Padres manager Andy Green said shortly before spring training began that Lamet had a "leg up" for one of the three openings in the team's rotation, Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Green said that Clayton Richard and Bryan Mitchell are assured rotation spots, but Lamet arguably remains the Padres' top starter from a fantasy standpoint, despite his skipper's lack of a firm commitment. Though Lamet has a modest pedigree -- the Dominican went unsigned as an international free agent until just before his 22nd birthday -- he breezed through the minors in about three years and displayed impressive swing-and-miss stuff in his first exposure to the big leagues last season, churning out a 10.9 K/9 rate in 114.1 innings. The right-hander isn't without his faults -- namely, spotty command and vulnerability against lefty bats -- but pitching roughly half his games in pitcher-friendly Petco Park can go a long way toward masking those deficiencies.