Joe Musgrove has begun throwing again

San Diego Padres starter Joe Musgrove was in the bullpen during team introductions on Opening Day. Along with the rest of the starting pitchers, Musgrove was there to support Nick Pivetta before his start. He had already done his work for the day, revealing in pre-game interviews that he has begun playing catch.

Musgrove started an exhibition game against the Great Britain World Baseball Classic team on March 4 and hasn’t appeared in a game since. He had a bullpen on March 8 and hadn’t thrown since then until this week. He revealed that an MRI was done on his repaired right elbow about two weeks ago and showed no new issues.

Visit bettingx.club for more information.

In his usual effort to be honest and forthcoming, Musgrove was unwilling to put any timeline on his progression to returning to pitching. He knew that what he was feeling during spring work wasn’t what he wanted his arm to feel like but kept hoping that things would improve and he would “breakthrough.” That never happened and it was decided to put his throwing program on pause, giving his arm a chance to rest and recover from the inflammation that seemed apparent.

President of baseball operations A.J. Preller seemed optimistic when speaking about Musgrove’s status:

“It’s not like he’s been down for six to eight weeks, so hopefully he can get going here,” he said Thursday in his media availability. “But we’re not going to really know until he gets through days like today, where he starts to play catch and he puts some volume on what he’s doing and he starts to build up innings and we’re seeing the bounce-back.” – Jeff Sanders, San Diego Union Tribune.

Musgrove also spoke in the clubhouse during Thursday’s media time.

He will have to progress from playing catch to bullpen sessions and then to live BP and a minor league or sim game appearance before considering building up to be able to start a Padres game. Common sense would lead one to think at least a May/June comeback if all goes well.

He emphasized that this was an expected development in his progress back from surgery but he had hoped it wouldn’t happen. His 15-day IL stint was back-dated to March 22. By not putting him on the 60-day IL it seems they are hopeful for a quicker bounce-back.

Yu Darvish goes on the Restricted List

Preller also discussed the status of Yu Darvish on Thursday. The Padres placed Darvish on the Restricted List on Wednesday. . He will not collect any salary for the 2026 season and will have limited contact with the team during this season. His desire is to rehab on his own and at his own pace but in consultation with Padres medical staff. He will have no commitment to being at Petco, travel with the team or be around the team before or after games. He wishes to break from the routine of the set rehab and spend more time with his family and handling his recovery himself.

Darvish has not announced his retirement and Preller explained that there will be a reassessment of his status as he gets further down the road in his rehab. He also stated that Darvish is on track with is rehab so far. The team has known for a long time that the money owed to Darvish this season would not be paid to him, that he intended to do what was best for the organization financially. This is not unprecedented as Darvish also went on the Restricted List in 2024 while dealing with personal issues that required him to leave the team for an extended period.

Preller explained this took some time because of the legal issues and the amount of people involved in the decision-making but the process began a long time ago when Darvish decided to pull away from baseball after his surgery last year.

The Padres also have starter Griffin Canning rehabbing from Achilles surgery and there has been no timeline announced for his return. Relievers Yuki Matsui and Jason Adam also began the season on the IL and both are retroactive to March 22.

Read full story at source