Arizona Diamondbacks’ Rotation With Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller is the Best in the West

San Diego Padres

The Padres were the talk of the town last off-season, making trades and adding payroll like the apocalypse was coming. It didn’t quite work as planned, though. San Diego was in disarray all season. It was a bit surprising after all their additions but their defense didn’t do their pitchers any favors and their starters, almost across the board, had down years from what was expected.

Last season, the rotation consisted of James Shields, Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy, and Odrisamer Despaigne. It was a rotation built to give quality outings day in and day out. It was not top heavy, but its floor was higher than most other teams. They even went and got their hands on arguably the best closer in the game (Craig Kimbrel) to ensure their quality starts would be preserved.

It just didn’t work out.

With no huge additions this off-season, despite trying, the Padres are set to enter 2016 with roughly the same rotation, save for the number five spot, which is a wild card. The rotation may see Despaigne go to the bullpen and Robbie Erlin or Drew Pomeranz take the #5 spot. Their rotation should look like this: Shields, Ross, Cashner, Kennedy, Despaigne/Erlin/Pomeranz.

If the Padres can figure out a way to score runs more consistently, the 20 quality starts from every slot in the rotation could lead to many more victories, but there is no guarantee they can do that. Overall, it’s a solid but not spectacular group that brings consistent starts and gives their team a chance to win. If only the Padres could take advantage of all those chances.

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