LOS ANGELES -- “If you’re going to win a championship,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said last month after the Trade Deadline, “you can’t have any weak links.”
It’s why Preller made five trades involving 22 players on Deadline day. Winning in October isn’t easy. There are no guarantees. But if the Padres could build a roster free of weaknesses, they’d put themselves in the best position.
Largely, they appear to have done that. They needed a catcher, a left fielder and another DH/1B type bat. They got Freddy Fermin, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn. They needed to ease the burden on their bullpen. They got Mason Miller, one of the sport’s most electric arms, and created a super-pen.
Meanwhile, Preller opted to hold onto Dylan Cease, despite plenty of trade interest. With Yu Darvish and Michael King returning from injury, the rotation appeared to have stabilized. The roster felt complete.
Bullpen? Check. Lineup depth? Check. But about that rotation …
There’s no denying the upside of the Padres’ group of starting pitchers. But the first two days of this pivotal three-game series at Dodger Stadium, including the Padres’ 6-0 loss to the Dodgers on Saturday night, have outlined some major question marks.
On Friday, King landed on the injured list with left knee inflammation. The Padres were forced to scramble to replace him. King had previously missed nearly three months with a nerve injury that affected the strength of his right shoulder. After making one start last weekend against Boston, he is now eyeing a return against Seattle after the minimum 15-day IL stint.
An MRI revealed no structural damage in King’s knee, and the Padres are operating as though he’ll be fine for the stretch run. Still, it’s not ideal that they have health questions about their Opening Day starter at this stage of the season.
Even more concerning is the performance of Cease. Every time he seems to be nearing a rhythm, he loses it just as fast. So it was on Saturday.
Cease entered his start with a 1.64 ERA in two outings since the Trade Deadline. He proceeded to walk a whopping six Dodgers, including four during L.A.’s three-run first inning. The Padres found themselves behind from the start.
"I have to bounce back from this one and be better next time," Cease said.
Cease wasn’t the only Padre at fault for a dud of a loss, which dropped the team to second place in the NL West, a game behind the Dodgers. The Padres picked an inopportune time for one of their ugliest games of the season. The Padres were caught stealing three times in the first two innings, and center fielder Jackson Merrill dropped a fly ball that led to two Dodgers runs.
“Today, it just got out of hand a little early in the game,” said Xander Bogaerts, who questioned his own decision to try to steal second, trailing by three in the second.
Merrill, meanwhile, took responsibility for what appeared to be a rare miscommunication between him and right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. Neither aggressively pursued Freddie Freeman’s deep drive. Merrill reached out at the last moment and dropped it.
“It hit my glove -- I should’ve caught it,” Merrill said. “I’m not going to really pout over that. I dropped a ball.”
The Padres can write that stuff off. They’ve played clean baseball all season. (This was Merrill’s first error of the year.) They’ve also run the bases well. Nights like this happen -- even if it’s not ideal when they happen in L.A. with first place on the line.
But the Cease question has been a season-long concern. As have the overarching questions with the rotation. Nick Pivetta has been fantastic. Is he Game 1 good? The Padres might soon find out.
Beyond Pivetta, Darvish has injury concerns, and he’s inconsistent since his return from right elbow inflammation. King isn’t truly back yet. Cease has a 4.61 ERA, and the Padres never seem to know what version they’re going to get.
“I’ve been inconsistent this year, unfortunately,” Cease said. “When it’s good, I’m commanding all my pitches. When it’s bad, it seems like it’s not finding the zone.”
Cease is struggling. Darvish has question marks. King is on the IL. Randy Vásquez, JP Sears and Nestor Cortes aren’t likely postseason options. In a short series, who do the Padres truly trust, aside from Pivetta?
The answer? Their whole bullpen, really. Having the best relief corps in baseball can mask plenty of flaws elsewhere. But if the Padres want to enter October without any weak links, they’ll need to find stability in their starting rotation in the coming weeks.