Even before Tyson Ross hit the disabled list over the weekend, the Padres figured to have to call on upper-level pitching level at some point as two starters – Drew Pomeranz and Colin Rea – enter the season as longshots to turn in 200 innings.
Neither has thrown more than 140 innings in a season.
Which brings us to Year 2 of the Brandon Morrow Project.
Signed to a minor league deal after last year's shoulder issues limited him to five starts, the 31-year-old right-hander returned to the mound on Monday for the first since last July in a rehab start at high Single-A Lake Elsinore.