The San Diego Padres spent Tuesday still chasing a National League Wild Card berth and still tinkering with the edges of their pitching staff.
While they hosted the Washington Nationals at Petco Park, the club quietly signed right-hander Trevor Gott to a minor-league contract and assigned him to Triple-A El Paso, via the MLB transaction log.
It was a low-profile move in a high-stakes stretch of the season, the kind of depth addition clubs make when every available arm might matter in September.
Gott is not a new name in San Diego. The Padres drafted him in the sixth round out of Kentucky in 2013, and he has spent the years since as a journeyman reliever. Across eight major-league seasons with the Angels, Nationals, Giants, Brewers, Mariners, and Mets, he has a 16-15 record, a 4.65 ERA, and 222 strikeouts in 243 2/3 innings. He last appeared in the majors in 2023.
After Tommy John surgery in 2024, he spent 2025 trying to regain form in the Mariners system and signed with Washington before this season. Rochester released him on July 2 after 26 Triple-A appearances, a 4-0 record, a 3.55 ERA, and 27 strikeouts in 33 innings. That line is why San Diego called.
The timing is pointed. The Padres entered Tuesday at 76-68, third in the NL West and a half-game behind Arizona for the last wild-card spot, with roughly three weeks left. They had just beaten the Nationals 3-2 on Monday behind Nick Pivetta’s return from the injured list, and they had recently moved on from veteran relievers J.P. France and Jose Leclerc.
Gott does not walk onto the major-league roster. He reports to El Paso as experienced insurance, a 34-year-old who knows how to work the late innings if a September call-up is needed.
That is the practical reading of the signing. September rosters and bullpen innings get chewed up by injuries, extra-inning games, and short rest. A pitcher who has already logged more than 250 big-league appearances is cheaper and more familiar than an untested option.
Gott’s 2026 work at Rochester was efficient enough to suggest he can still throw strikes. Whether that translates at Petco Park is another question, and one the Padres do not have to answer immediately.
There is also a circular quality to the story. Gott began his professional life in this organization, left, bounced through six other clubs, and now returns on a minor-league deal while the club that drafted him tries to squeeze into October. The Nationals, the team that just released him, are the opponent in the series.
None of that changes the standings. It does, however, explain why a quiet transaction on a Tuesday in September can still feel like part of the same long season.
The Padres are buying innings and options. Gott is buying another chance. With the wild-card race this tight, both sides will take whatever they can get.
