Rotation Watch Round 2

The Locks

Clayton Richard - Made his debut in grand fashion as he faced off against the man he was traded for: Jake Peavy. The game was also the first of the year televised in San Diego. Two shutout inning with no hits, 2 walks and no strikeouts, but Richard's arm would have needed to fall off for his stock to change.

Edinson Volquez - Volquez was even rockier in his second start than he was in his first. He gave lots of singles, a double, a triple and a home run in his two innings of work. In total 6 runs came across the plate. Still, nothing to worry about yet as he's going to be starting on either Opening Day or Game 2.

Jason Marquis - Marquis hadn't made a single start this time last week, but now he has made two. His first was a scoreless two innings of work where he faced only 5 Kansas City batters. His second was 3 innings against the Dodgers where he gave up a run in the first after a Chase Headley 2 out error and then a double and 2 singles in his next frame allowed another run to score. He breezed through his 3rd inning, striking out 2. Not much to say here. Marquis just getting his work in and building up his strength.

The Favorites

Anthony Bass - Bass got his 2nd outing of the Spring on Sunday and impressed the TV audience watching. He got 3 strikeouts over 2 scoreless innings. He looks like he's in top form, similar to how he looked at the start of last season. The organization has to be taking notice.

Eric Stults - Stults was shaky in the first after a leadoff double and subsequent walk led to two runs coming across. He settled down and looked good the next two innings. Or at least looked as good as he gets given that he's not a particularly dominant pitcher to begin with. He's considered by some insiders to be a lock for the 4th spot in the rotation based on his 2012 success.

Casey Kelly - Kelly once again came on in relief following a Freddy Garcia start, but this time did it mid inning with 2 runners on and two outs. In one pitch he got out of the jam by inducing a fly ball. He got small balled in the 2nd inning when a leadoff walk, bunt and a single plated one. A 1-2-3 third ended his day. Pretty good day for the hot prospect.

Tyson Ross - Ross is turning some head with his big body and easy high 90s heat. He struggled some last Thursday with 3 runs over 3 innings against the Royals, but impressed on Tuesday when he struck out 4 Dodgers and gave up zero runs over 3 innings. There probably is no room at the starting rotation inn for Ross to start the season, but he's becoming an interesting 6th starter candidate.

The Hopefuls

Freddy Garcia - Garcia is quickly progressing from hopeful to hope not a la Jeff Suppan of the 2012 Padres. He got roughed up for 3 runs in 2 2/3 innings and needed Casey Kelly to bail him out in the 3rd. Some massive improvement will have to take place before anyone becomes mildly comfortable with him as a viable rotation candidate.

Robbie Erlin - Erlin came on in relief in the 4th inning of last Saturday's game. Like Stults, he was far from dominant and did give up a couple of runs. Nothing showy, but nothing too bad. Safe to say he's not going to win a rotation spot, but he's holding his own and will be on the radar later in the season.

Sean O`Sullivan - O'Sullivan made his first relief appearance of the Spring going 2 shutout innings on Monday after Stults left the game. He looked better than Stults did, but still has an uphill battle to fight against his history of struggles in the majors.

Wilfredo Boscan - Only went one inning this week, but it was a scoreless one inning. At this point, if you aren't getting multiple innings of work, then we can't take you seriously as a rotation candidate. Tim Stauffer, Fautino De Los Santos and Donn Roach also fall into this category even though all have a history of starting. None of them should be on rotation watch anymore until they do start going multiple frames.

My Rankings:

1. Clayton Richard

2. Edinson Volquez

3. Jason Marquis

4. Anthony Bass

5. Tyson Ross

6. Eric Stults

7. Casey Kelly

8. Sean O`Sullivan

9. Robbie Erlin

10. Freddy Garcia