Sep 1, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Jason Adam (40) is taken away in a cart after being injured during the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

How Will Padres Replace Jason Adam? Bullpen Coach Still Figuring it Out

Originally posted on San Diego Padres on SI
By Aaron Coloma | Last updated Sep 5, 2025 11:59 AM ET

The San Diego Padres' bullpen took a big hit on Tuesday, as they lost All-Star relief pitcher Jason Adam for the remainder of the season with a quadriceps injury.

Adam has been fantastic for the Padres this season, posting a 1.93 ERA through 65 games and striking out 70 batters through 65.1 innings. He is one of four All-Stars in the Padres bullpen, and has arguably been the best of the group in 2025.

Now the Padres are tasked with replacing him.

“It’s going to be game to game,” Padres bullpen coach Ben Fritz said. “It’s still fluid and still finding the best matchups and maximizing guys’ … rest. You get to September … it’s go time, but (rest) is a big part of our decision-making. Maximizing who’s fresh and running our best guys out there.

“Still think we’re going to run that same operation with the personnel we have now.”

Even without Adam, the Padres have an exceptionally deep bullpen. The other three All-Star relief arms they have, Robert Suarez, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller, are among some of the best high-leverage arms in the game, and they also have Jeremiah Estrada and David Morgan, who have ERAs 3.00 or below.

“There’s no doubt we have good arms,” Fritz said. “You can’t replace Jason, but we have very good options and there’s no doubt they all have the right mentality. Jason’s a good person. He’s obviously a good pitcher. It sucks, but we have a good group. A deep group and we’ll be fine.

“Guys will step up and pick up his innings, no doubt.”

The Padres have struggled as far as starting pitching goes in their last three series, and now that their bullpen is down a key arm, they'll hope their starters can piece themselves together to give their relievers some extra rest. The Padres rotation has a 7.52 ERA over their last nine games, which places them last in MLB in that regard.

“We’ve just got to do a better job,” Starter Nestor Cortes said of the starting pitchers. “Plain and simple. Just got to try and get deep into games. Especially me. Like, two innings and three innings ain’t going to cut it in this league. So just got to be better.”

The Padres have a chance to bounce back from the last few games on Friday, when they begin a series against the Colorado Rockies at 5:40 p.m. PT.