The San Diego Padres thought they had plenty of starting pitching going into the season. They had Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Adrian Morejon, Chris Paddack, Ryan Weathers, and Dinelson Lamet as options to start games. However, that group of starters has narrowed to three players--Darvish (who gave up seven runs in his last start), Musgrove, and Weathers (who was so ineffective in the rotation that he was moved to the bullpen).
Because San Diego needs more arms to start games, they signed Vince Velasquez to a minor league deal on Wednesday. He is expected to start on Friday in the series opener in St.