Padres add Jered Weaver, continue to scrape the bottom of the pitching barrel
Weaver will make $3 million in 2017
By
Mike Axisa
•
1 min read
Over the last several weeks, the San Diego Padres have been signing reclamation-project starters to help fill out their rotation because hey, someone has to throw those innings. The team is in the middle of a rebuild, but they still have to protect their young arms.
On Saturday, the Padres signed another veteran starter to a low-cost, one-year contract. They’ve reportedly agreed to a deal with Jered Weaver. The team has not yet confirmed the news.
Jered Weaver gets $3 million to sign with the Padres.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 18, 2017
Trevor Cahill, Jhoulys Chacin, and Clayton Richard all signed one-year deals with the Padres earlier this offseason. All three received $1.75 million and will compete for a rotation spot in camp. Weaver’s $3 million guarantee suggests he may be locked into a starting spot.
I’m actually a bit surprised Weaver found a new team this offseason. I thought he might be forced into retirement given his recent performance. Then again, teams always need pitching.
Check out Weaver’s last five seasons:
ERA | ERA+ | WAR | Average Fastball Velocity | |
2011 | 2.41 | 156 | 7.0 | 90.0 |
2012 | 2.81 | 135 | 4.0 | 88.7 |
2013 | 3.27 | 115 | 3.7 | 87.3 |
2014 | 3.59 | 100 | 3.0 | 87.5 |
2015 | 4.64 | 81 | 0.3 | 84.3 |
2016 | 5.06 | 78 | -0.7 | 84.0 |
Yikes. Those are some scary trends. Weaver looked so far gone at times last season that salvaging any value from him seemed impossible. Maybe the Padres will get some good mileage out of him. These days $3 million isn’t much to a baseball team, so it’s not like they have a lot on the line here.
The Padres went 68-94 in 2016, tied with the Reds for the second-worst record in baseball. SportsLine projected San Diego to win 72.2 games in 2016, fifth fewest in baseball, prior to the Weaver signing.
