Veteran righty Julio Teheran opted out of his minor league contract with the Padres and will become a free agent, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The Padres have interest in re-signing him, Heyman adds, but he’ll now have the opportunity to listen to the other 29 teams.
Still just 32 years of age, Teheran was once one of the sport’s most promising young arms but fell off after a promising four-year run with the Braves in 2013-16. That stretch saw Teheran toss 795 2/3 innings of 3.33 ERA ball, nabbing a fifth-place Rookie of the Year finish and making a pair of All-Star teams along the way. Teheran remained a solid starter with Atlanta from 2017-19 but began to lose velocity and see his command worsen late in his Braves tenure.
Since leaving Atlanta, he’s pitched just 36 1/3 big league innings and been tattooed for an 8.92 ERA with nearly as many walks (11.2%) as strikeouts (13.6%). His once-93.7 mph average fastball sat at 89.3 mph with the Angels and Tigers in 2020-21.
Teheran spent the 2022 season bouncing between the independent Atlantic League and the Mexican League, pairing those stints with a solid run in the Mexican Winter League this past offseason. That garnered him a minor league deal with the Padres, who assigned him to Triple-A after spring training. He opened the year with 25 innings of 6.84 ERA ball, although eight his 19 earned runs came in one three-inning drubbing at the hands of the Mariners’ top affiliate. Teheran still sports a solid 24.8% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate in his limited Triple-A work thus far.
The Padres have a full rotation at the moment with Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha all healthy, and they apparently didn’t want to supplant anyone from that group or in the bullpen to give Teheran an active roster spot. If the market fails to produce a big league opportunity for Teheran, it’s possible he’ll ultimately wind up back in El Paso with the Padres, though there are several clubs around the league that could use at least a short-term rotation stopgap.
More must-reads: