With the signing of Jon Garland it would appear that the rotations is set.

Correia, Young, Garland, Richard and Latos

The question is this:

Is Latos a shoe in to start the season in San Diego?

I'm going to argue that he is not. Given his make up the Padres could move him down to Portland for two reasons.

1. To humble him. The Padres have done this in the past with top prospects. Considering the kid has tons of self confidence, the team may for him to deal with some adversity.

2. To allow him to gain some confidence before seeing major league hitters. Facing AAA and AAAA guys in Portland is a whole lot easier than facing guys in the majors.

Personally, I think if he beats out Stauffer, LeBlanc, Gallagher then he deserves the spot and the organization should put him in the rotation.

If you look back two years ago the Padres top two prospects, Chase Headley and Matt Antonelli tore the cover off the ball in the spring only to start at Portland. Both of them didn't handle the situation well and struggled. Chase was able to get on track after almost six weeks. Antonelli has never been the same.

It should be interesting to see how ownership handles the potential ace.

I will have to reefer to my post on the #5 starter: As I said before,

This is still an important topic. Stauffer, I believe is out of options (both Gallagher and Stauffer will be fighting for the 5th spot along with Latos) Gallagher MAY have one option. If Latos is going to be "babied" or Buddy Black and Co. have ANY reservations on "handing over the job to him, or plainly "penciling him in", the Padres other pitchers "MAY" just be out of options?

Buddy Black did not list Latos name in an interview on XX1090 with Lee Hamilton as a "given", saying he will have to earn his spot! Of course this could because Latos and his "swagger", a possible clash with the Padres and the FO and or clubhouse OR, to motivate the talented "cocky" youngster. Which, I like from him, this kids swagger, he is fearless!

Either way I see Latos on the opening day roster and would hate for him to start out of the pen (worst case scenario) and ease him in considering his "work load", has never been what you would call "high" in the minors. However, the Padres did do a darn good job of resting him, shutting him down last year. There could be a scenario to ease Latos in long relief to start the season and have Gallagher start in the number 5 spot if he is out of options and then ease Latos in the bullpen then eventually flipping Latos in for Gallagher. However, that would still leave the "Beav" AKA, Stauffer out of options, what happens to him? Good / bad scenario signing Garland, grade A signing by Jed "the Jedi Hoyer" but still leaves some "good problems" a team wants to have, but not always the easiest decisions.

Thats my take, what yours?

Nicely done!

It's only a matter of time until CY goes down and then this is a non issue right!

I am in full agreement with the fact that I don't believe they are ready to give Latos a spot in the rotation. As you said, I think he will have to beat out Stauffer, LeBlanc, and Gallagher. I think the real battle is with Gallagher. I liked the way he looked at the end of the season and he has more experience. Once upon a time he was as highly touted as we all think Latos is now. Add to that the fact that Jed realy seems to like Gallagher, I think one of those two will be your #5 guy. The more I think about it, I think it would do Latos some good to start out in AAA and develop his secondary pitches and stamina for a month or two.

Just my two cents!

Matt is a baller, and I agree that he should probably start the year on the farm, my main reason is to keep him level headed. He has the stuff to make it with the big club, but we cant let him get ahead of himself. We don't really know his personality yet either so it is hard to tell what kind of presence he would have as a hot shot rookie. My biggest worry is that the Pads for sure are going to limit his innings again this year, so even if he is on the opening day roster we wont have him all year, so you gotta be able to go to the other guys. Every year I hope that Sean Gallagher learns to hit his spots, that guy could be a machine if he could get his head out of the way. That 5th spot is going to be interesting, the good news is we have a grip of guys that have some big league experience and any of them could do a solid job of filling that rotation spot. Plus we know CY will get hurt here and there, I personally think Garland is going to be the best pitcher on the club this year, the guy is a horse. Last but not least, we have some great arms in the pen, so even if we dont have a ton of inning eaters we should be alright.