Padres add Walker Buehler to starting rotation competition
The Padres go on a lottery ticket-buying frenzy, a new-look kit for San Diego FC, a record-breaking win for a US bobsledder, issues with the 2028 Olympics in L.A., and more!
The San Diego Padres made a bunch of minor moves over the weekend. I’ve been calling them lottery tickets.
They started with the signing of Miguel Andújar almost two weeks ago:
On Valentine’s Day, the team added the recently-released (by the Phillies) Nick Castellanos and starting pitcher Griffin Canning, coming off an Achilles tear with the Mets last season:
Later that day, they added former Rockies ace Germán Márquez:
And followed it up the next day with the signing of old friend Ty France, and an extension with A.J. Preller that goes beyond this season:
But, as you’ll see below, they weren’t done yet. They might not even be done now. Each of these moves is a low-dollar investment into a group of players that are fighting for a starting job (both 1B, DH and the last couple of spots in the rotation are up for grabs).
These are the right kind of moves when your team is out of spendable money on the free agent market, but they’re probably not moves that should change how to feel about this year’s team going into the season.
Now, onto the links!
San Diego Padres
Padres add ex-Dodger Walker Buehler to starting rotation competition - San Diego Union-Tribune
Buehler, who is 7-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 13 starts against the Padres, had a 3.02 ERA over his first six seasons (2017 through ‘22). Since returning from his August 2022 Tommy John procedure, he has lost velocity on his fastball and command. His strikeout rate has fallen from 27% to 17.2% while his walk rate has risen from 6.3% to 9.8%.
Buehler will join Matt Waldron, Triston McKenzie, Germán Márquez and left-handers JP Sears and Marco Gonzales in a battle for what is likely one available rotation spot.
Padres have found ‘tremendous interest’ while exploring sale of team - MLB.com
“We’ve had tremendous interest,” Seidler said. “There has been interest -- some parties that have been reported in the press, others have not. There are more parties interested than has been reported.”
‘The Padres aren’t moving from San Diego’ — chairman gives update on sale of team - NBC 7 San Diego
The Padres aren’t moving from San Diego,” said Seidler on Monday at the team’s spring-training complex in Peoria, Arizona.
While that is comforting to hear for a city that lost an NFL franchise, it would be nice to know if that was baked into the contract for anyone who purchases the team. Seidler didn’t get into specifics about that topic but brought up a compelling argument against relocation.
“I can’t speak as to any details as to what may or may not be negotiated with an ultimate buyer,” Seidler said. “But if you look, a new buyer would be nuts to move the team out of San Diego, with the second-highest attendance in all of baseball last year. San Diego’s a great place for baseball. Baseball is the only major sport in San Diego right now. So, the opportunity is in San Diego, not elsewhere.”
Padres’ Manny Machado praises Dodgers for spending big on free agents: ‘I f***ing love it’ - Yahoo Sports
While many Major League Baseball team owners wrung their hands and protested over the payroll disparity throughout the sport after the reigning World Series champions signed free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker to a mega-millions contract, Machado welcomed the aggressive spending by the San Diego Padres’ National League West rival.
The Padres’ star third baseman added some profanity to emphasize his point while speaking to reporters on Sunday.
“I f***king love it,” Machado said, via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. “Every team should be doing it. That sh** is f***ing great for the game.”
As USA Today’s Bob Nightengale points out, Machado is staunchly opposed to MLB implementing a salary cap and limiting earning potential for the players.
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark is expected to resign: Sources - The Athletic
In a stunning development in the wake of a federal investigation, Tony Clark is expected to resign from his position as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, leaving the union scrambling to find a leader heading into a lengthy labor dispute this winter, people briefed on the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Athletic.
Rob Manfred’s biggest upcoming fight might be with his owners over MLB TV rights - The Athletic
Manfred wants to both sell more games nationally and bundle local rights together across the league for bidding. But even if teams like the Cubs decide not to let his office sell their full slate of local games, the commissioner sees a path. Enough other teams will be on board — and, in an assertion that suggests the gloves are off — he said he can pluck national inventory even from teams that stand in his way.
“Remember, we can take as many games as we want from any club in the national package with a majority vote of the clubs,” Manfred said last week. “I don’t necessarily need 30 (teams’ rights) wall-to-wall to get where I want.”
San Diego FC / San Diego Wave FC
Stalemate: Chucky Lozano remains with San Diego FC more than a month after the club said it was moving on - San Diego Union-Tribune
On most days, he cuts a lonesome, solitary figure on a green sea, sitting on a soccer ball at the Sharp HealthCare Performance Center, San Diego FC’s practice facility in East County.
Hirving “Chucky” Lozano trains by himself each day. Then, when SDFC begins scrimmaging, he finds a ball along the sideline and sits there watching, elbow on knee, chin on hand, alone, isolated, ostracized.
It’s been more than a month since SDFC sporting director Tyler Heaps told reporters that Lozano, the face of the franchise in its inaugural season, “will not be part of the sporting plans moving forward.” The hope, Heaps said, was to quickly find the Mexican winger a new club to enhance his chances of playing in the World Cup this summer on home soil.
What to know about San Diego FC ahead of its second MLS season - San Diego Union-Tribune
Twelve weeks after San Diego FC’s historic inaugural season ended in the 2025 Major League Soccer Cup Western Conference Final, the club is back to start its second MLS season and try to bring a championship to San Diego.
