Nick Pivetta's comments confirm Padres finessed Red Sox with contract offer

Right before the 2025 season began, it didn't seem like the San Diego Padres had done much to bolster the roster. Offseason acquisition rumors were flying around constantly, and the Padres' main goal was signing Roki Sasaki.

That obviously didn't happen, but the Friars should be thankful that it didn't. They should also be thankful that the Boston Red Sox had no faith in Nick Pivetta long-term.

Boston offered the 32-year-old a qualifying offer of one year, $21 million. But that was it. While that's a solid salary for one season, Pivetta's biggest wish was having job security. He wanted to be locked in for more than a season, and thankfully, the Padres gave him a shot.

San Diego signed him to a reasonable four-year, $55 million deal, which has worked out far beyond expectation. The Padres believed in Pivetta, and he's paying them back by having an All-Star level campaign.

Nick Pivetta simply wanted job security, and the Padres came through on that wish

Where would the Padres be without Pivetta? Yu Darvish was hurt all season, Joe Musgrove hasn't picked up a baseball, Michael King has spent two stints on the injured list, and Dylan Cease has not been consistently good.

And then there is Pivetta. One of the most dominant pitchers in the league this season across several metrics, Pivetta has kept San Diego in line for a postseason bid, and all that it took for this to happen was to believe that he could be successful beyond one season.

Registering a career-best 4.1 bWAR through his first 24 outings, Pivetta leads the league with a 6.2 hits per nine rating, along with an impressive 15 quality starts.

Everyone is winning on this contract. The Padres aren't laying out a ton of money for star quality pitching, and Pivetta is receiving a steady stream of income - which he wasn't going to get anywhere else. Pivetta is happy, and so are the Padres and its fans, which is really all we can ask for when the right-hander signed in February.