Padres sign major Phillies headache and potential bounce back starter in one messy swing

Cupid must’ve been working overtime in the Padres’ front office.

On Valentine’s Day morning, while most people are arguing about brunch reservations and whether a heart-shaped box of chocolates counts as “effort,” A.J. Preller woke up and chose chaos — Griffin Canning and Nick Castellanos. The latter was first reported by Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

A former Mets starter rehabbing an Achilles and a volatile Phillies veteran bat on a minimum-salary deal. Nothing says “I love you” like a roster move that comes with conditions, fine print, and a little emotional risk.

That’s kind of the point. The Padres aren’t shopping for safe right now — they’re shopping for value and volatility, then daring the league to guess which one they actually bought.

Padres’ dicey double dip with Griffin Canning and Nick Castellanos comes with real fine print

Castellanos is a bargain. $780K for a player with enough name recognition to make the move feel bigger than it is. But it also comes with the part the Padres can’t ignore: Castellanos brings a reputation for being… let’s call it a lot. If you’re signing him, you’re not just betting on contact quality. You’re betting the clubhouse can absorb the static.

The fit also tells on itself immediately. Dennis Lin noted Castellanos will be in the first base mix, which is notable because he’s never played the position in the majors. That’s not automatically a dealbreaker, but it does underline what this is a team trying to turn roster inconvenience into roster flexibility. Castellanos in the outfield? Risky. Castellanos at first? A solution that only works if he hits right away.

The Padres already signed Miguel Andújar, another right-handed bat who can drift between DH and the bench. Now you’ve got multiple pieces competing for the same oxygen. That can get messy fast if the manager is forced into nightly lineup gymnastics just to keep everyone useful.

Then there’s the other half of the Valentine’s bouquet: Griffin Canning.

Canning’s 2025 with the Mets was quietly his best stretch — 7-3, 3.77 ERA in 16 starts — before a ruptured Achilles ended it in late June. That’s exactly the kind of pitcher Preller loves to target. Someone who looked like they figured something out, then had their market kneecapped by an injury. If Canning’s pitch-mix adjustments were real, and if the rehab timeline cooperates, this can look like a smart, low-cost rotation add by midseason.

That’s why this feels less like two signings and more like a single Preller philosophy statement. He’s choosing optionality over certainty. One move adds a bat with volatility and positional questions. The other adds a starter with rehab questions and timing uncertainty. Both could pay off. Both could turn into dead ends.

On Valentine’s Day, it’s a fitting theme. The Padres didn’t choose a safe relationship. They chose the one with sparks — and now we get to see if it’s romance or a fire alarm.