The San Diego Padres’ rotation is currently going through a spring shuffle, and some of the hottest competition that’s part of that shuffle is for the fifth starter spot. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com did a rundown of both the combinations and possibilities, so let’s see what he came up with.
The new additions included Walker Buehler, Marco Gonzales, Triston McKenzie, German Marqez and Griffin Canning, but Canning isn’t expected to recover from his left Achilles tear by opening day, according to the writer. JP Sears and Matt Waldron are already on the 40-man roster, but Waldron has already been shut down due to injury and likely won’t be available on opening day.
As Cassavell states, the Padres don’t need all of these options to hit. They only need one, maybe two, in reality, and several have already gone multiple innings in their first outing.
“Really productive couple days for us,” said manager Craig Stammen. “They all kind of showed who they were. … It’s going to be a tight competition all the way until the end.”
The depth is important, and the Padres might need it. King and Musgrove are coming off serious injuries, and Pivetta had his first start pushed back due to arm fatigue, although Stammen said this is “nothing major,”
But that could be whistling in the dark, so let’s look at the trade possibilities. They’re always there with GM A.J. Preller, who doesn’t want to trade from the bullpen. Preller has spent an entire winter being inactive, though, so this might be his time to shine once the existing group sorts itself out.
There are also free agent options available, although the pickings are slim at this time of year. The names include Lucas Giolito, Zach Littell and Patrick Corbin, with Giolito being the priciest one. But it’s still unclear if Preller has any spending power left, even after the resolution of the Seidler family lawsuit that impeded the sales process during the winter.
Sorting all of this out is tough at the moment, but Cassavell gave it a shot. He came up with three names—Marquez, Gonzales and Buehler. Those aren’t exactly encouraging, but few teams have much going on in the back of the rotation in the fifth starter slot.
The pitchers in camp have shown enough to keep the Padres from adding more names, but that could change at a moment’s notice. This is the time of year when pitchers go down as soon as they start to ramp up, and that’s another factor to remember in all this.