Christopher Russo: The Padres need more dominant starting pitching

I had on Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo this week on the Talking Friars podcast and one of my questions to him was about what the San Diego Padres need to add before the season starts.

“They need a big starting pitcher,” Russo told me. “[Blake] Snell and [Yu] Darvish are not good enough to win a championship. Darvish is always hurt. Snell hasn’t done anything in the last two years. They need some big pitching.”

While Russo might end up being correct when all things are said and done in saying the Padres don’t have enough frontline starting pitching, I doubt that Snell, Darvish, MIke Clevinger, Chris Paddack, Adrian Morejon, and Ryan Weathers are all going to get hurt again like they did in 2021. Snell pitched like a Cy Young in August (1.72 ERA) and into September (2.35 ERA) before injuring his groin. Darvish was also pitching great until right before the All-Star Break and Joe Musgrove had the best season of his career last year and is getting better year-by-year.

So for me, it’s not that they don’t have enough frontline starters but it’s more a question about if they have enough healthy frontline starters.

Russo continued to give his thoughts on the Padres pitching staff: “Without starting pitching, they’re not winning a championship...[As presently constructed] I don’t like them winning a championship to be honest with you. Playoff team but a championship is different.”

You can watch or listen to my entire conversation with Christopher Russo here.

Let me know your thoughts on Russo’s comments in the comments section below!