The San Diego Padres brought back talented-but-injury-prone starting pitcher Josh Johnson on a one-year, incentive-laden deal Tuesday, reports Jon Heyman. It was not unlike bringing in talented-but-injury-prone starting pitcher Brandon Morrow a few days ago.Adding these two to the fray, the Padres' current group of starting pitchers has three main qualities:
The current group of starters in the Padres' possession who could reasonable compete for the opening day rotation: Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy, Jesse Hahn, Morrow, Johnson, Robbie Erlin and Odrisamer Despaigne.That's eight* names for five spots, not that this is too many. Just ask Padres fans.*Looks like Hahn is headed out in a trade. The rest of this post has been altered as suchDespite playing half their games in one of baseball's most pitcher-friendly parks -- beautiful Petco Park -- the 2012 Padres had a 4.44 rotation ERA, good for 13th in the NL. They were also 13th in innings pitched among starters and saw 13 different pitchers make at least five starts. Due to both injuries and poor performance, they couldn't find a steady rotation.In 2013, it wasn't much better. Padres' starters ranked 12th in the NL in innings and their 4.31 ERA was also 12th. This time around, seven different pitchers started at least 10 games while only Eric Stults (3.93 ERA, 88 ERA+) managed at least 30 starts.Last year, the Padres moved up to sixth in the NL in ERA (3.55), but still were only 11th in innings and needed to use 12 different starting pitchers. They got at least 30 starts from three men and even if one was Stults (4.30 ERA, 78 ERA+), they were moving in the right direction.Along with what he inherited, new GM A.J. Preller is moving toward making the Padres' rotation what it should be in that ballpark, though there are still lots of areas of concern.Ross was a deserved All-Star last year, but it was his first full season in a rotation and his home-road splits are drastic (1.88 home ERA compared to 3.79 on the road). Kennedy misses bats (207 strikeouts in 201 innings last season), but consistency has been a problem.Cashner looks ace-quality much of the time he's on the mound, but he's made 50 starts (and 33 relief appearances) for the Padres in three seasons while spending 142 days on the DL due to shoulder issues alone. Johnson was an All-Star in 2009, again in 2010 while finishing fifth in Cy Young voting and looked like one of the best starters in the NL in 2011 before injury. Since then he's hopped between inconsistent, terrible and injured. He has an extensive history of both shoulder and elbow problems and he'll be 31 next season.Morrow long had the look of an All-Star-caliber pitcher just waiting to break out, but couldn't find consistency for the most part. When he started to, injuries -- several in the elbow-forearm area -- got in the way. In 2012, he went 10-7 with a 2.96 ERA and three shutouts, allowing three hits or less in each of the three. He only managed 21 starts thanks to an oblique injury, though. Since then he has a 5.65 ERA in 87 2/3 innings while having dealt with back, forearm and finger injuries. He's now 30 years old.Erlin was once considered a top-65 prospect and showed promise in a few starts last season, but he also turned in some pretty awful starts as well. In all, the 24-year-old lefty had a 4.99 ERA in 61 1/3 innings at the big-league level, but there's some raw stuff there to work with.Despaigne was outstanding through five games and then things got a bit rocky. He had some good outings mixed in with some bad, but if we threw out his first five starts, he was 2-6 with a 4.50 ERA. He did close the season with seven shutout innings against the eventual World Champs, though.Is there a world in which a fivesome of, say, Ross-Cashner-Kennedy-Morrow-Johnson is a top-shelf rotation? Absolutely. A best-case performance from everyone there makes the rotation pretty scary, especially in Petco. It's just that this could probably only happen in a video game in which injuries were turned off and the person at the controls decides to hit the reset button every once in a while.Enter the depth Preller is building. Johnson gets hurt. No worries. He isn't getting paid much and there's Morrow. Morrow and Cashner go down while Erlin struggles? OK, there's Despaigne.The options this time around are better than they were in 2012-13 and the upside is much higher, too. If nothing else, it's a good start.Matt Snyder/CBS Sports
- Depth
- Considerable upside
- Lots of question marks
The current group of starters in the Padres' possession who could reasonable compete for the opening day rotation: Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy, Jesse Hahn, Morrow, Johnson, Robbie Erlin and Odrisamer Despaigne.That's eight* names for five spots, not that this is too many. Just ask Padres fans.*Looks like Hahn is headed out in a trade. The rest of this post has been altered as suchDespite playing half their games in one of baseball's most pitcher-friendly parks -- beautiful Petco Park -- the 2012 Padres had a 4.44 rotation ERA, good for 13th in the NL. They were also 13th in innings pitched among starters and saw 13 different pitchers make at least five starts. Due to both injuries and poor performance, they couldn't find a steady rotation.In 2013, it wasn't much better. Padres' starters ranked 12th in the NL in innings and their 4.31 ERA was also 12th. This time around, seven different pitchers started at least 10 games while only Eric Stults (3.93 ERA, 88 ERA+) managed at least 30 starts.Last year, the Padres moved up to sixth in the NL in ERA (3.55), but still were only 11th in innings and needed to use 12 different starting pitchers. They got at least 30 starts from three men and even if one was Stults (4.30 ERA, 78 ERA+), they were moving in the right direction.Along with what he inherited, new GM A.J. Preller is moving toward making the Padres' rotation what it should be in that ballpark, though there are still lots of areas of concern.Ross was a deserved All-Star last year, but it was his first full season in a rotation and his home-road splits are drastic (1.88 home ERA compared to 3.79 on the road). Kennedy misses bats (207 strikeouts in 201 innings last season), but consistency has been a problem.Cashner looks ace-quality much of the time he's on the mound, but he's made 50 starts (and 33 relief appearances) for the Padres in three seasons while spending 142 days on the DL due to shoulder issues alone. Johnson was an All-Star in 2009, again in 2010 while finishing fifth in Cy Young voting and looked like one of the best starters in the NL in 2011 before injury. Since then he's hopped between inconsistent, terrible and injured. He has an extensive history of both shoulder and elbow problems and he'll be 31 next season.Morrow long had the look of an All-Star-caliber pitcher just waiting to break out, but couldn't find consistency for the most part. When he started to, injuries -- several in the elbow-forearm area -- got in the way. In 2012, he went 10-7 with a 2.96 ERA and three shutouts, allowing three hits or less in each of the three. He only managed 21 starts thanks to an oblique injury, though. Since then he has a 5.65 ERA in 87 2/3 innings while having dealt with back, forearm and finger injuries. He's now 30 years old.Erlin was once considered a top-65 prospect and showed promise in a few starts last season, but he also turned in some pretty awful starts as well. In all, the 24-year-old lefty had a 4.99 ERA in 61 1/3 innings at the big-league level, but there's some raw stuff there to work with.Despaigne was outstanding through five games and then things got a bit rocky. He had some good outings mixed in with some bad, but if we threw out his first five starts, he was 2-6 with a 4.50 ERA. He did close the season with seven shutout innings against the eventual World Champs, though.Is there a world in which a fivesome of, say, Ross-Cashner-Kennedy-Morrow-Johnson is a top-shelf rotation? Absolutely. A best-case performance from everyone there makes the rotation pretty scary, especially in Petco. It's just that this could probably only happen in a video game in which injuries were turned off and the person at the controls decides to hit the reset button every once in a while.Enter the depth Preller is building. Johnson gets hurt. No worries. He isn't getting paid much and there's Morrow. Morrow and Cashner go down while Erlin struggles? OK, there's Despaigne.The options this time around are better than they were in 2012-13 and the upside is much higher, too. If nothing else, it's a good start.Matt Snyder/CBS Sports
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