Andy’s Address, 3/24
Andy addresses Opening Day starting pitcher and it is ... Eric Lauer
Padres Manager Andy Green opened Sunday’s pre-game media session by announcing sophomore left-hander Eric Lauer will be the Padres’ Opening Day starter Thursday against the Giants at Petco Park.
Green also announced Joey Lucchesi was Friday night’s starter. Beyond that ...
“Honestly, we don’t feel anybody has run away or earned that start in the traditional way that Opening Day means,” said Green. “So, we just set ourselves up for what we thought was best rest for the guys and set the rotation the way we wanted to and sort of took the Opening Day spot out of the mix in the equation.
“At the end of the day, we told both Lauer and Lucchesi that nobody has earned the honor that comes along with Opening Day. That’s not disrespecting either one of them. They each had nice rookie seasons. The context we find ourselves in now is we have to go out and win baseball games. We looked at the schedule and thought about what set up nicely for the Padres to win just not on Opening Day but for the next month and beyond and we came out with a rotation.
“We feel good about what we have. We feel good about going out there with the youngest rotation in baseball. It was definitely not a ‘This guy deserves this honor, this guy doesn’t deserve this honor.’ We took that out of the equation and said this is how we want to line it up.
“We feel comfortable with a number of guys temperaments pitching on that day. That’s not to say someone else wouldn’t have flourished in that environment. We’re excited about the spring Eric has had. We’re excited about the spring Joey has had. We’ve gotten really good pitching from a number of young guys. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a lot of learning on the fly. We’re young.
“The staff is talented and they are hungry. If they’re just talented and not hungry, we’re in trouble. They are thirsting for information, thirsting for insight, learning from Darren (Balsley), learning from Doug (Bochtler). They’re not perfect, no pitcher is. But we like them a lot and feel there’s a chance for them to be really, really good in the long run as long as they remain hungry, driven, motivated and open to.
“None of this is a shock to us. We knew it was going to be a rotation battle down to the last day of Spring Training. We did not come in with a hope or a plan that we would have this nailed down. There isn’t time to separate that way.”
Green did not name the final three pitchers in the rotation to open the season. Chris Paddack will start the first game in Seattle Monday. Matt Strahm will start the second game Tuesday afternoon.
“It will be short bursts for Paddack and Strahm in Seattle,” said Green. “Depending on how thing plays out today, pitch counts, they will be given a chance to stretch themselves out a bit. We have more spring outings. We want to make sure we see what we want to see.
“We’re going to have more Monday, Tuesday roster decisions than we’re accustomed to having. That speaks to the depth we have as well as the lack of experience. People clearly haven’t separated from others, so we’re letting this go down to the wire. Five outfielders or more is a possibility for sure.
“I’ll give you a couple starting pitchers and the corner infielders. Ian Kinsler has had a great spring. We’ll get guys out there on both days in Seattle and rest them in the second half of Tuesday.”
