Seth Lugo bet on himself as a starting pitcher.
Now he’ll see what he’s worth on the open market.
The 33-year-old right-hander will opt out after a breakthrough return to the rotation, the Union-Tribune has confirmed. He would have been a bargain next year at the same $7.5 million he earned in 2023 after posting a 3.57 ERA over a career-high 146 1/3 innings.
Lugo had spent most of the previous five seasons in the Mets’ bullpen. The Padres were one of the few teams interested in giving Lugo a chance to start, he signed an incentive-laden deal with escalators as both a starting pitcher and a reliever and went on to make all 26 appearances out of the rotation.
Lugo lost roughly a month to a calf strain, which in part helped manage his workload as his innings more than doubled in his first year in San Diego.
The Padres had been preparing for Lugo to opt out of the second year of his deal. They hold team options on right-handers Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez and have already lost Blake Snell to free agency, making starting pitching an offseason priority right behind hiring a manager to replace the departed Bob Melvin.
Staff writer Kevin Acee contributed to this report.
