Padres’ latest injury update puts the bullpen in an awkward spot

The Padres have barely had time to settle into the routine of spring and now they’ve got a reminder that bullpen plans are only plans until somebody grabs at a leg.

Left-hander Yuki Matsui left a live batting practice session early with left groin tightness and is being treated as day to day, with the club not expecting it to become a long-term issue. The problem isn’t that this is catastrophic. The problem is that it’s annoyingly timed, and the Padres’ bullpen is built in a way where the annoying stuff can snowball. 

Padres’ Yuki Matsui scare comes with a sneaky bullpen ripple effect

Matsui is one of the few Padres relievers who can cover multiple innings, bridge messy middle frames, and neutralize the kind of left-handed pockets that decide games in the sixth and seventh. He’s the guy you turn to when the starter exits early and you don’t want to light three bullpen arms on fire just to get to the ninth. Over his first two seasons in San Diego, he’s logged a 3.86 ERA across 125 appearances, basically living in that high-leverage-adjacent zone that contenders need to survive a long year. 

Matsui’s situation introduces two kinds of uncertainty at once.

First, the obvious. A groin issue, even a minor one, messes with a pitcher’s delivery and timing. You can’t really “gut through” it without risking a compensatory tweak elsewhere. The Padres can talk day-to-day all they want, but the ramp-up matters just as much as the MRI.

Second, the hidden ripple effect. Matsui’s World Baseball Classic status is now in question, with Japan’s opener against Taiwan looming in roughly two weeks. Padres manager Craig Stammen straight-up acknowledged the timing could alter the WBC plan. That matters for San Diego because any delay in his build — whether it’s to rest, to speed up, or to change his workload — changes how the Padres script the entire bullpen pecking order in March.

The Padres don’t need to panic. But they do need contingencies. If Matsui needs a week, the club has to decide whether it’s a roster shuffle, a workload pivot, or an early spring test for their next-best “get outs in the middle” option. Because the moment you lose one flexible, the bullpen stops becomes a nightly puzzle.