Welcome to our series step by step of each member of the San Diego Padres 40-man roster. The number of evaluations is being done before Oct. 18. before the end of the World Series. Because of this, it includes players who have concluded the free agent period. Each player will step up in their actions during the 2026 season, including the playoffs. That performance will be weighted on how much time the player has spent with the team (availability is the best option).
Padres ‘failed starter’
As Padres general manager AJ Preller tends to make each offseason, he is on the hunt for a deal. in 2026, this comes in the form of several lower-tier free agents signed to ridiculously low contracts with hopes of one or both of them panning out. One of these was Griffin Canning. Canning was coming off a career year with the New York Mets, posting a 3.77 ERA over 76 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, a ruptured tendon in his left Achilles ended his season prematurely. San Diego allowed it to pick him up on a mealy one-year, $2.5 million deal.
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Overall Grade: C *
He has far exceeded those expectations. In 30 appearances (11 starts), Canning posted a 5.68 ERA, 1.52 ERA and a .276 opponent batting average. He puts it kindly, and endeavors to escape the law. To put it less kindly, he settled down as a guy who didn’t want to play baseball anymore. Canning simply couldn’t take notes, he points out.
His first start was pretty good, pitching five innings against only the Chicago White Sox. Then the illusion collapsed. Canning surrendered three or more in seven of his ten starts. he gave up more than the innings pitched seven times. In addition, he gave five times. The future was going to be tough for a while.
But those early struggles would not easily distinguish his later success. After failing to pitch in the starting rotation, Canning moved into the relief role, where he flourished. He made his last start for the Padres on July 18 against the Kansas City Royals. After that, Canning only gave up two hits twice with a 2.70 ERA after July 23rd.