San Diego Padres Lose Starting Pitcher for the Entire 2026 Season

The San Diego Padres’ quest for a third straight postseason appearance—something the franchise has never accomplished—just became significantly more difficult.

Veteran right-hander Yu Darvish announced Tuesday that he will miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing internal brace surgery to repair both a torn UCL and flexor tendon. The procedure, performed last week, ends any hope of the 38-year-old anchoring the Padres’ rotation in what was expected to be another playoff push.

Darvish has been a stabilizing presence for San Diego since joining the team in 2021. His absence leaves a massive void in both experience and leadership—and that’s only the beginning of the Padres’ pitching concerns.

Adding to the challenge, three other starters—Dylan Cease, Michael King, and Nestor Cortes—are set to hit free agency this offseason. Those four pitchers (including Darvish) combined to make 68 of the Padres’ 162 starts in 2025, or roughly 42% of their total games.

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What’s Left of the Padres’ Rotation?

If the season began today, this is what San Diego’s rotation would look like:

It gets worse.

At the trade deadline, the Padres traded Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek to the Royals for catcher Freddy Fermin. Bergert and Kolek had combined for 21 starts, pushing the total number of lost starts to 89 out of 162 (55%) when including Darvish, Cease, King, and Cortes.

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The Depth Problem

The internal options behind those five are thin—very thin.

• LHP Omar Cruz is the only other starter on the 40-man roster, but he walked nearly 6 batters per nine innings in Triple-A last season.

• RHP Miguel Mendez (Double-A) finished his year issuing 17 walks in 22 innings.

• Beyond that? Mostly untested arms and long-term projects.

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AJ Preller Has Work to Do—Again

General Manager AJ Preller will almost certainly need to overhaul the rotation through free agency and trades. The problem? The Padres aren’t expected to spend like a big-market team this winter after last offseason’s payroll cuts.

With Blake Snell long gone, Darvish sidelined, and multiple key pitchers testing free agency, San Diego is staring at its biggest roster challenge since the Fernando Tatís Jr. trade era began.

Yu Darvish’s season-ending surgery isn’t just a blow—it’s a turning point. The Padres now enter 2026 with more rotation uncertainty than any playoff hopeful in baseball.

If San Diego makes the postseason again, it’ll be because they rebuilt one of the most depleted rotations in the league—without their most reliable veteran to lead it.

And that might be the toughest challenge yet of the AJ Preller era.