PEORIA, Ariz. — Yu Darvish will be the Padres' starting pitcher on opening day for the second straight season.
Manager Bob Melvin made the announcement Thursday. And while he declined to lay out the rest of the rotation, he again hinted at having Joe Musgrove start the Padres' home opener.
"(Having Darvish start opening day) is not a difficult call," Melvin said. "The difficult part is what Joe accomplished last year, but I'm hoping there's a good reward for him as we go along as well."
Musgrove, who led Padres starters in virtually every statistical category in 2021, starting the third game of the season at Arizona would line him up to start the first game at Petco Park, April 14 against the Braves.
Splitting up Darvish and Musgrove also allows the Padres to slot in Mike Clevinger between them, as Clevinger will be limited in how much he throws early while working back from Tommy John surgery.
Based on the spring training pitching schedule and Melvin's stated desire to spread out pitchers who are built up as they normally would be so as not to tax the bullpen, it appears likely left-hander Blake Snell would start after Musgrove with Nick Martinez starting the series opener in San Francisco on April 11.
Melvin prefers a five-man rotation but has not ruled out using six starters early. More likely is his "piggybacking" a would-be starter in at least the first couple games started by Clevinger and/or Snell, who is behind other starting pitchers in his progression. Snell will make his first Cactus League start Thursday and is expected to work no more than three innings or around 40 pitches. His next start would likely be the Padres' spring training finale on Tuesday.
Chris Paddack, who is scheduled to pitch after Snell on Thursday, and left-hander Ryan Weathers are the most likely candidates to provide that long relief.
The Padres have fielded trade interest in both young starters, though it is unclear the extent of the team's willingness to part with pitching depth after the staff was severely impacted by injuries last season.
Darvish joins 12 other multiple-time opening day starters for the Padres. Randy Jones, Jake Peavy and Eric Show all started four opening days. Andy Benes started three. Eight others started two.
