2023 Padres Season Review: Scott Barlow and Tom Cosgrove

2023 Regular Season Statistics

Scott Barlow: 1.0 fWAR, 63 G, 68 IP, 4.37 ERA, 1.397 WHIP, 79 K, 34 BB, 4 HR, 5 HBP

Tom Cosgrove: 0.6 fWAR, 54 G, 51.1 IP, 1.75 ERA, 0.974 WHIP, 44 K, 19 BB, 3 HR, 5 HBP

Positives From This Season

Barlow was one of the additions A.J. Preller made before the trade deadline, as he was looking for some bullpen help. The 30-year-old was certainly helpful once he got through his first four appearances, pitching to a 1.09 ERA in his final 21 games of 2023.

While the trade deadline didn’t work out the way the Padres would’ve hoped, Barlow is under control through 2024 which is great because Josh Hader is expected to depart in free agency. Barlow may be fighting for the closer role with Robert Suarez in spring training. If he doesn’t get that then he’ll be a nice seventh or eighth inning guy for San Diego.

Cosgrove wasn’t a name most Padres fans knew about going into the season but he made them know his name with his performance. The 27-year-old made his debut in late April and didn’t allow a run until June 11 (his 15th outing).

This Padres bullpen didn’t have a ton of lefties so he was already a valuable arm but made himself even more valuable when he showed he was able to shut down talented offenses like the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies.

Josh Hader won’t be on the team and Tim Hill is going into his final year of arbitration so he might not end up being on the roster in 2024 because the Padres are going to be trimming payroll so Cosgrove could end up being the go-to left hander in San Diego’s bullpen.

Negatives From This Season

Barlow got off to a rough start when he first arrived in the brown and gold. Sure, he pitched well coming off the plane in Colorado but then allowed nine runs in his next three outings. Two of those games were against the Dodgers and in the August 7 game he took the Padres totally out of it. San Diego was down three (thanks to Seth Lugo) but then was down eight by the time Barlow was done for the day.

It’s hard for me to bash Barlow more than that because he came in when the Padres had already showed they weren’t going to contend for a World Series and he delivered shutouts in 20/25 appearances.

As for Cosgrove, there were a couple outings he allowed multiple runs that contributed to a Padres loss but for his first year in the big leagues it was pretty darn impressive so I don’t have any complaints about Cosgrove. He is expected to make a little more than $700,000 in 2024.