🚨 Padres Make Surprise Bullpen Addition, Sign Former Mariners and Mets Reliever Ty Adcock to One-Year Deal

The San Diego Padres are wasting no time tightening up a bullpen that struggled with consistency throughout the 2025 season. In a move that drew immediate attention across Major League Baseball on Thursday, the club announced that they have signed right-handed reliever Ty Adcock to a one-year major league contract, adding both depth and upside to a relief corps looking for stability.

Adcock, 27, arrives in San Diego with a reputation for power stuff, flashes of high-leverage potential, and a journey marked by both adversity and rapid developmental leaps. After short stints with the Seattle Mariners and New York Mets, the Padres believe they’ve identified an undervalued arm capable of emerging as a critical piece of their late-inning strategy.

General manager A.J. Preller, never one to shy away from a reclamation project with upside, emphasized the front office’s confidence in Adcock’s ceiling.

“Ty brings swing-and-miss ability, toughness, and hunger,” Preller said in a statement. “We see a real opportunity for growth here. He fits exactly what we want in our bullpen moving forward.”

For fans in San Diego, this signing comes as a signal: The Padres are retoolingnot retreating.

A RELIEVER WITH UNTAPPED POTENTIAL

Ty Adcock’s path to the Padres has been anything but linear.

Originally drafted by the Mariners, Adcock climbed the system on the strength of a fastball reaching the high 90s and a breaking ball that has drawn rave reviews from scouts when he commands it. But injuries, inconsistent opportunities, and roster crunches limited his ability to showcase his full arsenal.

Adcock’s brief tenure with the Seattle Mariners included a handful of outings that demonstrated why analysts believed he could develop into a dependable middle-to-late-inning option. After moving to the Mets organization, he showed flashes of dominance in Triple-A but was unable to secure a long-term MLB foothold as New York cycled endlessly through bullpen options in 2024 and 2025.

The Padres, however, see what others overlooked.

According to team insiders, new pitching strategist Rob Marcello Jr. has been pushing for months to bring in relievers with raw stuff that could be sharpened through the organization’s revamped pitching lab. Adcock fits that mold perfectlybig velocity, a wipeout slider, and room for mechanical refinement.

“This is exactly the type of pitcher our development staff loves to work with,” one Padres analyst told reporters. “If he finds consistent feel for that slider, he can be a real weapon.”

The club plans to give Adcock every chance to earn a role out of Spring Training, with the possibility of handling sixth- and seventh-inning duties if he impresses early.

 WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE PADRES’ BULLPEN PLANS

The one-year deal mirrors a pattern in San Diego’s offseason: low-risk, high-reward pitching moves designed to support a roster still aiming for contention despite payroll cuts and roster turnover.

With last year’s bullpen ranking in the bottom third of MLB in ERA and strikeout rate, the Padres have made it clear that rebuilding the relief corps is a top priority. Adcock becomes the latest addition to a group that features a mix of veterans, bounce-back candidates, and young live arms.

But insiders believe the Padres are far from finished.

This signing gives San Diego flexibility to seek additional bullpen help while also allowing competition to fuel internal improvement. And with Adcock’s contract carrying minimal financial risk, the organization can pivot quickly if another opportunity arises.

Still, Padres fans are already buzzing about the upside.

Adcock brings youth, velocity, and a clean slatethree traits the Padres have successfully molded into valuable bullpen pieces in the past. His ability to miss bats could immediately stand out in Petco Park’s pitcher-friendly environment, and a strong showing could position him as a quietly impactful move when the 2026 season unfolds.

As one rival executive put it:

“These are the types of signings that don’t make headlines in December but matter a lot in July.”

For the Padres, the message is simple: the bullpen is being rebuilt brick by brickand Ty Adcock may become one of those bricks that holds the structure together.