The Padres agreed to terms with Ryan Weiss on Tuesday, giving the 29-year-old right-hander a one-year contract with a 2028 option year. It is a fresh start for a pitcher who spent the last two years in the KBO before returning to affiliated baseball and working his way back onto the market.
Weiss gets the deal after a season that was uneven at the highest level but stronger late in the year. The Houston Astros signed him last December to a one-year, $2.6 million contract with a $5 million option for 2027, then designated him for assignment in June after he posted a 7.62 ERA in nine big league appearances. He also finished with a 5.42 ERA in 22 games, including 13 starts, for Sugar Land before electing free agency in October.
His September work gave the Padres a reason to keep looking. In four games with Sugar Land, Weiss allowed three runs in 19.2 innings, posted a 1.37 ERA, walked four and struck out 24. He did not allow a home run and held opponents to a.229/.289/.271 slash line, the kind of late-season stretch that can change the view of a pitcher who had looked lost earlier in the year.
That is the contradiction at the center of this move. Weiss was available because his major league numbers were rough, yet Jesse Rogers of reported that he had interest around the league and a chance to return to the KBO. The Padres still moved quickly, suggesting they saw enough in the recent run to bet on the arm rather than the first half.
What role he fills next is still the open question. The contract structure gives the Padres room to use him in more than one way, especially with the club potentially losing several starters and relievers in free agency, but the team has not yet spelled out how it plans to deploy him. For Weiss, the deal is less a finish line than a second audition, and this one comes with a path to stick.
