Andy’s Address, 3/16

Andy addresses rotation again, plus thoughts on Pirela’s versatility

Padres manager Andy Green again spent much of Saturday morning’s media briefing talking about the rotation and how the approaching end of Spring Training is forcing some decisions to be made.

“We have to start altering schedules to line up to certain days and start gaining a measure of certainty in the next few days,” said Green. “It’s not something we’ll publicly announce or lock up. In the next couple days, we’ll starting lining guys up to fill the roles we expect them to fill. Some decisions will go all the way down to the wire.”

Those late decisions could include Jacob Nix, who came out of his last outing with arm soreness.

“Nix has some general arm soreness,” said Green. “It’s one of those things we’re hoping is a day or two. We think he’s going to try to throw again in a couple of days and see how it feels. If it doesn’t go well, we’ll probably shut him down for a considerable period of time. If he feels good, right back on the horse. He felt it the day after he finished the rain-shortened game in the cage. He just came in with some arm soreness. We hope nothing serious. He played catch after that and threw from 120 feet relatively good but didn’t feel perfect. I think we’d be looking for back-end spot for him if he did come back healthy.”

Green then spoke to some other rotation candidates, starting with rookie hopefuls Chris Paddack and Logan Allen: “They are wired to complete, wired to win. Best thing about those guys is their makeup, their attention to detail.”

Green continued on Allen and his repertoire: “It’s a four-pitch mix. He’s definitely not afraid. He’s a guy we expect a lot from. How you bounce back determines how good you are going to be. We see him as a starter. He’s a candidate to be in the rotation, we’ll see where that falls.”

Green on Joey Lucchesi: “He filled up the strike zone after the first inning on the backfield Friday. The first inning was the classic 10 a.m. backfield game and not being ready to pitch. We talked about that and his need to have intent with everything. He was really good after that. I thought he self-corrected in that inning, kind of recognizing where he was. He was short-arming stuff and wasn’t finishing. For him, fill up the strike zone man. It’s good stuff. When he fills up the strike zone, it’s really good. We saw that over and over again last year. Throw strikes and you will be successful. Some guys don’t have as much margin for error as he does. The deception he brings creates margin for him.”

Green on Matt Strahm: “Like Joey, Matt kind of a labored in the first inning Friday. We didn’t make a couple plays in the outfield for him, lost them in the sun, and it caused him to throw 25, 28 pitches. The real challenge for Matt is how he responds to innings like that. By the end of the outing, you could tell he was fatigued. He’s got work to do to be able to pitch into the fifth and the sixth innings because you’re going to have some of those 25 to 30-pitch innings and you’re going to have to go back out there. Overall, his feel of pitches wasn’t as good as it’s been all camp long.”

On Bryan Mitchell: “He’s in the back-end of the rotation competition right now. His role hasn’t been completely defined. There are guys who have been taking the ball in front of him for a reason. He hasn’t earned the opportunity to take it at the start of a game. He’s getting the innings he gets. Much like Luis Perdomo, if you throw the ball really well, you will get more opportunity.”

Green discussed how Jose Pirela’s versatility as a corner outfielder-right side infielder improves his Opening Day roster chances:

“Pirela is effectively the only in-out piece we have on this team,” said Green. “He’s played in both those positions at the Major League level. His versatility is useful to us. He’s worked hard on his defense and he has more work to do. We feel good about the way he has swung the bat throughout spring training. He’s hit balls hard, he’s hit balls in the air. He always plays hard. He’s fighting for one of those roles on the club. He gives you a lot more versatility.”