 33. UT Tyler Wade
  • 34. LHP Wandy Peralta

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This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 5:14 AM.