LOS ANGELES —
Matt Strahm is a former 21st-round draft pick from North Dakota living a big-league dream.
He has maintained for as long as he has been with the Padres that he was fine being a starter or a reliever. He might be the only major league pitcher in history to actually mean it.
Which makes how he feels now — and what he is willing to say now — all the more striking.
“I’m a starter,” Strahm said Friday afternoon.
He said this with his first relief appearance of the season looming, perhaps as soon as Friday night and almost certainly no later than this weekend.