Padres rotation could lose Yu Darvish

San Diego Padres supervisor Mike Shildt admitted at present that veteran starter Yu Darvish is experiencing elbow irritation and is day-to-day along with his ramp as much as the beginning of the season.

A tweet from San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Kevin Acee acknowledged that Shildt acknowledged at present throughout their media scrum that Darvish had a decent elbow after his final begin on March 13. His common bullpen and subsequent begin date have been pushed again, though Shildt did say that Darvish performed catch at present.

That is the third straight season by which Darvish has battled elbow irritation. His IL stint in 2023 was as a result of elbow irritation, and it was additionally a purpose for a few of the time he missed final season.

Whether or not this can be a minor setback or not, it severely threatens his potential to be prepared for the opening collection of the season. Darvish delayed his Cactus League debut this yr and pitched completely on the again fields till March 8. It was after his second begin on the 14th versus the Royals that he skilled some tightness. He performed catch on Friday, after which they paused his development, citing fatigue. He has solely totaled 6.2 innings in his two begins and might want to ramp again up slowly, below the best-case state of affairs.

Ought to Darvish not be prepared for the opening collection at Petco Park between the Padres and the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Guardians, one other starter will must be able to step into the final spot within the rotation.

Fortunately for the group, there was a three-man battle occurring for the final spot within the rotation. It’s now attainable that will probably be a battle for 2 spots, at the least briefly.

Bearing in mind the truth that the backfield recreation statistics aren’t made public, the 2 front-runners appear to be Stephen Kolek and Kyle Hart. Randy Vasquez could be the darkish horse on this race as his Cactus League begins haven’t been spectacular, and we solely have obscure experiences of how his backfield outings have gone.

Of the three, Vasquez is the one with current main league beginning expertise, and that may give him an enormous benefit over each Kolek and Hart. Going simply by the numbers we will see, Kolek has the primary spot. He has been very spectacular, throwing 9 innings over three begins, hanging out 5, and solely permitting one run. He pitches once more at present with Hart scheduled once more later this week; he pitched Sunday towards the Diamondbacks for three-plus innings. He was capable of stand up to 59 pitches in that outing.

If Hart is deemed to be needing extra seasoning and begins the yr within the minors, then Vasquez will get the fifth spot. The Padres have been stretching out each Ron Marinaccio and Logan Gillaspie to be obtainable as lengthy males, and both might be within the bullpen to start out the season.

That leaves rotation depth dangerously low to start out the yr. Each Matt Waldron and Jhony Brito are unavailable with damage, and there have been no updates to the standing of Bryan Hoeing, who has skilled shoulder soreness for the reason that begin of camp.

There must be day by day updates coming now that the crew has acknowledged the issue with Darvish. I feel it’s secure to say that any discuss of dealing Dylan Stop or Michael King ought to now be put to mattress.