WHAT CHANGES COULD BE COMING TO STARTING ROTATION?
The forearm injury that caused Adrian Morejon to leave Sunday’s game could leave the Padres down a starting pitcher but still with something of a backlog of starting pitchers in the short term.
Yu Darvish will start today’s opener of a four-game series in Pittsburgh with Blake Snell following. After that, decisions are pending.
Joe Musgrove could be pushed back from his scheduled Wednesday start after he threw a career-high 112 pitches in his no-hitter Friday.
“We’re going to wait and see where we’re at, what we’re going to do the last two games,” manager Jayce Tingler said. “… Is it worth moving (Musgrove) back a day? (Ryan) Weathers (and Chris) Paddack are going to be able to go, as well, if we need. We just have to figure out what the best thing to do is.”
Tingler acknowledged the desire to pitch both Darvish and Snell against the Dodgers next weekend — they are lined up to pitch the second and third games of that series — and said that
will figure into how the Padres configure their rotation. (The Dodgers are scheduled to start Walker Buehler on Friday, followed by Clayton Kershaw and Trevor Bauer.)
There is also the possibility the Padres bring back Dinelson Lamet in Pittsburgh, though he could start the first game against the Dodgers.
“I think we’re getting close,” Tingler said of Lamet, who has been brought along slowly due to his elbow issue at the end of last season but got up to 56 pitches in an alternate site start Saturday.
The earliest Lamet could
go is Wednesday. Paddack’s next time in the order would normally be Thursday.
Profar, pro
Manny Machado got a day mostly off his feet, as he served as the designated hitter.
With shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, that meant the Padres had to call on their depth to fill the infield.
Ha-seong Kim moved from shortstop to third for the first time in the majors, though he played there extensively in Korea. Jake Cronenworth
went from second to shortstop, a spot he played 47 innings last season.
Most notably, Jurickson Profar played second base for the first time since September and just the fourth time since moving to left field early last season. In eight throwing chances, including on the final two outs, he showed none of the throwing yips that plagued him at second base in Oakland in 2019 and a little bit last year with the Padres. He also made an efficient tag on a throw from catcher Victor Caratini to catch Eli White stealing in the eighth inning.
“The reason we (resigned) Profar … he’s a ballplayer,” Tingler said. “Damn near any position, and we’ve got a ton of confidence in him.”
Looking good
Tatis went through another full pregame workout on the field. He launched several home runs and hit the ball hard throughout his batting practice and then took grounders with the rest of the infielders. While hitting, Tatis used a two-handed follow-through the Padres believe will help preserve his shoulder stability.
He is eligible to come off the injured list Friday.
“He feels good,” Machado said. “He feels strong. He’s doing everything he needs to do. We need him back healthy to get to where we need to get to.”
Big in Texas
As lively, engaged and relatively loud as the crowds were at Petco Park for the Padres’ opening homestand, there were just slightly more than 10,000 people at each game.
Texas is a bit more permissive with its approach to COVID mitigation, and the Rangers are allowed to fill Globe Life Field to the brim. That’s not what happened this weekend, but the three games averaged 30,000.
“It felt weird, honestly,” Machado said. “Seeing so many people out here, it was fun to have and play in front of. I missed it. Obviously, it was nothing like San Diego would have been. But it was pretty awesome to see people out there ordering beer, ordering popcorn, ordering peanuts, being normal. It was a fun weekend to have all these guys booing you, cheering you on and being loud.”