Padres left-hander Adrián Morejón will undergo an MRI this week, reports AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. The lefty had departed yesterday’s game with discomfort above his elbow.
Until that MRI takes place and a diagnosis is reached, it won’t be known if Morejón needs to miss time or how much. For now, it’s a concerning development for both the pitcher and the club. Morejón was once one of the top prospects in the league, with Baseball America featuring him on their top 100 list in five straight seasons from 2017 to 2021. Unfortunately, he’s been slowed down by injuries since then, most significantly Tommy John surgery in 2021.
Morejón was able to return to the mound with the Padres last year, though they kept him in the bullpen. He tossed 34 innings over 26 appearances, as well as another 13 1/3 frames in the minors, bringing his season tally to 47 1/3. The club was hoping to have him continue as a starter this year, now that he’s further removed from that surgery.
The Padres assembled a rotation this winter that was fairly deep but came with some question marks. The front three of Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell were going to be followed by Michael Wacha, Nick Martinez and Seth Lugo. Wacha had a nice season in 2022 but has dealt with recurring shoulder issues and hasn’t reached the 130-inning mark in a season since 2017. Martinez and Lugo, meanwhile, were each going to attempt to hold down rotation roles despite more recent success as relievers.
There was already some uncertainty in that group to begin with, which was going to make pitching depth an important factor for the Padres. That was only exacerbated when Musgrove recently suffered a fractured toe during a weight room accident. He’s expected to miss at least a couple of turns through the rotation to begin the season, which will thin out the club’s depth for a while.
The Padres once seemed like they would open the season with a six-man rotation prior to that injury. It’s possible that Musgrove’s injury changed those plans, or perhaps they could have turned to one of their depth options. Morejón would have been firmly in the mix for such a job, alongside pitchers like Jay Groome, Julio Teheran, Brent Honeywell Jr., Ryan Weathers, Reiss Knehr and Pedro Avila.
Any significant injury would take Morejón out of the running for the time being, but it will depend upon what the imaging reveals. The 24-year-old wasn’t set to be an essential member of the club’s staff but the Padres surely don’t want to subtract from their depth, especially given the question marks in their rotation. Any kind of setback would also no doubt be frustrating for Morejón on a personal level since he’s missed so much time already. Despite having just 42 major league appearances under his belt, he’s racked up over three years of MLB service time, much of that spent on the injured list. He reached arbitration for the first time this winter and will make $800K this year. He’s slated for two more passes through arbitration before reaching free agency after 2025, though he still has options and could see that timeline pushed back if he’s sent down to the minors for a meaningful stretch of time at any point.
This guy could be the Padres version of Urias but he can’t stay healthy.
I say 5 years on top hundred list is a big red flag
TBF that’s BA and they don’t know what a prospect is (the 5th year was 2021 and he was no longer rookie-eligible that year).
Urias was in the majors at 19. Morejon is 24 and hasn’t done a thing. Padres fans said Gore was going to be their Kershaw too lmao.
Morejon was in the majors at 20. I’m a Dodger fan, but he’s really talented. He just hasn’t stayed healthy.
Gore still has a chance to be an elite player. Morejón has been very unlucky with injuries.
They are toast with that rotation!
Two aces in Darvish and Musgrove plus Snell and two others that have an ERA under two in camp so far? The guy that will take the number 6 slot now that Morejon is hurt again has a zero ERA in 4 games in camp.
Padres are a top 5 rotation.
You’re using spring training stats to justify how they’ll pitch for 6 months? Good luck with that one
Fansided has the Padres rotation as 12th best
fansided.com/2023/02/15/mlb-power-rankings-best-wo…
Wampum, Fansided? Seriously? Can’t you come up with a better BLOG to read?
Padres starters had a 3.36 ERA and 3.38 FIP last season. Where would that have ranked last season? 3rd and 2nd respectively. I am being conservative in saying they are top 5.
McCourt, we are talking about a guy that would take Morejon’s place. Not the guy taking the ball to start the game on opening day.
