Padres’ discarded rotation insurance lands with Rangers after ugly minor-league run

Marco Gonzales is getting another shot. It’s just not going to be with the San Diego Padres. The Texas Rangers signed the veteran lefty to a minor-league deal after the Padres cut him loose from Triple-A El Paso.

Gonzales was a solid offseason bet. Veteran arm, inexpensive, not flashy. Just a guy with major-league mileage who could hang around and eat innings if needed. Unfortunately, it didn’t go anywhere.

He never performed well enough for the Padres to promote him, posting a 7.99 ERA in 13 appearances, got shelled, and eventually became a no-brainer kind of move.

Marco Gonzales never gave the Padres the rotation safety net they needed

The idea of rotation insurance made sense at the time. Joe Musgrove has been working his way back. Yu Darvish is out for the season. The back end of the rotation was a real question mark. Gonzales was part of a long list of fringe major league starters the Padres signed in the offseason.

That bar wasn’t exactly touching the ceiling for what the Padres were looking for. Unfortunately, Gonzales still couldn’t clear it. The Padres got a reminder that veteran depth only matters if it can actually help.

He heads to Texas, where the Rangers will try to get something that the Padres couldn’t get out of him. He’s a 34-year-old with stuff that can still play if he can get his sequencing back in check. He logged 36 strikeouts across 47 1/3 innings of work, which is a pretty modest number. The problem is when he didn’t fool anyone, he was extremely hittable.

The Padres do this a lot. They collect bounce-back arms, stash veterans in Triple-A, and hope somebody clicks and can fill in when they need. Sometimes it works. Other times it looks like Gonzales.

The Padres can sign all the veteran insurance arms they want, and with their financial limitations, it’s fair to expect more of this in the future. But if these signings find themselves getting knocked around in El Paso, then they won't be solving anything. They’ll just find innings to fill in another organization. 

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