The Padres are in agreement with veteran reliever Craig Stammen on a minor league contract, reports Dennis Lin of the Athletic (Twitter link). He’ll be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Stammen would lock in a $1.5MM base salary if he cracks the MLB roster, and the deal contains another $2MM in potential incentives.
It’ll be a seventh straight season in the organization for Stammen, who turns 39 before Opening Day. After spending his first seven years as a member of the Nationals, he spent the 2016 campaign in the minors with Cleveland. After that season, Stammen landed with the Padres on a minor league contract. That proved the start of a fruitful relationship, as he’s effectively soaked up a number of innings out of the bullpen over the last six years.
The righty pitched 80 1/3 innings of 3.14 ERA ball for the Friars during his first season. That earned him a two-year deal the following offseason. Stammen posted similar numbers over the course of that contract, throwing 161 combined frames with a 3.02 ERA for a total cost of $4.5MM. San Diego retained him on another two-year pact thereafter, this time with a $9MM guarantee and a $4MM club option covering the 2022 campaign.
Stammen struggled during the abbreviated 2020 season but rebounded with a 3.06 ERA over 88 1/3 innings the next year. San Diego exercised their option and brought the Dayton product back. Stammen ran into some uncharacteristic struggles last year, particularly thanks to the home run ball. He surrendered nearly two homers per nine innings and posted a 4.43 ERA over 40 2/3 frames. He missed a couple months in the second half thanks to inflammation in his throwing shoulder before returning to health in early September.
A ground-ball specialist, Stammen thrives on command and movement rather than overpowering velocity. He leans heavily on a low-90s sinker and upper-80s cutter to keep the ball on the ground. He induced worm-burners a bit more than half the time last year while only walking 5.6% of opponents. His 19.8% strikeout rate was a few points below league average, down more than three percentage points relative to his 2021 mark.
The non-roster pact means Stammen will have to earn his way back for a 14th big league campaign. He’ll get a chance to do so in Spring Training and presumably has a good shot at cracking the roster given his familiarity to the front office and coaching staff.
More must-reads: