The Padres announced Tuesday that All Star pitcher Joe Musgrove fractured his big toe while in the weight room on Monday. Timetable on a return from the injury is unknown at this time.
San Diego manager Bob Melvin said it would be a “minimum of a couple weeks” before he could even throw again, according to ESPN.
“We’ll see. It’s kind of tough to forecast when you have a broken toe,” Melvin told reporters. “It’s going to be more about how it heals. Certainly if it’s a pain tolerance thing, Joe would be one of those guys that would be sooner than later. But obviously we have to evaluate how he’s feeling every day and we’ll see where we go.”
The news couldn’t be worse for a San Diego team looking to return to the playoffs and make a run at a World Series. Musgrove was the team’s lone pitcher to make the All-Star game last year and finished the season with a 2.93 ERA in 181 innings on the mound. He also tallied 184 strikeouts and signed a five-year, $100 million contract in August.
The Padres finished 2022 with an 89–73 mark and are looking to improve on that with a full season of Juan Soto and Fernando Tatís Jr. on the field together—Soto joined the team at midseason via a trade and Tatís missed the whole season because of both surgery and a suspension for failing a PED test.
Now with another big name lost for some time, San Diego will be shorthanded once again.
