This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
PEORIA, Ariz. -- Less than a month until Opening Day in San Diego. It can’t come soon enough.
Well, unless you’re manager Craig Stammen, who still has a handful of meaningful decisions to make before then. With that in mind, here are four questions Stammen needs to answer before the Padres line up for their March 26 opener at Petco Park.
Who -- and how many -- in the rotation?
The second part of this question feels like it’ll go a long way toward shaping the first. Already, Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Michael King have secured their spots in the rotation. But there are question marks surrounding the latter two.
Musgrove is coming off Tommy John surgery. King was limited last season while dealing with a knee injury and a nerve issue. Which is one of the biggest reasons the Padres have mulled using a six-man rotation -- allowing Musgrove and King to ease back into action.
“We want to do what’s best for them and what’s best for the team,” Stammen said. “And how we marry those two things is yet to be determined.”
That decision, of course, might also be predicated on the performance of the candidates at the back end of the rotation. Randy Vásquez seems destined to win one of those places, which means there’s either one spot or two available.
Among those in that competition: Germán Márquez, Walker Buehler, JP Sears, Marco Gonzales and Triston McKenzie. Matt Waldron and Griffin Canning are in the mix for a starting role as well, but seem likely to open the season on the injured list.
Setting the top of the lineup
It’s not often that a manager makes waves with his lineup on Day 1 of Cactus League action, but Stammen did -- mostly because he indicated it’s possible that lineup could foreshadow his Opening Day batting order. Here’s how he set up his top four:
1. Xander Bogaerts, SS
2. Jackson Merrill, CF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
That’s a major shakeup from last year, when Tatis spent the majority of the season in the leadoff spot, while Merrill typically hit fourth or fifth and Bogaerts lower than that. There are sensible reasons for Stammen’s reshuffling. Plus, he made it clear that he hasn’t made any final decisions.
But how, exactly, do you judge the cohesiveness of a Spring Training lineup? The competitive stakes are distinctly different than they are in the regular season. In any case, Stammen is now less than a month away from setting his first lineup that matters.
Figuring out the first base/DH mix
However they line up at the top, those big-name bats will all be in the lineup somewhere. But there are two openings in the Padres’ everyday starting nine, and the rest of the spring should go a long way toward settling that playing-time battle.
There are presently openings at designated hitter and first base -- with the caveat that any of the other seven regulars could get a sporadic day at DH (which would open a different spot in the field).
The Padres feel good about the mix they’ve brought on board -- certainly better than last season’s Jason Heyward/Yuli Gurriel platoon. Gavin Sheets is the strong favorite for playing time, and you’d expect him to start regularly against righties. He might start against lefties, too.
But Nick Castellanos and Miguel Andujar will challenge him for those at-bats. Both have looked solid this spring. Plus, Ty France, by far the best defensive option from that group, could throw his name into the mix.
And, if Sheets is presumed to be starting against righties, who joins him? Can the lefty-hitting Sung-Mun Song hit enough to give the Padres some serious versatility? There’s one month left for all of these options to make their cases.
Relievers and roles
The Padres aren’t yet certain how many starters they’ll be carrying, which means they don’t know how many relievers they’ll be carrying either.
Stammen has already named Mason Miller as his closer. Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam (if healthy) are presumably set for high-leverage roles, with Morejon as the primary lefty.
But there’s some uncertainty behind that group. Not uncertainty in the sense that the Padres don’t have adequate options. They absolutely do. It’s just unclear who’s on the roster, and who might be lined up for what situations.
David Morgan and Wandy Peralta are probably in. Yuki Matsui’s health status is uncertain, and he was recently forced to withdraw from the World Baseball Classic. Would the Padres look to round out their bullpen with a length option like Kyle Hart or Bryan Hoeing? Would they go with an upside like prospect Bradgley Rodriguez? Alek Jacob and Ron Marinaccio -- both of whom will pitch for Team Italy -- could make a strong case.
In the end, the Padres’ bullpen needs are probably contingent on how many relievers they’ll be carrying in the first place. Some notable decisions lie ahead. Stay tuned.