Hours after addressing their biggest need and in the final minutes before the 3 o’clock trade deadline, the Padres did it again.
They added a second rental starting pitcher when they acquired Casey Mize and minor-league utility man Gage Workman from the Tigers.
The cost was their top pitching prospect, Kash Mayfield, and minor-league left-hander Jackson Wolf.
Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Casey Mize throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Saturday, July 25, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
Mize, who has a 2.70 ERA in 16 starts this season, was considered by some to be the second-best starting pitcher available. The Tigers selected the former Auburn star with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft.
The 29-year-old right-hander spent time on the injured list with an adductor (groin) strain twice this season. He has a 3.23 ERA in seven starts (39 innings) since returning from his last IL stint.
The Padres made their first acquisition late Monday morning when they got Robbie Ray (and the money to pay half of his salary) from the Giants for two minor leaguers.
One source said the team is finished dealing, meaning they did not get a frontline left-handed-hitting outfielder, which was something they tried to do.
More imperative was bolstering their rotation.
They did so with Mize and Ray, whose 1.09 ERA over his past eight games is tied for best in the major leagues in that span.
What they were getting from their starting pitchers the majority of games was so meager that the Padres recently shuffled their pitching staff to try to get through nine innings piecemeal most days.
They effectively moved starters Germán Márquez, JP Sears and Randy Vásquez to the bullpen and kept Michael King and Walker Buehler as their only traditional starters.
The Padres are 5-2 in the games they have navigated with their supersized bullpen, but the approach was always intended to be temporary.
The idea was that the need for such games would diminish after the trade deadline and disappear later in August with the expected return of Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta from their respective elbow injuries.
The Padres began spring training with the expectation that King, Musgrove and Pivetta would be a reliably effective trio at the front of the rotation. But Musgrove was shut down in spring training due to discomfort caused by a lack of cartilage in his elbow, and Pivetta departed his fourth start of the season with what was diagnosed as a flexor strain in his elbow.
The two sidelined veterans make their first rehab starts Tuesday at low-A Lake Elsinore with the hope they return around Aug. 21 or 22.
Detroit Tigers third baseman Gage Workman throws to first base against the Cleveland Guardians during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 20, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
The Padres also added Workman, a left-handed-hitting, right-handed-throwing infielder who has played in 28 big-league games with the Tigers, Cubs and White Sox. His father, Widd, spent the 1996-98 seasons in the Padres’ low minors.
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The Union-Tribune ranked Mayfield as the Padres’ No. 2 prospect, behind catcher Ethan Salas. The Padres’ first-round pick in 2024, the 21-year-old Mayfield touched 96 mph this year, but has largely pitched in the low 90s his first two years in pro ball. Mayfield, along with Salas, represented the club in last month’s MLB All-Star Futures Game in Philadelphia. Mayfield was scratched from his last scheduled start at Fort Wayne because of what the team called a right hamstring strain.
Wolf was in his second stint with the Padres. He was also part of a deadline-day deal in 2023, with San Diego sending him to Pittsburgh in a package for pitcher Rich Hill and infielder Ji Man Choi.
