{"id":587050,"date":"2026-04-16T04:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587050\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T04:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:12:10","slug":"nick-pivetta-facing-extended-absence-with-flexor-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587050\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Pivetta Facing Extended Absence With Flexor Strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Padres will be without\u00a0Nick Pivetta<\/a> for quite some time. Manager Craig Stammen told reporters on Wednesday that San Diego\u2019s Opening Day starter has been diagnosed with a flexor strain (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com<\/a>). The righty is being shut down for an indeterminate period.<\/p>\n

Stammen said the absence will be measured in \u201cweeks and maybe months.\u201d The manager and pitcher each expressed confidence that Pivetta will be able to return this season. That suggests they\u2019re hopeful he\u2019ll avoid any surgical procedures.<\/p>\n

Pivetta was also diagnosed with a flexor strain while a member of the Red Sox in April 2024. That was a mild strain and he recovered quickly, returning to action a month later. This one will seemingly result in a longer absence. Those are the only two non-viral injured list stints of Pivetta\u2019s big league career. Durability has traditionally been a strength.<\/p>\n

Matt Waldron<\/a> will be activated from the injured list on Friday or Saturday to replace Pivetta in the rotation. It\u2019s an alarmingly thin group behind\u00a0Michael King<\/a>. Righty\u00a0Randy V\u00e1squez<\/a> is now up to #2 on the depth chart, followed by\u00a0Walker Buehler<\/a> and\u00a0Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez<\/a>. They\u2019re already without\u00a0Yu Darvish<\/a> for the season and have uncertain timelines for Pivetta and\u00a0Joe Musgrove<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Griffin Canning<\/a> should be back a couple weeks from now to take one rotation spot. Any of Buehler, Waldron or M\u00e1rquez could be pushed from the group once Canning is healthy. Waldron made one MLB start last season and had a 6.48 ERA over 21 appearances in Triple-A. Buehler and M\u00e1rquez were reclamation free agent additions. They\u2019ve each had one good start and two clunkers in the first three turns through the rotation.<\/p>\n

Depending on the injury\u2019s severity, this could also have an impact on the upcoming free agent class. Pivetta can opt out of the remaining two years and $32MM on his contract. That\u2019d be an easy call if he\u2019s healthy and pitching anywhere close to last season\u2019s level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Padres will be without\u00a0Nick Pivetta for quite some time. Manager Craig Stammen told reporters on Wednesday that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[104693,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-587050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-nick-pivetta","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}