Padres’ shaky depth option may have blown his best chance at rotation help

When the Padres acquired JP Sears, the thinking made plenty of sense. He didn’t need to walk straight into the big league rotation on day one. Starting him in Triple-A was reasonable. But most of us looked at that move and figured the same thing: if the Padres needed a starter at some point, Sears was probably going to be one of the first names up.

Nick Pivetta landing on the injured list felt like the exact kind of opening Sears was supposed to be waiting for. This was the moment where a depth arm on the 40-man roster, with major league experience, could slide into the conversation and at least get a real audition for rotation help.

Instead, that’s not what happened. The Padres didn’t call up Sears when Pivetta went down. They brought up Alek Jacob instead, and Matt Waldron is the one lining up to take Pivetta’s next start. That says a lot, and none of it is especially flattering for where Sears currently stands in the organization’s pecking order.

Padres passed on JP Sears for Nick Pivetta replacement after ugly early results

It’s hard to argue with it. Sears had a legitimate shot to make noise this spring, especially with the back end of the Padres’ rotation feeling unsettled at times. There was room for somebody to force the issue. But instead of building momentum, he had a rough camp. In Cactus League play, Sears posted an 8.44 ERA and a 1.69 WHIP, allowing 10 earned runs over 10.2 innings across four appearances. 

The bigger problem is that the reset in El Paso has not really changed the picture. Through his first three starts with Triple-A El Paso, Sears owns a 4.73 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP over 13.1 innings. He has struck out 11, which is fine, but the overall body of work still feels too shaky. In his most recent outing on April 11 against Albuquerque, he punched out five but gave up three runs in four innings in a 4-0 loss. 

Depth sounds great in theory. Every team talks about it and every contender needs it. But it only matters if the pitchers you are storing in Triple-A actually give you confidence when the phone rings. Right now, Sears feels more like a name on the depth chart than a real solution. And that is a problem for a Padres team that already knew it would be walking a thin line with the rotation.

That is also what makes the original trade context a little more uncomfortable now. When the Padres made that blockbuster deadline deal with the Athletics last July, Mason Miller was obviously the headliner on the mound. But Sears was not a throw-in. He was part of the reason that move felt so aggressive and so practical at the same time. Miller gave them a dominant late-game weapon, while Sears was supposed to help stabilize the broader pitching picture as a rotation option or at least credible starter depth.

So far, that part has not materialized. Chances like this do not always show up neatly. Injuries create urgency, and urgency creates auditions. Sears had a lane here, or at least what looked like one from the outside. But between the rough spring and the uninspiring start in El Paso, he hasn’t done enough to make the Padres believe this was his moment.

Maybe that changes later. He could settle in and string together a few strong starts. That part is still on the table.

But for now, Pivetta’s injury created exactly the kind of opportunity Sears was supposed to be circling, and instead of stepping into it, he watched the Padres look elsewhere.

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