PEORIA, Ariz. — The Padres were not done.
After agreeing to terms with Griffin Canning on Friday night, adding an arm to their rotation for later in the season, they acquired Germán Márquez for right away.
The agreement on a one-year deal with Márquez, first reported by ESPN, was confirmed by a source Saturday afternoon.
Where Canning is coming back from Achilles surgery last June and is not expected to be ready to pitch for the Padres until May, Márquez will join the competition this spring for what is almost certainly one available spot in the starting rotation.
Márquez, a 30-year-old right-hander, has spent his entire career with the Colorado Rockies and has a 4.67 ERA across 200 starts. He was an All-Star in 2021 but made just four starts in ’23 before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
His comeback has been a struggle.
He made just one start in 2024 and last season posted a career-worst 6.70 ERA in 26 starts (126⅓ innings). After missing a month last summer with biceps tendinitis, he had a 9.13 ERA across his final five starts (23 ⅔ innings).
Financial terms of Márquez’s contract were not immediately known, but the deal includes a mutual option for 2027. Canning’s deal also has a mutual option, which allows the Padres to push a portion of the actual payout to after this season in the form of a buyout. Mutual options are virtually never exercised.
The Padres were shopping in the proverbial bargain bin as their payroll commitments are right up against their internal projection for the start of the season.
Before adding Canning, Márquez and outfielder Nick Castellanos this weekend, their payroll was around $227 million, according to Spotrac. (That number included $15 million due to pitcher Yu Darvish, who is expected to terminate his contract after offseason elbow surgery left him uncertain about his ability to pitch again.)