The San Diego Padres have moved on from veteran left-hander Marco Gonzales, releasing him from his minor league deal Wednesday after a rough few months with Triple-A El Paso. The 34-year-old signed with the club back in January and looked like he might compete for a spot in the rotation, but things went sideways pretty quickly from there.
Gonzales made 13 appearances for the Chihuahuas, 12 of them starts, and the numbers are hard to look at. He posted a 7.99 ERA over 47.1 innings, giving up 36 earned runs while allowing opposing hitters to bat .373 against him. His WHIP sat at 2.03. Four different starts saw him surrender six or more runs. It wasn’t just bad — it was a disaster.
His last outing on Saturday was actually one of his better ones. He went four innings, allowed three runs (only one earned) on a season-low three hits, with two strikeouts and one walk. Not spectacular, but at least it wasn’t another blowup.
A Long Road Back That Didn’t Quite Work
Gonzales hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2024, when he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That season was cut short by a forearm issue that required flexor tendon surgery in September 2024. He spent the entire 2025 season recovering and missed all of it. The Padres brought him in hoping he could rediscover something, but it just didn’t click.
Before the injuries derailed things, Gonzales was a reliable arm for years. He spent seven seasons with the Seattle Mariners, posting a 4.08 ERA across 852.1 innings. Overall in the majors, he’s got a 4.16 ERA in 170 appearances (162 starts) covering 926.2 innings. He also made six postseason appearances for the St. Louis Cardinals back in 2014, the year they made it to the NLCS.
The former first-round pick is now back on the open market, and it’s tough to say what comes next. He’s 34, coming off major arm surgery, and his most recent results were ugly. But teams are always looking for left-handed depth, and if he’s willing to keep grinding in the minors, someone might give him another shot. For now though, the Padres decided to move on.
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