Matt Waldron Goes on IL as Padres Standings Shuffle Continues
The Padres moved Matt Waldron to the 15-day injured list and brought up Alek Jacob from Triple-A, a roster change that keeps the team’s Padres standings math tied to how quickly its pitching staff can stabilize. Waldron had opened the year with a 9.28 ERA through five appearances, and the club turned to Jacob as a short-term bullpen arm.
Waldron’s spot opens again
Waldron had already begun the season on the injured list while recovering from a hemorrhoid procedure, then got back into the mix in a staff that had been churned by injuries. By mid-April, he was ready to come off the IL, but Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Griffin Canning were already sidelined.
That pushed the Padres to keep reshaping the group around him. Shortly after Pivetta’s injury, they signed Lucas Giolito and agreed to option him to the minors for tune-up starts, then built a rotation around Waldron, Michael King, Randy Vásquez, Walker Buehler and Germán Márquez.
Jacob gets the call
Jacob enters with major league experience and option flexibility. He has a 3.91 ERA in 53 big league innings from 2023-26, including 33 1/3 innings in the majors last year, and posted a 5.13 ERA with a 15.0% strikeout rate in that span.
He has also logged 98 2/3 innings at Triple-A since the start of 2024 with a 5.20 ERA. With just over one year of service time and one option remaining, he gives the Padres a movable relief arm while they wait for Giolito’s debut in the next couple of days.
Padres rotation keeps changing
Waldron’s demotion comes after he threw two mop-up innings out of the bullpen yesterday and acknowledged how rough his start has been. “Safe to say my ERA and my numbers aren't too attractive right now,” he said. “And I have no options, so I mean, yeah, that's where I'll leave it.”
The move also spares him from being designated for assignment for now. Griffin Canning returned from the injured list in early May, and Germán Márquez went on the injured list at the same time, leaving the Padres to keep patching together innings while one pitcher waits to come up and another steps out of the rotation.
When Giolito joins the major league club, Jacob can be optioned again. Until then, the Padres have made their latest adjustment with the same goal they have chased all season: keep enough healthy arms available to avoid another empty spot in the rotation.
