Report: Padres interested in Eovaldi

The San Diego Padres are interested in signing free-agent right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, a source told Dennis Lin of The Athletic.

San Diego, which was linked With Eovaldi in early November, remains interested even after signing Garrett Richards last week. The team will be without Richards for much of the 2019 season, if not the entire campaign, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in July. Dinelson Lamet is expected to start the season on the disabled list due to his own recovery from the surgery.

The right-handers would join a lefty-heavy rotation including Clayton Richard, Joey Lucchesi, and Robbie Erlin.

Eovaldi underwent Tommy John twice and returned to baseball in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox after missing all of 2017. In 22 regular-season games, he went 6-7 with a 3.81 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. He really stepped it up in the postseason, allowing four earned runs over 22 1/3 innings.