RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThe San Diego Padres are conducting an exercise in “pitching chaos,” and it’s something of a last ditch effort. It’s the ultimate version of desperation, perhaps, but it’s also all they have.
Their most recent predecessors in this are the Detroit Tigers, who did it back to 2024, and they used an two-man rotation along with an assortment of pitching flotsam and jetsam to make the postseason.
“I think they showed it’s possible to do,” said manager Craig Stammen, who actually opened a handful of games for the Padres earlier this decade, in a piece written by Dennis Lin of The Athletic . “Will we try to replicate that? Maybe some version of that, on some nights.”
The Padres’ pair of starters is Michael King and Walker Buehler, and Buehler has had more than his share of shaky outings. Bullpen coach Ben Fritz basically pre-scripts most of the games together with pitching coach Ruben Niebla, and they’re hunting matchups while trying to limit exposure.
“Looking at personnel, looking at who you have and how we maximize our chances, we’d be foolish to not try something different,” Fritz said.
For Stammen, the idea is to take as much of the guesswork out of the innings counts the Padres can expect from different pitchers going into every game.
“(We were) having trouble wanting to get innings from guys and probably leaving them in a batter or two longer,” Stammen said. “I think, in my mind, we decided to just take that guesswork out of it a little bit and try to make it a little bit more cut-and-dry for me to make decisions and kind of live with them that way.”
The Padres are hoping that starters Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove can come back, and they’ve thrown batting practice, although Stammen wouldn’t share how hard they’ve thrown.
“We’ve definitely taken them on a road that would get them ready for the end of the season and tried to be very strategic and put their health as the No. 1 priority,” Stammen said. “If we get them back and they’re ineffective, then it’s not going to do us any good, either. So, we need a little bit of both (health and effectiveness). Which isn’t guaranteed, you know?”
The length of the experiment is yet another unknown, and it’s literally a daily and weekly effort that also involves trying to keep pitchers healthy.
“It’s a little more work, but it’s a fun challenge,” Fritz said. “Who knows how long this lasts. Like, is this going to be a week, and then something happens? We’re just kind of taking this in chunks, not looking at this long term.”
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