The San Diego Padres signed right-hander Walker Buehler, who has agreed to a one-year minor league deal with the club pending physical.
As spring training continues to draw near, the Padres are hard at work rounding out their roster. It’s already been a busy start to the week with their recent signing of Ty France, and General Manager AJ Preller doesn’t seem quite done yet.
The Fifth Spot
There’s a new name getting added to the Padres rotation, which is slowly becoming a competition to see who can make the squad come Opening Day.
The current starting rotation projections look like this:
The probable fourth starter is likely to be Randy Vazquez, who enters his third season with the club. Vazquez has steadily increased his production after coming to the Padres via trade in 2024. He spent some time in the minors during the 2025 season but returned stronger, suddenly throwing a 97.5 mph fastball. While that was during a rare relief appearance for Vazquez its a pretty drastic jump from his 93.3 average velocity.
That means only one more spot remains on the Padres’ Major League pitching rotation.
Buehler’s History
Walker Buehler now has to compete with the likes of Matt Waldron, Triston McKenzie, German Marquez, JP Sears and Marco Gonzalez for the fifth spot.
Buehler had a unique 2025 Season starting for the Boston Red Sox before ending up with the Philadelphia Phillies. For the Red Sox, he posted a 5.45 ERA, winning 7 of 23 games he pitched. His performance ultimately led to his release from the club during the final stretch of the regular season. He was then picked up by the Philies and began to show signs of his old dominance once again. He won all three of the games he pitched for the team, posting a 0.66 ERA in 13 2/3 innings pitched. A small sample size for sure, but proof that he has plenty of gas left in the tank.
In the past, Buehler has been something of a rival for the Padres as he previously spent seven seasons with their division rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is 7–1 with a 1.67 ERA in 13 starts against the Padres. He’s also made two starts against them in the postseason, losing one and receiving a no-decision for the other.
Assuming he can return to form, his spot as the Padres’ fifth starter is all but secured.
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