Padres sign Trevor Gott to minor league deal, assign him to Triple-A El Paso

What happened

Veteran right-hander Trevor Gott has reportedly signed a minor league deal with the Padres and been assigned to Triple-A El Paso, per his MLB.com transaction tracker as noted by Charlie Wright of MLB Trade Rumors. The deal was signed after September 1, which per the report makes Gott ineligible for the postseason. He is expected to slot into the Triple-A roster as veteran depth.

The timing is not coincidental. The Padres released right-handers J.P. France and José Leclerc from minor league contracts the day before, and per Charlie Wright, Gott is stepping into one of those vacated spots with the El Paso Chihuahuas.

Why it matters

A minor league deal signed in September carries a specific kind of organizational logic: it is not a statement of intent so much as a maintenance of options. Gott, who has not appeared in a major league game since 2023, arrives at Triple-A as a known quantity — a pitcher with eight seasons of big-league experience who has spent the better part of three years navigating injury and inconsistency. He will not be on the postseason roster. He will not be added to the 40-man. What he offers is innings at Triple-A for a Padres organization that just cleared two roster spots and is, at the same time, managing a fairly active September shuffle at the big-league level.

The broader context matters here. A day before the Gott signing, the Padres reinstated Nick Pivetta from the 60-day IL and optioned Jhony Brito to Triple-A, with Pivetta going on to throw 5 scoreless innings. The organization is clearly in active roster management mode as it navigates a tight wild card race, and keeping Triple-A functional with experienced arms — even arms whose best days are behind them — is part of that infrastructure.

The numbers

Gott spent the first half of 2026 in the Nationals organization, posting a 3.55 ERA across 26 appearances at Triple-A Rochester. That ERA, however, comes with a significant asterisk. His FIP sat at 5.16 and his xFIP at 5.75, a gap that Charlie Wright attributes to a .272 batting average on balls in play and an 80.2% strand rate — both figures that leaned fortunate. His 19% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate were, per the report, both poor figures. The ERA was kept down; the underlying numbers were not.

His last major league action came in 2023, when he threw exactly 29 innings split between the Mariners and Mets. He struck out 23.8% of batters faced that year with a 4.19 ERA, though his xERA came in at a more encouraging 3.49. Over eight big-league seasons, Gott posted a 4.65 ERA across 243 2/3 innings — a serviceable career line for a reliever who carved out a long run in the back of various bullpens.

The road back from that 2023 season was difficult. After hitting free agency, Gott underwent Tommy John surgery and spent the following year on the A's 60-day IL without throwing a pitch. A subsequent minor league arrangement in Seattle produced an 8.20 ERA at Triple-A last year. The 3.55 ERA at Rochester this year, however inflated by strand rate and BABIP, at least represents a step toward functional.

Is Gott a postseason option?

No. Per the report, because this deal was signed after September 1, Gott is not eligible for the postseason. He arrives at El Paso as organizational depth, not as a potential October contributor. The Padres' postseason roster decisions will be made from players already in the system before that cutoff.

Where the club stands

San Diego enters Wednesday at 76-68 (.528), sitting third in the NL West, 11 games back in the division. The more relevant number right now is the wild card picture: the Padres rank fourth in the NL wild card standings, 0.5 games relative to the cut line. They have won their last two games.

The Padres and Diamondbacks are reportedly competing for the final wild card spot, with their September series carrying direct playoff implications. Wednesday's home game against the Washington Nationals at Petco Park features Walker Buehler against Jackson Kent. The club then travels to Oracle Park to face the San Francisco Giants on Friday and Saturday.

That schedule — a home date against Washington followed by a road trip to San Francisco — is the kind of September gauntlet that makes Triple-A roster management feel less like housekeeping and more like load management. Every arm that can absorb innings at El Paso is one fewer decision the big-league staff has to make under pressure.

What we don't know yet

Gott has been a free agent since early July, per Charlie Wright, and his path to this deal ran through the Nationals organization in the first half of the season. What is not yet clear is whether the Padres view this as a pure depth move or whether there is any scenario — injury, roster need — in which he could factor into the 40-man picture before the end of the regular season. A minor league deal does not place a player on the 40-man roster, so any call-up would require a separate transaction. Nothing in the report suggests that is being contemplated.

It is also worth noting that the ERA estimators — the 5.16 FIP and 5.75 xFIP — raise genuine questions about how much of Gott's 3.55 ERA at Rochester reflects sustainable performance versus a favorable run of sequencing. That gap will be something to watch if he continues pitching at Triple-A down the stretch.

What to watch

The Padres' wild card position — 0.5 games relative to the cut line — means that every roster decision between now and the end of the regular season carries weight. Gott's arrival at El Paso is a footnote in that story, but the broader Triple-A picture matters: who is available, who is healthy, and who can step in if the big-league bullpen needs reinforcement before the postseason roster locks. Gott, ineligible for October, is not that answer. But in a September where the Padres are clearly managing depth carefully — releasing two Triple-A arms one day, adding a veteran the next — the organizational churn is worth tracking as the wild card race tightens.