Padres might've had steal of offseason with Nick Pivetta and his 2025 salary

Whatever A.J. Preller and his front office staff were thinking this offseason, the delay in action has clearly paid off. On the heels of missing out on signing Roki Sasaki, the Padres were eerily quiet on the trade and free agent market this past winter.

Then, right before spring training started, San Diego inked right-hander Nick Pivetta to a four-year deal with an unbelievably low salary in 2025. He's earning a hair under $2 million this season, and considering his jaw-dropping production and value through his first five Friar starts, it is safe to say that the Padres undoubtedly had the steal of the offseason.

Most of the time, when a pitcher is shelved for the entirety of an offseason, they did not perform particularly well at first. Just look at Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery last year, or Jake Arrieta in 2018.

For Pivetta, he has completely combatted the reputation of pitchers immediately failing after not being signed until the last second. Not only has Pivetta's 1.20 ERA and 4.8 hits per nine innings worked out well for San Diego, but it has saved their starting rotation in the early going. With Yu Darvish and Matt Waldron on the injured list, Kyle Hart under-performing, and Dylan Cease offering a few clunkers already, Pivett'a dominance has placed a calm among what is supposed to be one of the better rotations in baseball.

Pivetta's been so good, it is difficult to say that the Padres would not have been ranked atop MLB in the power rankings four weeks in the season.

He already has four quality starts and is a very early contender for some sneaky Cy Young votes. Again, it's early, but it's fair to say that he's etched himself on the radar of making the All-Star team, which would be for the first time in his nine-year career. Padres fans appreciate what he has done already in 2025, and as for the front office, they can already label signing Nick Pivetta as a win.