The Padres are buying right-hander Jason Adam from the Rays, per Robert Murray of FanSided on X. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN relays on X that the Padres are sending righty Dylan Lesko to the Rays. Jeff Passan of ESPN reviews on X that outfielder Homer Bush Jr. and a 3rd prospect are additionally going to Tampa. The third prospect is J.D. Gonzalez, per Joel Sherman of The New York Submit on X.
Like so many different gamers earlier than him, Adam bounced across the league earlier than lastly changing into his finest self in Tampa. He was drafted by the Royals again in 2010 and subsequently hung out in a number of organizations, together with the Padres, in addition to the Twins, Blue Jays and Cubs. He was non-tendered by the Cubs after 2021, at that time sitting on a 4.71 earned run common via 78 1/3 main league innings. He had struck out 27.9% of batters confronted but in addition given out walks at a excessive fee of 11.4%.
The Rays signed him going into 2022 and he has taken his sport to a different degree since then. He made 170 appearances as a Ray with a 2.30 ERA, 30.4% strikeout fee, 8.3% stroll fee and 44.7% floor ball fee. He has 24 saves and 51 holds in that point. That features 47 appearances this 12 months with a 2.49 ERA. His 27.8% strikeout fee in 2024 is a number of ticks under latest years however his 47.3% floor ball fee is a private finest.
All contending golf equipment wish to bolster their bullpens presently of 12 months and that’s very true of the Padres. Their aid corps has a mixed ERA of 4.19, which locations them within the backside third of the league. They’ve obtained good outcomes from Robert Suarez, Jeremiah Estrada, Yuki Matsui and others however guys like Wandy Peralta and Enyel De Los Santos have struggled, with Peralta at present on the injured checklist.
Including Adam and his abilities to that aid group is understandably interesting, as is his modest wage. Although he turns 33 years outdated subsequent month, his lengthy journey to being established on the main league degree has led to him having a delayed path to notable earnings. He certified for arbitration for the primary time going into 2023 as a Tremendous Two participant and made $1.775MM final 12 months, getting a modest bump to $2.7MM right here in 2024. He’s eligible for 2 extra arbitration seasons earlier than he’s slated at no cost company after 2026.
The Padres needed to make important wage cuts within the offseason, which led to Juan Soto getting buying and selling to the Yankees. They’ve nonetheless tried to subject a aggressive crew right here in 2024 and have succeeded. They’re at present on a seven-game profitable streak that has bumped them to 57-50 and possession of a Nationwide League Wild Card spot. However they seemingly need to keep away from the aggressive steadiness tax this 12 months and are at present on tempo to take action.
RosterResource calculates their CBT quantity at $225MM, roughly $12MM away from the $237MM base threshold. That seems to provide them an honest quantity of wiggle room however that’s an unofficial estimate. Adam has lower than a $1MM left to be paid out this 12 months, so he’ll solely marginally enhance San Diego’s CBT quantity, maybe leaving the entrance workplace room for additional strikes.
Extra to return.
