Casey Mize’s first start in a Padres uniform was bad. Not a little shaky, not just an off night, actually bad. Eight earned runs, nine hits, three walks, out after three and a third innings, 10-4 loss to Arizona in a game that mattered for the wild card. If you watched it, you already know. If you didn’t, just trust me on this one.

And look, I get the reaction. We just gave up a top pitching prospect for this guy. He was supposed to stabilize the rotation, not blow it up in his very first night out. It’s fair to be frustrated. It really is. But this is also, if I’m being honest, kind of typical Padres. Not typical bad, just typical in that this team never, ever, ever does anything the easy way. We don’t get the smooth debut. We get the disaster start with playoff implications attached to it, because of course we do.

Here’s the thing I keep coming back to though. We need to be patient with this. We do.

Think about what Mize’s last week and a half actually looked like. He hadn’t pitched a real game in eleven days. Eleven days. He didn’t know when his next start was going to be, or where, or for who. Throwing bullpens in limbo, not knowing anything for sure. Then Monday hits, he gets traded, Tuesday he’s meeting a brand new team, and Wednesday, Wednesday, he’s got a ball in his hand starting a game that matters. That is not a normal week for anybody, let alone a guy who has to go out and execute pitches for a living.

It’s not an easy thing, getting traded. People talk about it like it’s just changing jerseys, but it’s not that simple, not even close. You’re leaving a clubhouse you knew, guys you’d been in the trenches with all year, and showing up somewhere brand new where you might not even know everyone’s names yet. You don’t know your catcher’s tendencies, you don’t fully know the coaching staff, you don’t have that comfort level built in yet. And you’re supposed to just go out and be great immediately. That’s a lot to ask of anybody. A lot.

Mize himself didn’t make excuses, which I respect. Said he was frustrated, said he was embarrassed, said he needed to pitch better. Didn’t hide behind the circumstances at all. That’s the right way to handle a night like that. But just because he’s not making excuses doesn’t mean we shouldn’t understand the context. There’s a difference between excusing a bad outing and actually understanding why it happened. There’s a real difference there.

This guy had a 2.70 ERA before Wednesday. He was an All-Star this year. He didn’t forget how to pitch overnight, that’s not how this works. One bad start, especially under these exact circumstances, doesn’t tell us who Casey Mize is going to be for this team. Give him a normal week, a real routine, some time to actually get comfortable with these guys, and I think we see a different pitcher. I really do.

The Padres didn’t trade for one start. They traded for the rest of the season. Let’s judge it that way.