Padres’ Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove head to 15-day injured list as San Diego’s pitching staff takes huge hit

The San Diego Padres have hovered around .500 all season and now they’ll be without their two most veteran starters for the foreseeable future. Righties Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove were placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday, the team announced. Darvish has a groin strain and Musgrove has a recurrence of the elbow inflammation that sidelined him for 16 days last month.

The Padres have not yet revealed the extent of the injuries, though Musgrove’s is not expected to be season-ending, reports the San Diego Union Tribune. The 31-year-old native San Diegan has struggled when healthy this season, pitching to a 5.66 ERA in 10 starts. He has allowed 10 home runs in 49 1/3 innings after allowing 10 homers in 87 1/3 innings last year.

Darvish, 37, is having a terrific season, posting a 3.20 ERA in 11 starts. He recently had a career-best 25-inning scoreless streak and became the third pitcher with 200 wins between MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Darvish’s 2023 season came to an end in late August because of a stress reaction in his elbow. He showed no ill effects this season though.

Righty Randy Vásquez, who joined the Padres in the Juan Soto trade with the New York Yankees, and fellow righty Logan Gillaspie were called up in corresponding moves. Gillaspie is a reliever. Vasquez has gone up and down this season and made five starts. The club’s rotation depth chart currently looks like this:

1. RHP Yu Darvish (out with groin strain)
2. RHP Dylan Cease
3. RHP Michael King
4. RHP Joe Musgrove (out with elbow/triceps inflammation)
5. RHP Matt Waldron
6. RHP Randy Vásquez
7. LHP Jay Groome (on Triple-A injured list)
8. LHP Jackson Wolf

No team has used only five starters this season and the Padres are one of only six teams to use six starters. Wolf has allowed 34 runs in 40 1/3 innings in his 10 Triple-A starts. El Paso, where San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate plays, is an extreme hitter’s environment, but still, Wolf being next up on the depth chart is not great.

The upcoming schedule is unforgiving. The Padres are one day into a 13 games in 13 days stretch. They do not have another off day until June 13. Vásquez will start in Musgrove’s place against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday. Darvish’s next start was scheduled for Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels. San Diego has a few days to come up with a fill-in starter.

The Padres are hardly the only team dealing with pitcher injuries. The Baltimore Orioles lost lefty John Means and righty Tyler Webb to season-ending elbow surgery Friday, and our R.J. Anderson looked at 10 possible trade options. Those same 10 players also now become possibilities for San Diego. It would, however, be difficult to swing an impact trade in time for Tuesday.

San Diego’s rotation has been middle of the pack this season, ranking 18th among the 30 teams in ERA (4.13) and 15th in WAR (4.4). Including the bullpen, the Padres are allowing 4.32 runs per game this season, almost exactly the 4.32 runs per game league average. The offense has been a tick better than average at 4.43 runs scored per game.

The Padres enter play Saturday with a 31-29 record and a plus-7 run differential. They have never been more than four games above or below .500 at any point in 2024.