The Padres have taken a big hit.
Starting pitcher Joe Musgrove is expected to be unavailable to pitch at the start of the season after he fractured his left big toe on Monday. A kettlebell slipped out of the pitcher's hands and fell onto his foot as he was doing an exercise in which he worked on transferring his weight.
"Dropped right on top of it," Musrgove said in a brief interview. "Yeah, it sucked."
A more precise timeline is pending.
"After a couple days, we'll have a better idea," Musgrove said. "Got to see how the first couple days go with the swelling."
A return in April is conceivable.
"It's gonna be a minimum of a couple weeks before he ... starts throwing again," Padres manager Bob Melvin said. "So we'll see. It's kind of tough to forecast when you have a broken toe. It's going to be more about how it heals. Certainly, if it's a pain tolerance thing, Joe would be one of those guys that would be sooner than later. But obviously we have to evaluate how he's feeling every day and we'll see where we go."
Melvin and others who spoke to the pitcher said Musgrove was "devastated" but also almost immediately turned his attention to how to get back as quickly as possible and what could be done to hasten that process.
Musgrove was a strong candidate to be the Padres' opening-day starter on March 30 after posting a 2.93 ERA over 181 innings in 2022. The San Diego native is in the first season of a five-year, $100 million contract signed in August.
The Padres will have to immediately rely on what they have touted as strong "organizational depth" in their starting pitching.
The plan was to go with a six-man rotation at the start of the season, and that remains a possibility if a candidate such as Reiss Knehr, Jay Groome, Brent Honeywell, Julio Teheran or Ryan Weathers proves himself in spring training.
"At first look, all these guys have pitched pretty well," Melvin said.
Even if the Padres determine a five-man rotation is best, one of those pitchers will likely be called on to provide significant innings in a relief role.
"We'll probably make that decision the farther we go into camp," Melvin said. "If we have guys stretched out that we think can handle (being a starter), or is it more prudent to go with another length arm in the bullpen and five (starters)."
The Padres play 24 games in the season's first 25 days, meaning a lot of innings are necessary from pitchers on short rest right from the start.
The need for pitching depth is what motivated the Padres to sign veteran Michael Wacha earlier this month. The team also supplemented its rotation with pitchers they hoped would show in the spring they could be counted on in the event of injury.
Now an injury has occurred, and now at least one of those pitchers will have an opportunity earlier than expected.
"I hate it for Joe," Weathers said. "He's one of the leaders on the team, definitely a leader on the pitching staff. But we all know that we just take care of everything until he gets backs. We know when he comes back, he's going to be out in full force."
Union-Tribune columnist Bryce Miller contributed to this report.
