PEORIA, Ariz. -- The Padres are closing in on their final roster decisions -- including a pair of spots in their starting five. On Sunday morning, manager Mike Shildt seemed to lay out precisely where those spots will land in his season-opening rotation.

Shildt confirmed that Dylan Cease will get the ball in Game 2, following Michael King, who was named Opening Day starter last week. Nick Pivetta, meanwhile, will stay back in Peoria to pitch a Minor League game on Tuesday -- to which Shildt said, “You guys can do some math from there.”

Doing that math, their season-opening rotation might look like this:

Game 1: King
Game 2: Cease
Game 3: TBD
Game 4: Pivetta
Game 5: TBD

“[The pitching plans] are still fluid, by the way, so I don’t want to minimize that,” Shildt said. “But Michael will go Game 1 and Dylan will go Game 2.”

The Padres open their season with a four-game series against Atlanta beginning Thursday afternoon.

With Yu Darvish set to open the season on the injured list, there remain two vacancies in the rotation. (Darvish was perhaps lining up to pitch Game 3, which would explain the gap between Cease and Pivetta.)

Kyle Hart, Randy Vásquez and Stephen Kolek are vying for those final two spots. Kolek will start the spring finale on Monday, while Vásquez and Hart completed their spring campaigns on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

“This has been one of the most competitive -- and not just competitive but quality-run -- Spring Trainings that I’ve ever been a part of,” Hart said following his start on Saturday. “I do not envy the decision-makers. We have a lot of great players, a lot of good pitchers.

“Obviously we’re going to sit and wait, the guys that are on the fringe. We’re going to sit and wait and see what decisions are made, and we’re going to make the best of them.”

As for Cease, he started the other half of a split squad on Saturday and was utterly dominant, striking out nine Reds over 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

“Dylan was as good as you can be,” Shildt said. “Spring Training, regular season, playoffs, I don’t care, that was impressive.”

Cease has added a changeup to his arsenal this spring, and he threw it with 10 of his 74 pitches on Saturday. For much of his career, Cease has dominated with a heavy fastball/slider mix, but that might be changing a bit entering 2025.

“He’s been very successful in this league, obviously, with two plus-plus pitches -- the exceptional fastball and the wipeout slider,” Shildt said. “And now he’s going to add a legitimate changeup -- a swing-and-miss changeup, soft-contact changeup.”

Ornelas optioned; Sullivan DFA’d
The Padres have a handful of decisions to make in the coming days, but they pared their roster slightly on Saturday night, optioning outfielder Tirso Ornelas to the Minors and designating catcher Brett Sullivan for assignment. (Sullivan was out of options.)

Ornelas, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the team’s No. 11 prospect, put forth an impressive spring, even if he faded a bit later in camp. He was always a bit of a longshot for one of the available bench places -- in large part because the Padres would prefer for him to receive regular at-bats.

Ornelas batted .294/.368/.451 with five doubles and a homer in 23 games this spring, and Shildt noted that he likely placed himself in position for a midseason callup when the need arises.

“The guy had a really good camp,” Shildt said. “Stayed in on lefties, continues to play good defense, wonderful teammate, does all the little things we’re asking. … ‘We believe you’re a Major League player. Now go be a Major League player in Triple-A’ -- that’s a hard message.

“But he put himself in a good spot where we all can trust him to come up, and he knows he belongs here.”

Darvish to San Diego
Darvish returned to San Diego a couple days early as he deals with the elbow inflammation that will keep him sidelined for the start of the season.

“He’s going to start playing catch over there sometime here soon,” Shildt said. “Rest, get back home, enjoy some family. And he’s just getting started early getting back with our group in San Diego.”