SAN DIEGO -- It's customary for managers of Minor League affiliates to join their big league teams toward the end of the season, after their own regular seasons have come to an end. Rick Renteria, the manager of the Triple-A Portland Beavers, gets the chance to spend the rest of the month with the Padres.

He will lend an extra hand by assisting the coaches and players with their needs. Renteria, who enjoyed his first year as the manager of the Beavers, joined the Padres on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

"I look forward to it," Renteria said. "It's fun; you get to see some of the guys you've had and kind of enjoy the pennant race that they are going through right now. It'd be something to take with me at the end of the season."

Renteria will see many familiar faces since several current players were late callups from Portland. They include Craig Stansberry, Brian Myrow and Jack Cassel.

"I always tell the guys, 'Hopefully, you guys make it in spite of us, not because of us,'" said Renteria. "These are guys that have definitely worked very hard to improve their game, and I think they deserve to be here and hopefully, they'll have some success."

This year, Portland had 37 position players and 31 pitchers that moved from their team to the Padres and perhaps back again. The high volume of transactions was out of the ordinary for the Beavers.

"It was actually an interesting year, to say the least," Renteria said. "We had a lot of players moving up and down. We had a lot of transactions through the course of the season. I know we have a couple players here who were with the club. All in all, in terms of wins and losses, you always want to have a good season. Some of the guys got better and they ended up improving enough to even get a look now at the Major League level.

"I think we've shuffled quite a few guys here. All in all, we've had some positives and we look forward to building on that."

Rookie pitcher Jack Cassel agreed with Renteria's sentiments on the frequent shuffling of players to and from Portland.

"It was different," Cassel said. "It was nothing any of us ever experienced before. A lot of new faces -- every week we had somebody new come in. Renteria did a good job helping us handle that and helped us stay together as a unit and still go out and compete as a team. Although we had new guys and some of the old guys had left, we are still a team together.

"It was difficult watching a lot of guys go, but knowing that they are going to better places, certain places that may help their career in the long run, that was easier for us to swallow."

Portland finished its season with a 58-86 record. Renteria has spent a total of four years with the Padres organization, one with the Beavers and three previous seasons with the Class A Lake Elsinore team.

No guarantees: Black informed reporters before Saturday's game that the starting rotation is still fluid. Only Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux and Chris Young seemed assured of their starts for the remainder of the season. But this change in pace is also due to the season coming to a close and the Padres doing everything they need to in order to be successful.

"There's no guarantee," Black said. "This is a performance-driven game. I don't want these guys pitching while looking over their shoulder. I told them, 'Hey, listen, this time of year, there's only a couple more starts. Let it all hang out.'

"It says that we are looking at each start. ... We're re-evaluating after each start."

Justin Germano, who held the fourth spot on the rotation, will miss his Monday start due to a recent funk, and his replacement will be Cassel. Germano, who holds a 7-10 record and 4.56 ERA, has lost his last three starts. Cassel, who has seen time in the bullpen and as a starter for the Padres this season, is relishing the opportunity.

"I see a guy with a pretty good sinker in the high 80s and nice changeup," Black said of Cassel. "There's some confidence to this guy."

In the meantime, the fifth spot in the rotation is still up for grabs, although Brett Tomko got his shot at it in Saturday's game against the Giants.

Tomko is 2-11 with a 5.70 ERA this season. Saturday marked his starting debut with the Padres, whom he signed with on Sept. 4 after spending the entire year with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I think we've been real good about Peavy, Young, Maddux," Black said. "We hope that Tomko's stuff and a change in scenery can, here again, we can find a little lightning in a bottle. Because this guy at times has pitched very well in the big leagues and he's got the arm to get some strikeouts, to keep the opposition from scoring."

But Black also thinks Tomko can make a good addition to the bullpen.

Friars notes: Infielder Oscar Robles was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list Saturday. ... Left fielder Milton Bradley is doubtful for the rest of the weekend and Monday against the Pirates. ... Outfielder Rob Mackowiak is still suffering from a double sports hernia. Black said he is playable, but only in certain situations. ... Double-A San Antonio won the Texas League championship series, 3-0, over Springfield. ... Lake Elsinore is also vying for a championship, but in the California League. In a best-of-five series, they lead, 2-1, against the San Jose Giants.

On deck: The Padres start their final contest of a three-game set against the Giants at 1:05 p.m. PT at PETCO Park on Sunday. Peavy (17-6, 2.44 ERA) gets the start for San Diego. The Giants will counter with Tim Lincecum (7-4, 3.99).