12:43 pm: According to a report from Fanside’s Robert Murray, Hart will earn $1MM by 2026. The club option is worth $2.50 and the buyout amount is $200,000. Murray added that an in-game escalator could increase the option’s buyout amount to $500,000, while an in-game escalator at the start of the game could increase the option’s total price to $4.50.
10:34 AM: Padres have re-signed Kyle Hart According to a team announcement, he signed a one-year contract with a club option through the 2027 season. The terms of the contract are unclear.
Hart, who turns 33 next week, posted a 5.86 ERA in 43 innings with the Padres last year while splitting time between the rotation and bullpen. The left-hander signed with San Diego back in February with $1.5MM guaranteed and a $5 club option for the 2026 season, but the Padres chose to decline earlier this month. That’s not necessarily a shock given his poor performance. Even during his time in Triple-A El Paso, Hart had a middling 4.10 ERA in 63 2/3 innings and a strikeout rate of just 18.5%. 2025 marked his first major league start since 2020 with the Red Sox, when he pitched all 11 innings.
During this time, Hart bounced back and forth between multiple minor league affiliates before heading overseas to play for the KBO’s NC Dinos. He made 26 starts for the Dinos in 2024 and pitched well, posting a 2.69 ERA and a 28.8% strikeout rate in 157 innings. It was a strong enough season that Hart looked to return to the majors to see what he could do at the highest level, but things didn’t go so well last year. Hart isn’t the first player to dominate overseas, but he’ll have a hard time replicating his performance stateside, even for the 2023 KBO MVP Eric Feder After strong return seasons with the White Sox and Cardinals in 2024, he struggled in the majors last year.
Regardless of how Hart performed last year, however, San Diego’s decision to return to the southpaw in 2026 is understandable. The Padres are a team in desperate need of capacity when it comes to rotation arms. Dylan Seth and Michael King Both left the team as free agents while Joe Musgrove He is expected to return from injury next year, as we all know Yu Darvish Won’t pitch next year. musgrove and Nick Pivetta They are all excellent veterans, but Randy Vasquez, Chase Searsand Matt Waldron As regulars in competitive rotations, both are of questionable quality. The same goes for Hart, of course, but having extra depth behind this team is valuable to avoid a situation like what San Diego faced in 2021, when a lack of pitching depth forced them to turn to displaced veterans, such as Jake Arrieta and Vince Velazquez They narrowly missed the playoffs due to a collapse in late September.
Signing Hart would help fill budget depth, but would do little to address San Diego’s need for additional impact in the rotation. The Padres have been experiencing some financial uncertainty since the death of Peter Seidler, and the recent announcement that ownership intends to explore selling the franchise further clouds the club’s short-term financial situation. That’s not to say that making a splash in free agency and adding a mid-rotation or better arm is completely out of the question; after all, they did manage to find room in the budget to add Pivetta last year. This might lead to a creative solution, such as trying Mason Miller or Adrian Mohon If they’re looking to add an impact starter and pursue someone at the top of the market like Seth, the team’s best bet in the rotation Framber Valdez It seems unlikely.
