Joe Musgrove (elbow) throws bullpen session

Musgrove’s situation remains murky and extremely complex as he attempt to make it back from Tommy John surgery. The 33-year-old hit the injured list at the conclusion of spring training to continue building up his arm strength and stamina, but wound up being shut down completely from throwing shortly afterwards. The hope is that he’ll begin ramping up without any setbacks and could be an option for the Padres at some point in the second half. He’s a long ways off from making it back to San Diego, but any sort of progress is encouraging.

Nothing has changed in the prognosis for the 33-year-old hurler, who has still yet to begin throwing off of a mound as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery. This was done as a procedural move to free up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster for the addition of Rodolfo Castro on Thursday.

Musgrove has been limited to side work as he tries to get over the hump. “To get major league hitters out, your (expletive) has got to be good and you’ve got to be confident,” Musgrove said. “And I just don’t have that right now. I’m not far off. I showed signs of it in spring. My stuff was there. Just the ability to execute breaking balls and get in the zone consistently and recover well enough to do it again in five days, just …” Musgrove had an MRI last month that showed his repaired ligament was intact. Still, until his arm gets better about bouncing back from throwing sessions, he can’t even think about a rehab assignment. Clearly, he’s not going to be back on a major league mound before June and perhaps not then.

Musgrove receives some additional time to continue ramping up his throwing program in the minor leagues after experiencing some issues bouncing back after Cactus League outings this spring. The 33-year-old veteran remains without a clear return timeline heading into the regular season, which makes it challenging for fantasy managers to stash him, with the exception of extremely deep mixed leagues.

This seemed all but certain after Stammen said that Musgrove was “in a bit of a holding pattern” last week. At this point, Musgrove has not thrown in over a week after he didn’t recover well following a March 4th outing against Team Great Britain. It’s impossible to predict when Musgrove will return until he gets back on the mound again. With him out, there’s a chance that Walker Buehler could earn the final spot in the Padres’ rotation.

Musgrove is looking to return to the Padres rotation after missing all of the 2025 season following Tommy John surgery. Since Musgrove had surgery in October of 2024, it was assumed that the veteran would be ready for the start of the season, but he has only pitched in one exhibition game against Great Britain’s World Baseball Classic team, and it doesn’t appear that he will be ready for Opening Day. Stammen claims that Musgrove “still in a good spot. It’s still something we knew was going to kind of happen and that we had to prepare for. And we’ve got his best interests in mind.” All of that haze surrounding when he may be available makes it hard to draft Musgrove in redraft leagues unless you’re in a league with multiple IL spots, since he will almost assuredly start the season on the injured list.

Musgrove returned to game action in a big-league setting for the first time since October 2, 2024. The 33-year-old veteran averaged a robust 94 mph on his four-seam fastball and his stuff looked back to pre-Tommy John surgery levels as he prepares to open the season in San Diego’s rotation. There are very few questions from a performance standpoint as Musgrove holds a career 3.73 ERA and 23.9 percent strikeout rate in 1,056 innings since 2016. He’s a decent late-round rotation stabilizer in fantasy drafts this spring.

Musgrove will make his first appearance of the spring in the exhibition against the WBC team. The 33-year-old is coming off Tommy John surgery, and while there’s some risk with his profile, there’s enough reward for fantasy consideration.

Musgrove believes he’ll make his Cactus League debut soon after coming off the (simulated) mound feeling well. Coming off Tommy John surgery, he’ll be a candidate to be in the top-75 starters in 2026 should his rehab continue to progress positively.

Musgrove represents a clear rebound candidate after missing last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. The durability concerns aren’t going away as he enters his mid-30’s but his track record as a consistent mid-rotation starter keeps him fantasy relevant. He’ll be worth monitoring closely during Cactus League outings and should be a top-75 range starting pitcher in drafts this spring.