Some of the teams around the game are having issues early on with pitching injuries. Seems like more lately, Arlington’s staff included…
One day there will be a picture of a player on MLBTR and it will say “Unnecessary tests reveal so-and-so is completely healthy having never spent a minute on the IL in his entire career. He’ll begin the season in the starting lineup without any shoulder, forearm, hand, knee or hamstring injuries in his life.”
That players name is Cal Ripken Jr.
Anyone that watched his last two outings could have told you that he was injured, He usually throws an almost effortless 98 and he has looked like he was throwing max effort and only getting 95-96.
It would be really difficult for my untrained eye to see the difference between a 96 MPH fastball a 98 MPH fastball. I mean either way ; isn’t it just a blur to a bystander ??
Its fairly easy to see when someone is using max effort vs throwing at that velocity with ease.
For judging velocity, the radar in the stadium is a great tool. Most of the time its on the broadcasts, too.
Teams should just put an MRI machine in the clubhouse. Only half kidding but everyday seems another pitching injury in baseball. Guys all throwing 95mph and an unnatural movement an it is what it is.
They should also have a hospital room with a surgical team ready to perform tj surgery at a moments notice.
Maybe schedule a monthly mri
Musgrove will miss at most one start from the rotation, Padres still have six starters. That leaves seven for the bullpen.
Hader, Suarez, Garcia, Hill, and Crismat are locks. Pomeranz if he’s healthy is six.
That leaves one bullpen spot for Wilson, Groome, Weathers, Teheran, Honeywell, or about a half dozen lesser options.
Give Jay Groome Musgrove’s one start, and away we go.
I think the current plan is to just push Joe back in the rotation to give him some extra time to get ready. If he goes on the IL he’s missing at least 2 starts, so he’s probably still going to be on the opening day roster and maybe just throws game 6.
I’m pessimistic about Pomeranz being ready for the season since he hasn’t pitched in a game yet, so I think they’re going to have 2 bullpen spots available. Honeywell has to go through waivers if he doesn’t make the team and similarly Tehran has an opt-out, so I think they would both get the initial nod over Groome just so they don’t lose those arms to another team. That said, Groome has had an awesome spring and they’re going to need him to make some starts this year.
The Padres do have 6 starters. Padres rotation as it stands now is Darvish, Snell, Martinez, Lugo, and Wacha with Musgrove starting somewhere towards the back of that to give him an extra week to recover.
Because of the off day on the 5th, the Padres may be able to skip Musgrove the 1st time through the rotation entirely and have him make his 1st start on the 7th or 8th in Atlanta with him stepping back into the #2 slot in the rotation.
If Musgrove is unable to go I agree with you about giving Groome that start.
Groome has looked fantastic in spring training after having an insanely good 3.16 ERA in 10 starts for El Paso after the trade last season. To give you an idea of how good that is, the team ERA was 5.53 and the league ERA was 5.39. In the PCL only Pepiot, Pfaadt, and Brown had a better ERA among pitchers that were primarily starters.
Clicked on Ryan Weathers page… phew he hasn’t had a decent season since 2019
I wonder how many elite prospects fell off a cliff after the Covid season? I imagine he’s far the only guy
Weathers hasn’t figured out how to be good without the sticky stuff.
He and Anderson Espinoza… Argh!
$100 on the table is worth less to you than the $1 that’s in your pocket.
Time to cut him loose if he’s found “healthy.” Populate the minors with prospects, not suspects.
Crikes – the minors are all suspects, has beens or never was.
Yes, I agree that they are all blessed to be making a living playing a game and we should all be so lucky so I’m not bashing I’m just saying if you aren’t on a MLB team (except rehab assignment) then you are one of these 3.
The minors are the guys who make up the rosters so that the superstar prospects like Bryce Harper, Julio Rodriguez, and Corbin Carroll will have teammates and people to play against during their brief trip through the minor leagues.
That’s their role.
The Padres have not been adept lately at developing their own starting pitchers. They need to get better at it because this strategy can get very expensive.