The San Diego Padres signed both Brandon Morrow and Josh Johnson to incentive-laden one-year deals earlier this offseason to compete for a spot in the rotation before they landed James Shields. With Odrisamer Despaigne coming off a solid year, who will Bud Black choose as the No. 5 starter?
With Johnson out until June, the immediate competition in spring training will take place between Morrow and Despaigne. By merely looking at the numbers, the edge has to go to Despaigne right now since Morrow has made only 37 starts with a 4.07 ERA over the past three seasons due to various injuries. However, Morrow isn't going to go down easy.
"His intent this offseason was to go to a team to be given an opportunity to start," manager Bud Black told reporters this week. "And I told him on the phone when we were talking with him that we were going to give him that opportunity ... he wants that responsibility the starting pitcher has every fifth night."
The 30-year-old is now healthy and hopeful for an opportunity to become a full-time starter again.
But Despaigne made his major league debut in 2014 and maintained a 3.36 ERA and 1.215 WHIP in 16 starts despite finishing with a 4-7 record. The 27-year-old brings a different type of style to the mound with his fastball, cutter, curveball, changeup, sinker and eephus combo, as opposed to the staff's other hard throwers (Shields, Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy and Tyson Ross). Aside from his strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.03), Despaigne proved to be more than capable of being the team's No. 5 hurler in 2014.
"This is a fella that has made tremendous strides coming from a foreign country and getting acclimated to the States," Black added. "... I like his arm, I like his stuff, I think he's going to be durable, I think he's a strike thrower and he knows how to get his outs ... there's a lot to like."
These two will get plenty of opportunities to showcase their skills as a starter, but one of them will be relegated to the bullpen to probably be used in a middle relief role. Let's not forget that Morrow began his major league career as a reliever with the Seattle Mariners and owns a 4-10 record with a 3.69 ERA, 1.456 WHIP, 137 strikeouts and 16 saves in 123 games (124 1/3 innings) in that role.
James Clark of FanSided writes Morrow has "closer-type stuff" and it wouldn't be surprising if he's moved into a relief role because "it makes sense to at least explore the option."
It should be something that's considered since closer Jaoquin Benoit can become a free agent after the season and still may become be subject of trade talks with an $8 million salary heading into 2015. We'll see what Black decides to do when spring training comes to a close.
