The San Diego Padres are looking for some starting pitching depth, and one player they reportedly have interest in is Jered Weaver.
Fan Rag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported Wednesday that the Padres are considering Weaver, who is a free agent.
jered weaver is another veteran on the padres' list of pitching possibilities. also peavy, as we know.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 21, 2016
Weaver, 34, is coming off the worst season of his career. He went 12-12 with a 5.06 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. The numbers could have been even worse when you consider the decline in fastball velocity Weaver’s experienced.
The veteran right-hander averaged just 83 mph on his fastball last season per Fangraphs, which was down from the 83.3 mph he averaged on it the year before. During his best seasons with the Angels, he averaged around 89-90 mph on his fastball. That’s a huge dropoff.
The Padres are trying to develop a pitching rotation for next season and have signed Clayton Richard and Jhoulys Chacin this week. Perhaps they think pitching in the NL West and a more spacious stadium like Petco Park could lead to some improvement in Weaver’s numbers.