The team has already played two non-MLS matches in 2026. San Diego FC has advanced in the Concacaf Champions Cup tournament after defeating Pumas UNAM from Mexico City.
The club will now prepare for its next game, the 2026 MLS season opener at Snapdragon Stadium versus CF Montreal on Feb. 21.
San Diego Wave FC Draw 1–1 Against Kansas City Current in Coachella Valley Invitational
San Diego Wave FC played to a 1–1 draw with the Kansas City Current in a preseason matchup in the first of two games at the Coachella Valley Invitational.
2026 Winter Olympics
Olympics Day 11: Good tears, bad tears - Sports!
Meyers Taylor’s win was monumental in Olympic history. At age 41, she is the the oldest Winter Olympic champion ever. (Germany’s Benjamin Karl had the record for eight days.) And she became just the second Black woman from any country in any sport ever to win an individual gold at the Winter Olympics, joining Team USA speed skater Erin Jackson. She has written about the abuse she has faced as a Black woman in the white world of bobsledding.
In 2020 and 2022, Meyers Taylor gave birth to two boys with special needs: They’re both deaf, and her oldest has Down syndrome. Rather than step back from competition, she pushed forward. Her sons travel with as she competes in bobsled events across the globe. The live together on the road for months at a time.
Chromosome Testing Will Take Sports Back To The Dark Ages - Defector
This month, as the world gathers for the Winter Olympics in Italy, chromosome tests have quietly returned—copy-pasted from the ‘90s, just with a new sheen. Sports officials are positioning the very DNA tests they had once left for dead as a “noninvasive” and “extremely accurate” way to protect “the integrity of female competition,” the new chosen euphemism for disqualifying trans and intersex women. The international federation that governs track-and-field events, World Athletics, and the boxing federation World Boxing recently announced that all women athletes in their sports will have to sit for a chromosome test.
Winter sports are getting these policies, too. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation just passed a similar chromosome testing rule that will go into effect in July. Many commentators are speculating that the IOC, which oversees all of the individual sports federations, might soon institute a blanket rule that requires all women to sit for chromosome tests. The IOC’s new president, Kirsty Coventry, says she supports a so-called “scientific approach” to women’s eligibility.
Odds & Ends
LA Mayor Bass calls on LA28 chair Wasserman to resign - Reuters
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday said Casey Wasserman should step down as chairman of the committee organising the 2028 Olympic Games following revelations of his interactions with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
Files published by the U.S. Justice Department late last month included flirty email exchanges from more than two decades ago between Wasserman and Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
The five favourites for the Champions League as knockout stages begin - Yahoo Sports
PSG won four of their first five games in this season’s competition, but went winless in their final three to miss the top eight.
Luis Enrique’s side must now face AS Monaco in the play-offs for the right to reach the Round of 16. PSG can take encouragement from last season’s success, when the Ligue 1 giants scraped into the knockouts before winning the tournament in style.
Second Half Burst Upends Toreros - USD Toreros
A back-and-forth first half saw the Torero lead by five at the break, but the visiting Dons came out firing on a 12-0 run to start the second period of play and the Toreros could never recover. The two WCC sides finished with similar figures in several areas, but USF attempted 17 more free throws (27-35 overall) and finished plus-16 on fastbreak points.
Ronda Rousey to fight Gina Carano in return to MMA - ESPN
Former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will return to mixed martial arts for the first time in nearly a decade when she faces fellow combat sports trailblazer Gina Carano on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, Most Valuable Promotions confirmed Tuesday to ESPN.
The blockbuster showdown between MMA legends will headline the first professional MMA event promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions and will be streamed live on Netflix.
San Diego women stack wins across the board - Her Sports San Diego
From undefeated basketball performances to NCAA qualifiers in the pool and dominant softball tournament runs, San Diego teams are building serious momentum.
Infrastructure needs will cost San Diego $7.8 billion it doesn’t have - San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego’s funding shortfall for infrastructure projects has climbed to a record $7.8 billion this winter, up nearly 20% compared to last year and more than 62% compared to two years ago.
The shortfall — the gap between projected infrastructure needs over the next five years and the funding available for them — would be even larger if city officials calculated infrastructure needs beyond five years.
A new 77-page infrastructure report released over the weekend says the gap also doesn’t include the costs of new seawalls and other projects San Diego is expected to need as climate change accelerates sea-level rise.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon, dies at 84 - NBC News
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Baptist minister and two-time presidential candidate whose booming oratory and populist message propelled the civil rights movement in the decades after the assassination Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died Tuesday, his family said.
Robert Duvall Always Struck the Balance - The Ringer
Like Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman, Duvall was an actor most associated with the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, but also like his three contemporaries, he was on the far side of 30 when he got famous. This gave him a strange quality of generational displacement: He was a month older than James Dean but seemed to belong to an entirely different era. He was born during Prohibition, in 1931, and would have been the right age to work at Mad Men’s Sterling Cooper, although he’d never have fit in. After growing up as a navy brat—his dad retired as a rear admiral—he got a theater degree from Principia College in 1953, then disappointed his family by enlisting in the army; he never made it past private first class, but he did get to act in amateur productions around the base.