PEORIA, Ariz. \u2014 Sung-Mun Song stepped up his workload on Monday, running and taking grounders at third base with his teammates.<\/p>\n
That is progress, and the Padres are encouraged that his oblique tightness is nowhere near as severe as the injury he sustained swinging in January. But fielding and throwing is not nearly as strenuous on the oblique as swinging a bat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I can play defense and running totally fine,\u201d Song said earlier Monday morning. \u201cBut in the hitting part, we have to see day to day. \u2026 It might take less than a week or a couple more days. We don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reality is his not being able to swing a bat this late in spring, with opening day just more than two weeks away, means Song starting the season on the 26-man roster is in doubt. It arguably is unlikely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play that one really cautious, because we had it, he came back, got it again,\u201d Craig Stammen said. \u201cWe can\u2019t have that happen throughout the whole year. We\u2019ve got to nip it in the bud right now and do what\u2019s right for him, which is what\u2019s right for the team. \u2026 We\u2019re going to get him right when he\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Song beginning the season on the injured list would create a roster spot for an infielder.<\/p>\n
Mason McCoy offers middle-infield defense and speed on the bases. Jose Miranda, who plays the corner infield spots, and Ty France, who plays first and second base and started at third on Monday, have both had success in the major leagues and are hitting well in spring.<\/p>\n
Adam marches on<\/p>\n
Jason Adam\u2019s march toward being on the opening-day roster continues, as he has projected for months.<\/p>\n
The plan is for him to throw one more simulated game and then pitch in a Cactus League game by the weekend, which gives him more than a week to get in three or four games. That was his goal from the start of spring.<\/p>\n
Adam, whose 1.66 ERA in 92 games since joining the Padres at the trade deadline in 2024 is best among all qualifying MLB relievers, has been pitching off a mound since early December. He has in recent days ramped up his defensive work, which is the final step in his being ready for game action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt great,\u201d Adam said of his extensive fielding practice a day earlier. \u201cIt\u2019s more the reactive. Like, anytime it\u2019s planned, they feel good about. But the quick reaction, in-game reaction that you can\u2019t (predict), that\u2019s where they\u2019re just being more cautious. But we\u2019re getting close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
Left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui, out since the final week of February with an adductor (groin) strain, participated in defensive drills. He just returned to throwing off a mound in the bullpen Thursday, and his status for opening day is in question.<\/p>\n
Lefty Kyle Hart (eight scoreless innings in five games this spring) is making a case to be included in the bullpen regardless of Matsui\u2019s status. Said Stammen: \u201cThe way (Hart) has been pitching this spring training has put him in a good spot in that competition. He\u2019s pitching great, probably the best that we\u2019ve seen him as a Padre. And it\u2019s kind of exciting to see a potential lefty in the pen, bulk inning kind of pitcher that can do a lot of different things.\u201d Freelance writer Annie Heilbrunn contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PEORIA, Ariz. \u2014 Sung-Mun Song stepped up his workload on Monday, running and taking grounders at third base…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127],"class_list":["post-212987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nReliever Bryan Hoeing is rehabbing while he makes a decision about whether he will have elbow surgery. Stammen said the team expects that decision \u201crelatively quickly.\u201d
\nLeft fielder Ram\u00f3n Laureano got a second day off due to what the Padres have termed \u201cgeneral body fatigue.\u201d Of the notoriously hard-working Laureano<\/a>, Stammen said, \u201cThe manager has probably just been working him too hard, and he needs a little breather.\u201d
\nStammen assessed this as well: \u201cThe manager has to get better. \u2026 I am a year wiser today.\u201d Stammen turned 42 on Monday.<\/p>\n