Padres non-tender former first-round pick coming off suspension

The Padres plan to reinstate left-hander Jay Groome from the ineligible list and non-tender him Thursday, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Groome was one of four players serving a one-year ban for breaking MLB’s regulations about betting on baseball games. Groome’s bets were placed in 2020-21, when he was not on a 40-man roster. In its official press release at the time, the league noted that Groome wagered a total of $453 over the course of 30 bets — none pertaining to games he played or to games involving the Red Sox (his team at the time).

It’s an oddity of a transaction. Non-tenders are reserved for the offseason; any player on a roster in-season was already tendered a contract by his club over the winter or signed as a free agent. However, MLBTR has confirmed that because Groome was on the ineligible list in the offseason, he could not be tendered a contract or non-tendered. That decision had to wait until he was eligible for reinstatement. Thursday marks the expiration of the one-year bans on Groome, A’s right-hander Michael Kelly, D-backs lefty Andrew Saalfrank and Phillies infielder José Rodríguez. Groome is out of minor league options and hasn’t pitched in more than a year, making the decision straightforward for San Diego.

Because Groome is being non-tendered, he won’t have to pass through waivers. He’ll immediately become a free agent. He’s eligible to re-sign with the Padres on a minor league deal — not uncommon among non-tendered players, particularly pre-arbitration ones like Groome — but can also explore opportunities with any team around the league.

The now-26-year-old Groome was the 12th overall pick by the Red Sox in the 2016 draft. He was a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport for two years thereafter, despite injuries limiting his time on the mound. Groome wound up opening the 2018 season on the injured list due to a flexor strain, and five weeks later the team announced that he’d require Tommy John surgery. That cost him his entire 2018 season and limited him to just four minor league innings in 2019. The canceled minor league season in 2020 did no favors for the towering 6-foot-6 left-hander’s development.

By the time the 2021 season rolled around, Groome was nearly five years removed from being drafted but had only 66 professional innings under his belt. He wound up making 21 starts between High-A and Double-A, totaling 97 1/3 innings with a 4.81 ERA, a huge 32.3% strikeout rate and a solid 8.7% walk rate. He struggled considerably with men on base, leading to a 65% strand rate and that bloated ERA, but the bat-missing ability and command were impressive — particularly given the long layoff from pitching on a regular basis.

In 2022, Groome was beginning to look like a potential big league starter again. He piled up 144 innings in the minors, pitching to a combined 3.44 ERA. His 22.8% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate both needed some work, but he was healthy and putting up generally solid results. The Red Sox shipped him to the Padres as part of the trade that brought Eric Hosmer (at league-minimum salary) and prospects Corey Rosier and Max Ferguson to Boston.

Groome fared well down the stretch in ’22 with the Padres’ Triple-A club, but his 2023 season was a nightmare. He managed to make a full slate of 30 starts in Triple-A, but there weren’t many other positive takeaways. Groome was torched for an 8.55 earned run average, walked nearly 17% of his opponents and surrendered an average of 1.67 homers per nine frames. He plunked another four batters and tossed nine wild pitches. A four-seamer that used to sit 92-94 mph tanked and sat at 91 mph on the season, and by measure of Statcast, Groome threw only 42.5% of his pitches on the entire season within the strike zone.

Groome landed on the minor league injured list after pitching just five innings last year. He had not been activated by the time the suspension was announced. The Padres had been granted a fourth option year on Groome due to the injuries and canceled minor league season, but he exhausted that during the 2024 campaign. Because he’s out of minor league options, San Diego would’ve had to carry him on the big league roster or tender him a contract and immediately designate him for assignment upon reinstating him. They’re instead going the non-tender route, perhaps in hope of quickly re-signing to a minor league contract.