Padres’ revamped pitching provides some hope

The San Diego Padres starters’ ERA was at 4.69, 27th in baseball, going into the series against the Miami Marlins on July 24. The day before, in the last of the Atlanta Braves series, Griffin Canning had an opener (Kyle Hart) and still only lasted 2.2 innings after allowing five runs on five hits with three home runs given up.

The situation with the starting rotation has been desperate for quite some time. For that reason, the Padres coaching staff changed their approach. For the three-game series with the Marlins, the team adopted an 11-man bullpen with only Michael King and Walker Buehler reserved as traditional starters. 

For the first two games, the team employed bullpen games using a mix of former starters and relievers in a mix-and-match fashion to cover their nine innings. For the third and final game of the series, Walker Buehler made a traditional start and completed 5.1 innings with two earned runs. The Padres used Yuki Matsui, Wandy Peralta, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller to finish things off. 

The Friars finished the road trip through Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami with a 5-5 record after sweeping the Marlins and are now back to a .500 record at 53-53. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller will have to decide over the next week how the organization will handle the rest of the season and the trade deadline on Aug. 3. This is not an ideal approach to a pitching staff, but one built on need, in an attempt to give the newly resurgent Padres offense a chance to best the other team’s pitching and win some games. 

The Padres offense, long lingering dead last in many offensive categories in MLB, has battled its way back. They are still in the bottom five in all batting averages, but are 19th in home runs, 20th in RBI, and have several of their players surging offensively.

First baseman Ty France, a rumored trade piece should the Padres sell, is leading all regulars with a .286 average and .886 OPS. He has 16 homers and 46 RBI.

Third baseman Manny Machado, who admitted to altering his hitting approach during the offseason, has battled his way back to a .210 average and .734 OPS. Amazingly enough, his slugging has been consistent despite his struggles, and he has a team-leading 23 homers and 62 RBI.

Jackson Merrill recently admitted to going back to his high school videos to fix his swing. Over his past 15 games, he is hitting .305/.344/.593 with five homers and 11 RBI. That has raised his season average to .231 with a .675 OPS.

Fernando Tatis Jr. was the first one to address his hitting and has been going along at a steady pace since May. His power outage turned around over the past month as he finished June with four homers and has three in July. For the seven weeks over those two months, he has 29 RBI versus 17 RBI in March through May.

With the big three producing more, and the rest of the hitters making contributions, the offense is averaging 6.71 runs per game post-All-Star break versus less than five before the break.

Since returning from the injured list with a serious concussion, infielder Jake Cronenworth has gone on a tear. He is hitting .324/.398/.446 in the past 21 games. Overall, his average went from .144 before going on the IL to .217/.318/.297 with a .616 OPS.

It was a thought before the season that many of the pitchers signed to compete for the Padres rotation this season would be better suited as relievers. They were pressed into the rotation because of the injuries to Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta. 

It has been pretty clear that Germán Márquez, Griffin Canning and Lucas Giolito are not traditional starter material. Randy Vásquez started strong but has since lost his way. Only Michael King and Walker Buehler have been able to maintain any semblance of consistency and the length that is needed in a rotation.

With the revamped pitching plan, the Padres were able to limit the damage against a struggling Miami Marlins team and come away with a sweep. Time will tell if this new plan can sustain itself against other teams. 

The next two series are versus the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants over a six-game home stand. Then they go back on the road against the Diamondbacks, which also coincides with the trade deadline on Aug. 3.

We will know by then which way the Padres front office has decided to go with the buy or sell decision. If the team is in the Wild Card hunt and pieces are added, then the pitching staff stands to be improved.

Playing into this equation is the status of both Musgrove and Pivetta. Both are in Arizona, throwing against minor league hitters for live BP. Musgrove threw 23 pitches, and Pivetta threw 20 against those hitters on Friday. Both should throw again this week. If all goes well, rehab stints will begin soon. Both will have to be built up over four or five starts to be available to assume a spot in the rotation (info per Kevin Acee’s July 27 newsletter). 

Barring complications, Padres fans could see one or both before the end of August. That would make a significant improvement in the status of the rotation for the rest of the season. 

Reliever Jason Adam has been on the injured list since July 2 with a right shoulder strain and is not yet on a rehab assignment.

Reliever Jeremiah Estrada is pitching with the El Paso Chihuahuas after starting his rehab with the ACL team. He could return within the next one to two weeks. He has been on the injured list since June 5 with right knee inflammation.

RHP Lucas Giolito is working with the training staff and has not been sent on a rehab assignment yet.

RHP David Morgan is on a rehab assignment in the minor leagues. He made his first appearances with the ACL team. He was placed on the injured list June 29 with left knee inflammation.

Infielder Miguel Andujar was placed on the injured list on July 20 with a broken wrist. He is currently in a brace and is not ready for rehab. 

Outfielder Samad Taylor was placed on the injured list on July 8 with a right oblique strain. He has not begun a rehab assignment.

The Padres traded Ron Marinaccio to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for international bonus pool money.