Joe Musgrove grew up in the San Diego area. Now, he’s set to spend the rest of his prime pitching for his hometown team.
The San Diego Padres have reached an agreement on a five-year, $100 million extension with Musgrove.
Musgrove, who received his first career All-Star nod this year, was slated to hit free agency this offseason after two seasons with the Padres. The team announced the deal Monday afternoon, shortly after reports emerged that they also struck a trade deal for Milwaukee Brewers closer Josh Hader.
Joe Musgrove has been a star for Padres
When the San Diego Padres went all-out to contend in the 2021 season, they bolstered their rotation with three significant acquisitions.
The first starting pitcher they landed was former AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays. The same night, they brought in the previous year’s NL Cy Young runner-up in Yu Darvish from the Chicago Cubs.
The least heralded pitcher came last, when they landed Musgrove from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a three-team deal with the New York Mets. At that point, Musgrove held a career 4.33 ERA with the Pirates and Houston Astros and was years removed from his days as a top-100 prospect.
Because baseball is funny sometimes, Musgrove has been by far the best of the trio since landing in San Diego. He began on a strong note, throwing the first no-hitter in club history, and holds a 2.97 ERA in 1 1/2 seasons as a Padre. He led the team in ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts last year and currently holds the team ERA lead this year.
Meanwhile, Darvish has posted a 3.80 ERA while Snell has relatively languished at 4.36.
Several key Padres players are scheduled to hit free agency, including the two other members of the Padres rotation, Sean Manaea and Mike Clevinger. Musgrove would have been the priority among that group, so it makes sense the team would want to lock him down beforehand.