Brandon Maurer Headed to Padres Rotation

The Padres may be able to shore up their starting rotation from within – and someone they already know pretty well. According to reports, Brandon Maurer will be start Spring Training as a starter and not a reliever which he held all of last season. Maurer has started before with Seattle and now A.J. Preller can turn his sights to fortifying a bullpen that has lost its top four members from last season.

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In 2013, his first at the major league level, he started 14 games for the Seattle Mariners. All together, he did not have a good stint compiling just a 5-8 record with an ERA over 6. In 2012 for AA Jackson, he went 9-2 with a 3.20 ERA.

Maurer was shut down August 9th with elbow soreness but the team seems confident that will not flare up again in 2016. Padres General Manager A.J. Preller is excited about the opportunity with Maurer:

“One of the things is he wants to do it. You put a lot of stock in that.”

Padres Manager Andy Green had this to say: “Brandon, in Seattle, was very young as a starter. You look at his Minor League track record, his dominance in Jackson in Double-A, he was a tremendous starter there.”

With Maurer set to join Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross and James Shields it might be easier for the Padres to spend some money on free agent bullpen help rather than a more expensive starting pitcher.

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Maurer started last season tremendously out of the bullpen – with an ERA under 2.00 through the first three months of the season. He faltered some after that and finished with an ERA at 3.00. The Padres are hoping that he can stay healthy and success as the number four starter in 2016. The fifth start figures to be taken by either Robbie Erlin, Colin Rea, or perhaps Brandon Morrow if he can get and stay healthy. As the Padres have learned the last few seasons in particular, you can never have enough arms when it comes to starting pitching.