Padres Announce Drew Pomeranz as #4 Starter

Drew Pomeranz is no longer a candidate to be the Padres 5th starter. The Padres announced Friday instead that Pomeranz would be the team’s 4th starter, a surprise move but one that A.J. Preller must certainly have envisioned when he traded Yonder Alonso and Marc Rzepczynski to Oakland for Pomeranz this offseason. Colin Rea and Robbie Erlin remain in competition for the fifth rotation spot for the Padres.

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Manager Andy Green acknowledged that this rotation will not be set in stone, but that Pomeranz had earned the right to give it a try:

“We’re taking the opportunity for him to start, to see how he does in the rotation. You ride that as long as possible. If it doesn’t work out, he slides to the bullpen.”

Pomeranz only made two spring starts and will make one more on Saturday in an exhibition game hoping to bounce back from a Monday start against the Royals where he allowed six runs in under two innings. With Pomeranz secure in the rotation for the moment, it also secured a bullpen spot for powerful reliever Kevin Quackenbush.

Green sees success for Pomeranz boiling down to him learning to keep him energy up throughout this starts. He noted “He’s got to consistently step on the gas if he’s going to be great,” Green said. “… It’s not a matter of just pacing yourself all the time. He can pitch with some energy. And when he does, it’s really good.”

Pomeranz primarily pitched as a reliever for Oakland last year but has 49 Major League starts under his belt. He made 10 starts for Oakland and 10 relief appearances and pitched to a 2.35 ERA. The 6’6″ left-hander was part of the Cleveland-Colorado trade that brought Ubaldo Jimenez to Cleveland but has mostly failed to live up those early lofty expectation – not unlike Jimenez but that is a different story.

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The Padres now have the choice of essentially either having two left-handed starting pitchers in Pomeranz and Erlin or giving Colin Rea another chance after he finished up the season strong with the Padres in 2015. While Pomeranz has never pitched more than 100 innings in a season, another option would be give Pomeranz the ball for a few months to start the season and give his arm a break throughout the season by putting Rea or Erlin in AAA and occasionally coming up to spell Pomeranz. Another optimistic option is that Brandon Morrow will be major league game ready by the All-Star break and could replace whoever is strugglign the most in the rotation or insurance if one of the Padres big three is traded.