Padres re-sign Craig Stammen to 2-year deal

The Padres have re-signed right-handed reliever Craig Stammen to a two-year deal worth $4.5 million, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The deal will pay him $2.25 million each season, with an extra $1 million available in incentives. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was the first to report that Stammen and the Padres were in serious talks.

After reaching the majors as a starter with the Nationals in 2009, the 33-year-old Stammen had an outstanding run in Washington’s bullpen from 2011-15, posting earned run averages below 3.00 in four of five seasons. His career bottomed out after he underwent surgery to repair two torn flexor tendons in his right forearm in April 2015, though.

He missed the remainder of that season, and after spending the entirety of 2016 rehabbing from the injury in the Indians’ minor-league system, he came into Padres camp last spring and turned a non-roster invite into a spot on San Diego’s Opening Day roster. He proceeded to make a career-high 60 appearances, posting a solid 3.14 ERA and 1.20 WHIP with 74 strikeouts and 28 walks over 80.1 innings.

Stammen looks to be rejoining an increasingly impressive Padres bullpen, as San Diego is also reportedly the likely landing spot for Japanese submariner Kazuhisa Makita, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports. If the Padres hang on to Brad Hand, they could have an intriguing trio of late-inning options with Stammen, Makita, and Hand.