{"id":115403,"date":"2026-03-10T00:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=115403"},"modified":"2026-03-10T00:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T04:53:33","slug":"bullpen-shakeup-for-padres-expecting-adam-back-for-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/10\/bullpen-shakeup-for-padres-expecting-adam-back-for-opening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Bullpen Shakeup for Padres, Expecting Adam Back for Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The San Diego Padres, like many others, are entering crunch time. As Opening Day marches ever closer, clubs are forced to send players to minor league camp, denying them potential roster spots.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These decisions are incredibly difficult and can affect the team\u2019s season. This evening, the Padres made several announcements about their elite relief corps. And, although unlikely to greatly affect the bullpen depth, it\u2019s worth giving the three pitchers a glance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Daison Acosta<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=acosta000dai\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daison Acosta<\/a> was picked up on a one-year deal by General Manager A.J. Preller <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/daison-acosta-signs-1-year-deal-with-padres\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">during the 2025 Winter Meetings<\/a>. He had options remaining and could be sent down to the minors. The Padres announced Monday night they did just that, outrighting Acosta to the Minors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">San Diego noticed that the veteran minor leaguer put up great numbers in the last two seasons. Across three levels in the Washington Nationals\u2019 minor-league system, Acosta put up a 2.53 ERA from 2024-25.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was signed as a depth piece for the already-deep bullpen. However, it\u2019s unclear why San Diego outrighted him. It\u2019s possible they were more certain he\u2019d clear waivers than other players in camp.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Altogether, he has yet to appear in Cactus League play and will likely begin the season in Triple-A El Paso. The 27-year-old has yet to pitch at the big-league level.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Bryan Hoeing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The former Miami Marlins swingman was <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/press-release\/padres-acquire-lhp-tanner-scott-and-rhp-bryan-hoeing-from-miami-marlins#:~:text=The%20San%20Diego%20Padres%20have,General%20Manager%20A.J.%20Preller%20announced\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sent over to the Friars<\/a> with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/scottta01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tanner Scott<\/a> at the 2024 Trade Deadline. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hoeinbr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hoeing<\/a> dominated through the remainder of the season, putting up a 1.52 ERA in 18 appearances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since then, Hoeing has been largely ineffective due to injury. Across 8.0 innings in 2025, he notched a 3.38 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. He spent some time in the minors in \u201825, getting knocked around for a 6.27 ERA in 18.2 innings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/2026\/03\/09\/padres-notebook-song-returns-to-field-cant-swing-yet-adam-remains-on-track-for-opening-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports<\/a> that Hoeing may undergo some form of elbow surgery. It remains uncertain how serious the surgery is or how long it will keep him out. Manager <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stammcr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Craig Stammen<\/a> suggests that the team will reach a decision soon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Hoeing does require surgery, he could be out for at least a few months and would likely be unavailable until later this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Jason Adam<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The same report from Acee notes that <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adamja01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adam<\/a> is on schedule to return to the Padres by Opening Day. That has largely been his goal since the left quadriceps tendon rupture in September \u201825 that ended his season prematurely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thankfully, Acee&#8217;s report makes it seem likely for that to be the case. Across 92 innings in San Diego, Adam has put up a ridiculous 1.66 ERA, being one of the most effective and consistent relievers in baseball. Adding to his resum\u00e9, Adam was one of three Padres relievers <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/adrian-morejon-named-2025-all-star\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sent to the All-Star Game<\/a> in \u201825 after putting up a 1.61 ERA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It seems that the club is close to letting him retake the mound, with the concern being more focused on fielding than pitching. It\u2019s a similar case to Padres&#8217; offseason addition <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cannigr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Griffin Canning<\/a>, who can pitch with ease but has difficulty fielding the ball.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adam\u2019s return by Opening Day would bring celebration in the San Diego clubhouse as it reclaims an elite piece of its relief corps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The San Diego Padres, like many others, are entering crunch time. As Opening Day marches ever closer, clubs are forced to send players to minor league camp, denying them potential roster spots. These decisions are incredibly difficult and can affect the team\u2019s season. This evening, the Padres made several announcements about their elite relief corps. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5784,"featured_media":115412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,35,30],"tags":[280,29299,29281,29298,3599],"class_list":["post-115403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-news","category-padres","tag-a-j-preller","tag-bryan-hoeing","tag-craig-stammen","tag-daison-acosta","tag-jason-adam"],"modified_by":"Augustus Oswald, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115403"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115413,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115403\/revisions\/115413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}