Canning on the precipice of return from Achilles tear, could start Sunday

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres are weighing the possibility of activating right-hander Griffin Canning to make his season debut on Sunday, as his rehab from a left Achilles tear winds down.

Canning, who signed a one-year deal with San Diego in February, has made five rehab starts, with Triple-A El Paso. In his most recent start, he threw five innings of one-run ball, building up to 68 pitches.

Asked prior to Saturday’s game, manager Craig Stammen would not reveal the identity of the team’s starter for Sunday’s series finale against the White Sox. Which is a telling enough statement, because that slot in the rotation would have otherwise belonged to Randy Vásquez. It seems likely Vásquez will instead have his start bumped to Monday in San Francisco.

“All that stuff is TBD,” Stammen said.

Canning spent last season with the Mets, where he was 2 1/2 months into the best season of his career before he suffered the injury during a start in mid-June. He had recorded a 3.77 ERA in 16 starts.

The Padres signed Canning, envisioning … well … this. They knew their rotation was thin. They figured he might become a much-needed early-season reinforcement.

“He’s going to be great,” Stammen said. “He’s excited to get past that Achilles injury. He’s put in a ton of hard work. You guys saw it all through Spring Training, and now he’s had a bunch of rehab starts. So whenever his next outing is, it’s going to be exciting.”

The Padres could go with a six-man rotation for at least the next turn through. But Lucas Giolito, who signed with San Diego late last month, is also building his way toward joining the club.

At some point, the Padres will have decisions to make at the back end of their rotation, where Matt Waldron, Germán Márquez and Walker Buehler have largely struggled. Of the three, Buehler has shown the most promise recently, with a 3.93 ERA across his last four outings after a slow start.