The San Diego Padres haven't had a great start to the season offensively or as a pitching staff thus far, and the backend of the starting rotation is worrisome.
The San Diego Padres had a problem with its starting rotation going into the offseason and the organization didn’t address it properly.
The starting rotation depth was and is thin, especially after right-hander Dylan Cease joined the Toronto Blue Jays in free agency. Righty Yu Darvish is out for the season with an injury and the only thing the Padres did was bring back right-hander Michael King and sign a couple of reclamation project-type pitchers looking to regain All-Star form.
The impending sale of the Padres franchise had to play a role in general manager/president of baseball operations A.J. Preller not spending a lot of money in free agency like he typically does, but he played it off and said it had nothing to do with the organization’s passiveness.
Regardless, the Padres didn’t do enough in the offseason to ensure the starting rotation was in a good spot. Right-hander Nick Pivetta was excellent last season and is the ace of the rotation after going 13-5 with a 2.87 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 190 strikeouts over 181.2 innings pitched, but he was roughed up against the Detroit Tigers on Opening Day.
King was great in his first start, pitching five scoreless innings and allowing just one hit (but four walks) with six strikeouts. Righty Randy Vasquez was outstanding in his first start as well, throwing six shutout innings of two-hit ball with eight strikeouts.
While Pivetta’s start was rough to see, nobody should be worried about him yet. It’s the backend of the rotation that is the immediate cause for concern. Right-handers Walker Buehler and German Marquez were late additions to the team and won the last starting spots in spring training, but their first starts weren’t too enticing.
Buehler wasn’t horrible, but he did only last four innings and took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three against the San Francisco Giants. Marquez pitched just three innings in his Padres debut and allowed four runs on eight hits and one walk while fanning just one.
MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell believes that they could be problematic.
“The pair combined to allow seven runs across just seven innings in their two Opening Week starts,” Cassavell wrote Wednesday. “Both have a track record of success. But both underwent major elbow surgeries in recent seasons and haven’t been the same since. Joe Musgrove and Griffin Canning are on their way back from injuries, which is a positive sign. The Padres could use some help. In the meantime, they need more from Buehler and Márquez.”
It’s early and the Padres have 156 games left to play, and maybe these guys bounce back and escape the early criticism. But for now, it looks like the Padres could be in trouble.