Corey Brock and everybody else is reporting that the Padres have declined Chris Young's $8.5 million option ending his tenure with the team.
Hearing the #Padres today have declined the 2011 option for $8.5 million on SP Chris Young. I imagine there's a slim chance he could return.
Chris Young only made 4 starts in 2010 and won two of them. One wonders what might have been if he was able to stay healthy. For most of the season I thought that Young's absence actually helped the team by forcing younger starters to step up, become leaders and perform in pressure situations. After Kevin Correia's season started spiraling down hill, it would have been nice to have Young available, but it was not to be.
Over the past few years Young has suffered many setbacks due to injury. I remember a Padres employee telling me last Spring that he was excited about the Padres rotation, and I wondered aloud what it would look like after Young hurt himself in the first few weeks of the season. It turns out that that's exactly what happened.
If you're unfamiliar with his injury history just think of him as Samuel L. Jackson's character in Unbreakable. To date it is unclear if any of the injuries were a result of his apparent gigantism.
Remember how excited we were when Kevin Towers stole Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young from Texas in 2005, assuring that the Rangers would never make a post season appearance in our life times? Now Young is gone, Gonzalez probably won't be far behind and the Rangers just played in the World Series. Weird.