Andy’s Address, 3/8

Andy addresses Tatis Jr., Urías, Paddack and depth of pitching, corner outfielders, Machado

By Bill Center

Padres manager Andy Green concluded Friday morning’s media session by saying shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. will miss a couple of days.

“Tatis is having his wisdom teeth removed today,” said Green. “He’ll be down a couple days.”

But Luis Urías, the Padres other rookie middle infielder, got the green light.

“Luis went through a full workout Thursday,” said Green. “He’s feeling better. He’ll get at-bats on a back field today with a number of our guys. We’ll have some real pitchers back there and we’ll create at-bats for him. (Robbie) Erlin will be throwing on the backfield.”

But Brett Kennedy will not.

“Brett has some arm soreness as of yesterday,” said Green. “He is canceled for today. It’s general overall arm fatigue. Doctors haven’t given us a great measure of clarity with it . . . not feeling right for him right now. They don’t think tests are warranted . . . just give him some time.”

Green was asked how he planned to deploy corner outfielders Franmil Reyes and Hunter Renfroe during the season.

“There are going to be times when people feel they should be in the lineup and they are not,” said Green. “It’s not a lack of faith in that particular person, it’s faith in the overall group. We have good players and in some cases, a lot of those guys skill sets line up . . . right-handed hitting power outfielders. So we’re going to look at who gives us the best opportunity to win that day and not make any apologies for guys who have to be on the bench.

“Both of them played really well at the end of last season — Hunter driving the ball out of the park and Franmil having quality at-bat after quality at-bat. There is a ton of potential in both of them. We believe both can be really impactful for us. We’ll sort out the playing time decision all season long.”

Green was asked about Chris Paddack, who is starting Friday afternoon in Mesa (FM-97.3), and if the Padres will need to carry more relief pitchers if he is in the starting rotation, two years removed from Tommy John surgery.

“If Paddack earns a spot on the team and is on the Opening Day roster, we’re cognizant of his workload throughout the season,” said Green. “It’s impossible to say ‘here is the number of pitches he is going to throw, here are the number of innings he is going to throw.’ We’re aware of where he is coming from. We’ll be cognizant of that all year and we’ll make adjustments as we see fit.

“Throughout the year, there will be at least 12 starters who take the baseball for us. Every single team runs into that. There will be 15 to 20 guys in the bullpen mix. You can’t pinpoint exactly what that looks like base on the Opening Day roster. You have to monitor things as the year plays out.”

Green updated what he has seen from free agent third baseman Manny Machado in his first two weeks as a Padre:

“There’s a lot that impresses me about him,” said Green. “I didn’t come in with any preconceived idea of what he was going to do on a day-to-day basis, because you just don’t know people. But he’s matched every expectation we’ve had and exceeded them. He works hard every day. He brings a smile to the ballpark. His teammates enjoy him. He’s done a really nice job. His Cactus League at-bats are very disciplined. You can see the focus to them, what he is trying to accomplish. He’s impacted guys.”

Green said reliever Robert Stock, who has struggled with his control, will throw today and likely Sunday.