Padres’ former bullpen arm lands a contract in Japan for a career rebuild

The San Diego Padres can hardly afford to lose pitching depth of any manner this offseason, what with their rotation currently occupied by Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove, and the first three fans to show up at the gates on Opening Day.

Still, the team's bullpen has become crowded following the additions of Daison Acosta and Ty Adcock, and middling middle relievers were never a high priority to begin with. As such, the Padres non-tendered Sean Reynolds, who will now try to reinvent himself overseas in the Nippon Professional Baseball league.

Sean Reynolds' MLB career is far from over despite sojourn to Japan

This is hardly a novel move by Reynolds, who follows in the footsteps of many MLB players who have sought career revivals in Asia.

For example, Padres free-agent target Cody Ponce took a four-year hiatus in Japan and Korea to reset his game after flaming out of the big leagues. After a sterling 2025 season in the KBO, he signed a three-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this winter.

Reynolds, 27, should have ample opportunity to thrive against strong competition in 2026 with the Yokohama BayStars. Originally drafted as a position player, the right-hander reemeraged as a quality prospect on the mound, making a solid MLB debut in 2024 (0.82 ERA in 11.0 innings).

Unfortunately, the wheels fell off a bit this past season, as a 14.5% walk rate sunk any chance at Reynolds becoming a high-leverage reliever. He did still strike out 21.4% of hitters while rocking a 96 mph fastball, but he ran a 5.33 ERA while recording bottom-of-the-barrel batted-ball metrics.

That track record, along with the fact that Reynolds was out of minor-league options, is what led to him being non-tendered. The talent is absolutely there, and it's certainly possible that a strong run in Japan could land him back in the MLB soon — perhaps even back with the Padres.

For now, San Diego will move forward with a loaded relief corps, headlined by closer Mason Miller and set-up men Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada. Adcock and Acosta figure to factor into the middle innings, alongside David Morgan, Wandy Peralta, Bradgley Rodriguez, and Kyle Hart.