San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove is expected to make his final rehab start Sunday for the organization’s Single-A affiliate, as noted by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. That would put Musgrove on track to return to the Padres sometime later this week, a welcome development for a club that has seen its current six-man rotation set-up lead to an overly taxed bullpen.
With only seven relievers on the roster, the club needs its starters to be able to go deeper into games and cover more innings, but that hasn’t been the case early in the season. San Diego starters have failed to complete six innings in nine of the club’s 16 games this season, with just three starts lasting into the seventh inning. The return of Musgrove, who pitched at least six innings in 22 of his 30 regular season starts last season, should help relieve some of the load off the bullpen, but the question remains as to who Musgrove will replace in the rotation.
Ken Rosenthal suggested on FOX Sports yesterday that right-hander Nick Martinez could head to the bullpen as the odd man out, while Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union Tribune suggested that it could be young left-hander Ryan Weathers who is either optioned to Triple-A or pushed to the bullpen in order to make room for Musgrove, though Sanders notes that the club’s schedule, which includes two off-days in the final week of April and five throughout the month of May, could make the current six-man rotation setup untenable in the longer term and force the club to look at moving Martinez or righty Seth Lugo to the bullpen.
Weathers, 23, struggled to a 5.49 ERA with a 5.42 FIP the past two seasons, with all of that work except for a single 3.2 inning spot start coming during the 2021 campaign. He’s done well so far in 2023, posting a strong 2.70 ERA in two starts (10 innings) so far this season, though he’s struck out just five batters so far and failed to record an out in the sixth inning. By contrast, Martinez has struggled in terms of run prevention, with a 5.60 ERA across three starts, but has been able to go deeper into games, failing to make it out of the fifth inning just once while recording six and seven innings in his other two appearances.
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