PEORIA, Ariz. -- Padres utilityman Sung-Mun Song will begin the season on the injured list, manager Craig Stammen confirmed Sunday.
The news is hardly a surprise. Song has not appeared in a Cactus League game since he aggravated the right oblique injury that slowed him early in camp. But that could change on Monday, Stammen noted. Song played five innings in a Triple-A Game on Sunday and is expected to play in the team’s Cactus League finale.
“Good progression for him,” Stammen said. “He’s going to start the season on the IL. We weren’t able to get him in enough games to feel comfortable with throwing him in that Opening Day roster. But he’ll go down to El Paso, get some rehab games in, and it shouldn’t be too long before he’s back at Petco.”
Song’s timeline
The Padres inked Song to a four-year deal in December, envisioning him as their superutility man. He played mainly third base and second base in Korea. But the Padres like his glove and wanted to get him work at shortstop and in the outfield this spring.
They’d begun to do so right when the injury flared up. Song was playing his first game at short -- and had just mashed a 430-foot home run -- when he exited a game on March 5 with soreness in his oblique.
Notably, that injury was not an acute recurrence of the injury Song sustained during the offseason (the injury that slowed him a bit during the first week of camp), but rather a bit of leftover soreness. As such, Song was only fully sidelined for a little over a week.
He was able to work defensively before he resumed swinging, but the Padres now think he’s built up enough to appear in a game. From here, Song will accompany the team to San Diego for Opening Day festivities. Then, he will join El Paso for the start of the Triple-A season, where he’ll get work at all different spots.
A mid-April return seems possible, if not likely.
The Padres’ bench picture
The Padres don’t have another versatile bench option like Song -- at least not one with that caliber of bat. His absence -- even if it was expected -- forced them to pivot.
On Saturday, the club informed Ty France that he’d made the team, and in some ways, France fills the same role as Song -- a backup all over the infield. Except France wouldn’t handle shortstop. But he can still back up at second, with Jake Cronenworth able to slide to short in a pinch.
That’s not an ideal defensive alignment. But it’s more a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency kind of thing, anyway. Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts will be playing second and short, respectively, on a full-time basis until Song returns.
One of Gavin Sheets, Miguel Andujar and Nick Castellanos will sit on a daily basis -- so that’s one bench spot. France fills another, and Luis Campusano is destined for the backup catcher role.
That leaves one roster spot available, with Bryce Johnson the favorite to win that spot, given his ability to back up in center field.
What’s left to decide?
Germán Márquez is the favorite for the final rotation place in the same way Johnson is the favorite for the final bench spot. That would fill out an Opening Day rotation of Nick Pivetta, Michael King, Randy Vásquez, Walker Buehler and Márquez.
Beyond that, the only questions remaining are in the bullpen. Five of those spots are secure, with a sixth potentially going to Jason Adam if he’s ready to return from left quad surgery. (The team will make that decision after he pitches in the Cactus League finale on Monday.)
Among those still vying for the final two or three spots in the bullpen are Logan Gillaspie, Kyle Hart, Bradgley Rodriguez and Ron Marinaccio.